REDUCTION OF THE EXPENDITURE OF THIS GOVERNMENT.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 36, 23 December 1843, Page 2

REDUCTION OF THE EXPENDITURE OF THIS GOVERNMENT.

The Officer administering the Government somo time ago published an official account of the expenditure of this Government during the year 1842, upon which we offered some remarks at the time. We were not then aware that the Home Government had dotermined on applying the pruning knive with the view of cutting off all the useless limbs and branches ; and it is extremely likely they never would have thought of this, but for the fact of being required to pay a part of this enormous expenditure from their own pockets. Capt. Hobson and Mr. Shortland might have taken, as they havo done, the last shilling from the poor settlers for any thing the gentlemen in Downing-strect cared about the matter, but the moment the demand was made upon themselves, they became at once alive to tho gross expenditure of this Government, and they have ordered it to be reduced. For our own part, we are extremely glad of this, and we do really think that our Governors (not wishing it) have done much eventual good to the colony by their conduct in this respect. It is well that they were so soon obliged to apply to the Home Government ; had they been more moderate, we might have been perhaps for many a year to come, cursed with a useless and expensive Government ; as it is, -we are likely to get rid of it soon. _ ' "We are aware that many persons imagino that the more tho Government spend, the better for the colony. This, however, is far from being truth : on the contrary, the cheaper an effective Government can be carried on, the better for a colony or country. The Government of a country, viewed in' a proper light, is much tho same as the establishment which a man requires for managing his mercantile business, his farm, or any other undertaking. If a merchant can carry on the business of his counting, house with two clerks, he would be unwise to employ ten. If two ploughmen could cultivate a farm of a certain extent, why should the farmer engage and pay wages to ten ? In the same way, if the Government of this colony can be efficiently carried on for £10,000, would it not be absurd to spend £70,000 ? Viewing this subject in the ordinary common sense manner, every person must give his assent to the truth of this, but some will say that the expenditure of the money confers a benefit upon the colony generally, but in order to establish this fact, it must be proved, not only that the money is spent in the colony, but also that it is well spent, and even if well spent by the Officers of Government, unless the money

was bestowed by^persons. out of the colony, it would be no advantage to the people, inasmuch as if the money so expended by Government were originally derived from the people, it. would have been as well, if not better, that the people spent it themselves. But in point of fact, the money spent by this Government cannot be asserted by any person to havo conferred any permanent benefit upon the colony. The most of it has been paid in salaries to officers or favorites, who either laid by the money, or who spent it in articles imported to, and not produced in the colony, such as flour, tea, sugar, wines, spirits and clothing, so that the money has in reality been again sent out of the country. None of it has been devoted to the making of any permanent improvements in the colony, such as roads, bridges, &c, and independent of this, the money itself was either raised in tho colony, or lent by the Mother Country to be eventually paid by the settlers, so that for the balance, that we could not as a colony raise ourselves, we were becoming debtors to the Mother Country, and like every other debtor, we must in the end expect to pay up with interest. This, whatever we may think to the contrary, is tho sober, the real view of the case, and although a few individuals might have expected to have derived an advantage from the system, the colony as a colony, would be the looser. "What can we at the present moment shew for the immense sums of money that havo been expended in New Zealand? A wretched barn of a Government House, a weatherboarded Court House, one or two public Offices, and the excavations in Shortland Crescent ; these, and these only remain to the colony, as the melancholy representatives of the money expended, and in a few years, even they will not remain as monuments of the liberality of Captain Hobson and Mr, Willoughby Shortland. The real expenditure of this Government during tho year 1842, has been upwards of £60,000. The Home Government are (it is stated) to allow in future £7,500 for the civil establishment ; the remainder of the £60,000 is expected to be raised in the colony ; and if this be true, it is high time the people of this colony as well as Lord Stanley, should bethink them of tho manner in which this extravagant, this monstrous expenditure is to bo cut down. Let them 'no longer flatter themselves with the always ! false doctrine that "tho more the Government spend the better for tho settlers." They will soon, too soon discover the fallacy of this reasoning, and they will be well convinced that " the less the Government spend the better for the settlers," because it will be raised from the fruits of the settlers' own industry. In tho hope _ that the people will agree with us in this view of the matter ; perhaps it would not be amiss if we should direct them to enquire how far it is possible to reduce tho expenccs of this Government, still leaving it as effective as a Government need to be. The following table will give some idea of this subject ; the present cost of every department appears in one column, and that to which it might safely be reduced in another. The amount of the first gives upwards of £60,000 ; the other about £15,000, of which tho Home Government give £7,500, leaving the colony to produce an equal amount, which we are persuaded can easily be done by the imposition of a small poll, income and property tax. So small as not te bo felt a burden by any one :—: —

In this amended estimate it is proposed to raise the salary of the Governor to £2,000 ; no proper or efficient person can be expected to continue to carry on the harrassing duties of Governor for the sum at present allowed. The department of the Colonial Secretary is the next in order, and is the worst managed in the whole colony. Mr. Shortland is the head, and receives £600 a year, which might well be reduced to £500 or £550. One efficient Chief Clerk at £250, and two good assistants at £150, could well manage all the business of this office. Besides Mr.

is to be hoped, will place both the revenue and the expenditure of the colony upon a proper footing, and also endeavour to raise the one in the most equitable manner, and to expend the other, with a view to the utmost possible good to the colony.

