The Dunstan Times. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1880.

Dunstan Times, Issue 964, 8 October 1880, Page 2

The Dunstan Times.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1880.

Beneath the rule of men ENTir.ELyjusTt/r pen is mightier than the SV.’OUD

The clumpy action of the Government iu their efforts at retrenchment remind us of nothing so much as the battling of a blind man to find a door. The ten per cent, till round reduction is j confessedly a mistake. It was never t authorised, expected, or desired by 1 'he Parliament; but in the burlybury ot delate it was seized upon •>y Ministers as a short, and easy way of cutting the Gordian knot—a process which has gained favour with inexpert uianipulatnrs from the time of Alexander the Great to these days of decadence when Atkinson the Litile rules the roast. There are many officers in the public service who could he dispensed with, without any loss to the community. There arr many departments which could he reduced There are expenses which could be curtailed. And all without

inconvenience to the public. But the I occupants of the Treasury benches appear to be devoid of discrimination. They are preparing a rod for their own backs.. They are mincing wastes and salaries which ongnt not to bo j reduced; they are dismissing men—good and true officers—who ought not to be dismissed ; they are causing the utmost inconvenience to the j nbfie—in a word they are bunglers, not scientists—they have mistaken their vocation—they should have been content to have been clinks merely, f.r they are utterly unfit to be governors. Let us see bow their action will affect this dial) ict. The people do not yet understand it, or they would not be so apathetic in view of the content- : plated injustice. We are to be do- | prived of a clerk and a bailiff Blacks is to be severed from this district and attached to JS’ase'y. The services of the present District Judge are to be dispensed with, and one Judge is to transact the entire business of Canterbury and satisfactory to know that so lit tie judicial supervision is considered necessary. But it is hard to bear punishment, and to stiff, r inconvenience, bo-

cause we are so very proper. If tliero were more rowdyism in the district the Government might think twice before they left us dismembered and uu-ocffiered as they propose to do at present Consider the results. The one clerk is to be stationed at Cromwell. Also the bailiff. Anyone at Alexandra or Clyde requiring the service of a summons will have to travel to Cromwell j to obtain it. Anyone residing tit Blacks or Tinkers will have to travel to Nas ‘by to obtain it. The Land ! business will be similarly distributed, i Applicants for land in Ida Valley or j the * pottis Hundred will have to got to Na«eby to lodge their applications. And then there crops up this difficulty —the District Survey Office is at Clyde. How is the Warden atNaseby to dud with applications for land in the Dnnstan Survey District ! Imagine the trouble that will ensue if a man has to locl.e his application at N'aseby, and the Warden has to get his information from Clyde. The thing in simp'y unworkable, and betrays cross ignorance on the part of the Government, nr whomsoever proposed such an absurd arrangement. As to the District Julge, the proposal to make one .fudge do the whole work of two Provinces— i .eludin'; • ‘oiirts at Christchurch, Timaru, Waimate, Palmerston, Dunedin, Invercargill, Tokomairiro, Lawrence. Cromwell, Queenstown, Clyde, Nusnbv, and Alexandra—is the most, inconsiderate folly. What is to become of appeals, bankruptcy business, civil cases above LIOO, and minor criminal cases, under such circumstances 1 Assuredly the suitor will have to sit long and sadly at the door of justice. The entire sch< me. is base 1 nu simple mithm -tical calculations, and no question of public no essity or convenience has guided

the deliberations of mir |irrsnnt. riders. Unfortunately wedo not dwell in Taranaki, or we should lie dealt with after a much more generous fa-hiou. And wherefore'! Recanse the. Government is timely Major Atkixsos cum WihtAKEii, in whose hands the Dunedin representatives, now, unfortunately for Otago, in the Ministry, are hut as feeble blades of straw—feckless and powerless. Will the people sit still with folded hands and endure (his ? Do the peop'e of Alexandra wish to see the doors of their Gourt c'osed ; and are thev oaten' to travel to Cromwell to transact their business? Do the peop'e of Blacks think their interests will be 1 est served by having to travel 10 a-eby tran-act ihmr business? 5 its n-P ess lo ftiU (tie door Wiiea i hr steed is Sio en, and to be w se ia time is iu be. wise indeed. A moie sensi -io arrangement than that

proposed would have been to cut off Roxburgh, with which this district has literally no connection, and to retain Blacks, which is an integral portion of the district—but who expects anything sensible from the uninformed gentlemen who unhappily hold the ' reins of power at present 1 As to economy—we venture to say, in advance, that there is none in the proposed reductions. The item of travelling expenses alone will, we feel sure, be so increased as to exceed the salaries of the officials who are proposed to be dispensed with. We hope our representative in Parliament will call for a return of these expenses next session. If he does it will be found that the salaries paid to these peripatetic officers form the smallest portion of their incomes. Meantime the public will suffer; tor the proposed reforms mean only' increased incomes to some public officers, gross injustice to others, decreased accommodation to the public, general in | convenience, and withal no saving to i the Treasury. And it most be borne

I in mind that Cromwell will not benelit by the new arrangement, inasmuch as the staff them will remain as at present, whilst Clyde, Alexandra, and Blacks will suffer. It is not therefore a mere question of town against town that we are discussing, hut the general welfare of the entire district, the interests of which are in peril. It the people do not see. this mat ter clearly now, they will see it hereafter, when the Atkinson shoe pinches them, as pinch them ic will, and very severely too.