The Globe. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1877.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 1076, 8 December 1877, Page 2

The Globe. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1877.

The shelving' of the Civil List Amendment Bill will lie generally looked upon with satisfaction by all sections of the community. The effect of this wonderful Bill, had it become law, would have been to reduce the salaries of Ministers in the aggregate by £2250. Ministers had but little to say in its favor, Sir G. Grey confining himself to the moral effect it would have in showing a public example of economy in the face of “the “ gross extravagance which had grown up “ in the Government, and spread to other “ bodies throughout the colony.” He said also, “If the House refuse “to support the Government on the “ first step towards economy it is “ poor encouragement to enter upon “ large reforms.” Notwithstanding those appeals, the House appears to have regarded the Bill as mere affectation of economy, and shelved it. Now, however extravagant the public administration may have been in other respects, Ministers have never been extravagant in salaries. Considering the responsibilities of the position, it would have been false economy to reduce the already miserable salaries of Ministers, Not only are they much below those paid to Ministers in the other colonies, but they are less even than those paid to many holding responsible positions in private firms. Had the proposal of Ministers been carried, it would have had very little value as an example of economy, and it would have been prejudicial to the interests of the country in other respects. Had the Bill become law, the highest officer in the Government of the country would have been practically shut against a large class of colonists from whose ranks our best public men spring. Men in business, who by their own ability and industry are giving indications of successfully managing their own affairs, are the most likely class to look after the best interests of the country. But they cannot accept office except at considerable sacrifice, and their sense of duty to their own households would probably prevent them from giving their services to the colony at all, unless the salary paid is such as to enable them to make provision that their own affairs are not neglected. If those men are excluded from office, then it is left to the wealthy, or to a still more objectionable class, —the political adventurers. We do not think there are many in our midst who would hail with satisfaction the advent to power of either of these two classes. For the sake of the power and patronage it brings, there are many, even in New Zealand who would willingly occupy the Ministerial benches, without salary at all, while on the other hand, there are, as a contemporary puts it, plenty of men to whom even the temporary enjoyment of a salary of £IOOO a-year would he a “ financial millennium.” If the colony is to be well governed, the same writer we have quoted above, says, “it must he “ governed by. the people, by men who “ know and sympathise with the wants “ and aspirations of the settlers of the “ colony—men who share the feelings and “ are actuated by the same hopes as the “ great hulk of its inhabitants.”