Shortland himself, there are at present ,8 clerks in this office, viz. :— Mr. Connel, also mismanaging the Post Office,' £l4o ; Freeman, -writing dispatches for Mr. bhortland, £300 ; Leech, superintending the publication of the Government Gazette, £170 ; Savage, acting as Private Secretary, £125 ; Elliot, preparing Blue Book for Mr. Shortland, £185 ; Taylor, copying Mr. Shortlands dispatches, £110 ; Cooper, similarly employed, £125 ; Porter, doing tlie whole legitimate work of the office, Corresponding Clerk, Registrar of Documents, Copying Clerk, &c, &c, £140 ; with the exception of Mr. Porter, nearly all the other Clerks are employed in the preparation of dispatches in the name of Mr. Shortland, to the Home Government. Besides the above, there are also a Messenger at £60, and Leech, junr. doing nothing and receiving nothing. The Clerk of Council might perhaps act as Chief Clerk in the Secretary's Office, and thus save £300 out of the sum we have reckoned. The Council only sat during the last three years for about one month, and it is rather too much of a good thing to spend £400 a year upon the recorder of such rare proceedings. The Treasury for all it contains, might well bo managed by the Treasurer at £500 ; a Chief Cferk at £200 ; an assistant at £150. a The Customs would, according to this plan, be altogether abolished, or resolved into local Assessors and Collectors of Taxes, at a cost certainly of not more than £2,000. The Audit would be well managed by an Auditor General at £350, and ono good Cleric, £200. Tho Commissioners of Land Claims ought to be at ouce, and for ever abolished. The Registrar of Deeds might, as was originally intended, be the same person as the Registrar of the Supremo Court. We are quite certain that Mr. Outhwaite with a good Clerk, would well manage both. Medical, Harbour Master, Colonial Store, and brig Victoria, the three first sinecures, and the other a pleasure boat, are perfectly useless. The Post Office might not perhaps be carried on at less expence than at present, but it could be made much more efficient. It is difficult to say whether the judicial department, seeing that a new Judge is appointed at Port Nicholson, could be much cut down. The Judge's salary might well be reduced to £700 here, and £GOO at Port Nicholson. The Police and Jails arc the disgrace of the colony, the badge and taint of penal origin and penal bondage. The Police Magistrates should at once, and for ever and ever be dismissed, tho very name is infamous. Justices of tho Peace, with a due regard to their capacity and morality, would in all the districts serve every good purpose without entailing any expence upon the colon}\ A good Clerk would attend to all necessary forms, and might also act as Superintendant of Police in the towns. One such should be appointed at a salary of £150 at Auckland, 1 Wellington, Nelson, and the Bay of Islands, together with three or four good Constables. The almost honorary office of Sheriff at 1 each settlement might be conferred on tho same person, the addition of the foes would make the office worth the looking after. Mr. Shortland has added much to the expence of the Government by appointing salaried officers to the situation of Sheriff, which was formerly just as efficiently, if not more so, discharged for the fees of office only. Schools and Churches in the present state of the colony, may be left to the support of private contributions. Miscellaneous expences or contingencies might be met by £1,000 a year. The Government should have nothing whatever to do with land jobbing in any shape, there would then bo no charge for the purchase of land, nor any charges made upon revenue arising from the resale of these lands. Surveyors, Protectors, and Land Jobbers, could with much benefit to the Natives, tho Europeans, and the Government, be altogether dispensed with. It is a remarkable fact that during tho year 1842, the charges on account of Crown Lands have been £19,860 10s. 2hd., while the whole receipts during the samo period were only £11,723 7s. ll^d-3 leaving the Government in a loss of £8,143 2s. 3d. upon this traffic in lands. Just what they richly deserved for engaging in such infamous trade. What their loss may be in 1843, we do not yet know, but it is exceedingly probable that it will be even larger than in 1842, and for the year 1844, we would venture to assert that they will not be able to raise any money at all by this traffic. So much of the lands of the unfortunate old settlers will be necessarily thrown into the market and sold at such reduced prices as will effectually put a stop to the jobbing of Government, who will only have to pay the expence of the covering or cloak, in the shape of Protectors of Aborigines, by means of which they attempted to conceal tho odious character of their antici- ! pated profitable dealings with the natives. The subject of this article will, we doubt not, meet with the earliest consideration of His Excellency Captain Fitzroy, who it

PRESENT. REDUCED. Governor Private Secretary . . Executive and Legislative Councils Colonial Secretary . . Treasurer Cuatomß Audit Commiss. of Claims . Registrar of Deeds . . Medical Post Office Harbour Master .... Colonial Store Brig "Victoria" .... Judicial .......... Police and Jails .... Ecclesiastical Schools Miicellan. Eipences . Land purchases .... Charges on Revenue from Sale of Crown Lauds £1,315 15 0 j 218 16 6 i£2,000 0 0 220 0 0 465 7 10 2,267 • 2 7i 1,479 18 5 3,490 7 1 533 0 2 3,298 9 2 344 14 8 475 4 0J 759 5 10 1,115 16 7 623 5 8 2,079 17 7 3.788 0 4£ 5,045 5 4 238 2 6 15 0 0 5,213 19 8 2,231 8 2 400 0 0 1,100 0 0 850 0 0 2,000 0 0 550 0 0 , , 760 0 0 3.788 0 0 3,000 0 0 1,000 0 0 [ 17,635 2 0J 61,859 18 0 15,663 0 0