The Evening Star THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1872.

Evening Star, Issue 3026, 31 October 1872, Page 2

The Evening Star THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1872.

Men in office and men who have been in office very seldom pull together, so it is little to be wondered at that Mr Gotten, who once was Commissioner of Waste Lands, and Mr Thomson, who is Commissioner of Waste Lands, have arrived at a misunderstanding. The two antagonists therefore are very fairly matched, because both knew, or ought to know, the duties of the office, the relationship of the Commissioner to the Provincial Government, and his responsibilities. The question at issue is not, however, one of principle, but of patronage, Mr ex Commissioner Cutten, in the absence of his colleagues, has been Acting-Provincial Secretary, and has felt himself bound to uphold the dignity of the office by calling the Chief Commissioner to account for certain resolutions arrived at by the Board in regard to the appointment of District Land Surveyors, Herein is again demonstrated the absurdity of the Board being” capable of being made use of as a political engine that is to say, if Mr Cutten’s notion of its relationship to the Provincial Government is correct. We are not prepared to offer an opinion as to the merits of the gentleman whose name as surveyor has been dragged into this controversy. We do not suppose that they have ever been canvassed or questioned on either side. The gist of the matter is that Mr Cutten claims for the Provincial Government the power of appointing all surveyors, and haughtily informs the Chief Commissioner that “Appointments made by the Government do not require to be submitted to the Waste Lauds Board.’ The Board is further required to expunge from its books a resolution passed some time ago, to the effect that “ other qualifications being equal, the preference would be given to surveyors who were not land agents.” There is manifest good sense in this, because the duties of land agent and land surveyor in the same district might clash, and though wo might bo allowed t© hope that there ia not a gentleman who combines the two offices who is not high-minded enough to act with the strictest impartiality,

yot human nature has generally a sort ©f yielding towards the side that pays best, especially where the other side happens to’ be the public, to whom (as the phrase goes) it cannot matter who gets a lew acres, more or less, of bush, or a few yards of frontage to a watercourse. In the propriety of this resolution, as against the claim of patronage by the Government, we arc inclined to agree with "the Waste Lands Board. That institution was intended to be a check upon the Government, and it it does not act in that capacity, it is useless. The clause in the Ordinance requiring that surveyors are to be approved in writing by the Board is tor the express purpose of preventing the appointment of incompetent or interested persons, and the public will, with one voice, condemn the r.ncourteous and flippant reply of the ActingTreasurer :

If the Chief Commissioner supposes that either tho Gazette notice of the 17th January, 1872, or tho 40th clause of the Waste Lands Board, 1800, justifies his criticising the appointments made by the Government, be neither understands official etiquette nor the Waste Lands Act.

Our readers will hardly loss approve of tho position taken by Mr CuTTEN ill the following reasons given why the resolution of the Board should be expunged from tho Minute Book. It may bo a question whether it is wise to combine the duties of Chief Surveyor and Chief Commissioner of Waste Lauds. In some respects they may be said to bo compatible, and to fall naturally together. The only objection is that the Chief Surveyor is clearly a Government servant; while the Chief Commissioner ought to be completely independent of its influence. There are, however, such manifest advantages lu uniting the two, that it is only in the hands of a corrupt Ministry that any pressure could be brought to hear to the detriment of the public. Far bo it from us to say for one moment that our Provincial Executive would be guilty of forcing tho Chief Surveyor to do what the Chief Commissioner would condemn. But here is Mr Cutten’s idea of the matter: — It is usual for the Government to ask the opinion of its officers, especially where an applicant for an appointment requires to possess a technical education, hence the reference of the appointment of surveyors is made to the Chief Surveyor, not to the Chief Commissioner of the Waste Lands Board [both of which offices are held by iMr Thomson], for report, chiefly on the applicant’s professional capacity; though at the same time the Government is obliged for the general opinion of that officer. But where that opinion is so inconsistent as to object to the appointment of an applicant for one district on the ground that he is a land agent, the same person being a surveyor in another district, it would of course he disregarded, Wc do not very clearly uudoratand Mr Cutte.vs idea of the functions of a land agent, but presume ho means to say that, if a surveyor applies for a section of land on behalf of a client, no matter where, he should not be entrusted with the survey of it, although within the limits of his own district. We are inclined to think the resolution of the Board arrives at pretty much the same result, though by a different course; at tho same time we see nothing so very exceptional in laud as to take it out of the every-day list of commodities for sale or hire. In mercantile life, agents are more readily entrusted with the sale of goods worth tens of thousands of pounds, than is a land surveyor with the negotiation with the Government fur tho purchase of one hundred pounds worth of land. The conclusion we arrive at from this lively correspondence is, what we have many times urged, that the Waste Lands Board ought to be altogether independent of the Government. One point should not be overlooked : the Chief Commissioner is made to boar the sius of tho Board, although for what Mr Gotten knows to the contrary, for he never attends, he may not even have given his assent to tho resolutions. This is hardly fair.