The Globe. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1877.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 819, 6 February 1877, Page 2

The Globe. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1877.

We wonder how long it will be before the Government of this Colony comes to recognise the duty as well as absolute necessity of living within our means. We have grown so accustomed to the expenditure of borrowed millions that it would appear that we cannot bring ourselves to look our position honestly in the face, and make up our minds to deny ourselves the many luxuries we cannot honestly afford. At a time when it is known the Colonial Treasurer has the greatest difficulty in meeting the demands upon him, we still continue to go on as if we were possessed of untold wealth. We have just witnessed the spectacle of our representatives attending a cable conference at Sydney, and taking part in deliberations involving, if carried out, additional expenditure uponcablesubsidiesfar beyond the means even of the wealthiest of the colonies, and which in the case of New Zealand it would be utter madness to undertake. Surely we have done more than we are justified in undertaking when we gave a guarantee to the Construction Company for the New Zealand cable. A duplicate line to Europe would no doubt be exceedingly convenient to our merchants, and occasionally to our Government; but in our opinion the expenses incurred in sending the Hon. G. McLean and Dr. Lemon to the Conference, small perhaps as they were, are a waste of money and in our present circumstances an unjustified expenditure. The example we have quoted is only one among many which might be brought forward to prove that our colonial expenditure is based upon a far too extravagant basis. Not content with cable connection we must next try to get it duplicated. We must have an expensive, and unnecessary mail service, for that via Suez would meet all our requirements for years to come. Our inland postal arrangements are also based upon far too extravagant ideas. We can safely affirm that a large sum might be saved, in one item aloneinland services—had our Government the pluck to refuse all subsidies which were not paying, or which the necessities of the colony at large, and not the wants of half-a-dozen people demanded. Particular attention was called to this question during the last session of the Assembly. It was shown that, in this respect, we are far more luxurious than they are in the old country, where, notwithstanding the large revenue derived from the Post Office, the authorities were much less liberal in granting local offices than we are here. The same spirit of wild extravagance pervades nearly all the departments of the public service, but it is unnessary in this article to enumerate the items at length. It is evident, howover, that we cannot much longer continue as we have been doing. There are signs that we shall have to look our position in the face before long, and make up our minds to do without many luxuries we have hitherto enjoyed.