The Globe. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1874.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 95, 19 September 1874, Page 2

The Globe. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1874.

There seem to be very good grounds for the complaints, which are constantly being made, against some of the officials in the Government Buildings. Either the work is too great for the present staff of officials, or else these gentlemen are getting into the same habits of doing business as were in vogue at the Circumlocution office. Correspondents have drawn attention to the extreme difficulty and delay that occurs in getting any account duly checked and passed at the buildings, and the excuse for not doing this necessary work is very often, that the Auditor is away, and as the money cannot be obtained until his return, there can be no necessity for checking the amount. No doubt the Auditor is compelled by his official duties to be absent from ChristGhurch at sundry times and seasons, when it would be much more convenient to impecunious tradesmen who have a claim on the Government, that he should be present at his office ; but there is always the Deputy-Auditor, who, however, does not appear to act as a general rule ; and the reasons for this neglect of his duty we are unable to find out. If they are, that he is not compelled to do the work unless specially called on, then the fault does not rest with him, but with those people who have the power of compelling him to perform the duties of the office he holds. If, however, it is an understood thing that in the event of the Auditor being absent from Cbristchurch, the Deputy Auditor should attend on certain days of the week and take the place of his chief, in this case the Deputy Auditor either does not attend to his duties, or else the creditors of the Government are singularly unfortunate in their attempts at finding him out. Whichever may be the case, it is time that the system was settled, and that applicants for claims, about the justness of which there is no dispute whatever, should not be compelled to wait an indefinite period for their money, through the fault of some official or other. Let the blame, for blame there most undoubtedly is, fall on the right shoulders; and let the delinquent, whoever he is, be compelled to perform the duties which he has contracted to fulfil, and for which his claim for salary will be presented, at the earliest moment allowable.