THE GLOBE. MONDAY, MARCH 22, 1880.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1896, 22 March 1880, Page 2

THE GLOBE. MONDAY, MARCH 22, 1880.

The number of Royal Commissions appointed by the present Government has afforded the Opposition papers a peg on which to hang a considerable amount of ferocious writing. For instance, the “ Lyttelton Times ” has “ run a muck ” against everything and everybody connected with the subject. It has gone through a list of gentlemen appointed to each Commission, and has issued the tremendous judgment that they have been weighed in the Gloucester street scales and found wanting. Our contemporary is of opinion that a number of them have been appointed with the sole view of giving them, as Government supporters, a holiday and its proceeds as follows : —“As they roam over the country wo can only wonder whether they will exercise any forbearance in the matter of good living, for we are perfectly sure that, when they send in their accounts, no questions will bo asked.” The idea hold by the “ Lyttelton Times ” as to a thoroughly enjoyable holiday is diverting. It is well known that none of those Commissioners who are members of the House will receive a fraction beyond their bare travelling and hotel expenses, but the excitement of moving about the country and the unutterable pleasure of sitting for weeks listening to an unending amount of evidence is supposed to bo a reward of such magnitude as to bo reckoned by the Government as a sufficient requital for political services however great. That this is the opinion 1

of our contemporary is evident, unless it lias some secret means of knowing that the Commissioners do not entirely devote themselves to the dull details connected with their several enquiries. Should the Commissioners have taken to playing poker or whist instead of sticking to business, the “Lyttelton Times” had better out with their information at once, and the Government could then see to it. But the solicitude of our contemporary respecting the diet of the Commissioners is the really touching part of the story. With an apparently intimate acquaintance with all the domestic details connected with the Commissioners, our critic is very anxious that none of them should over-eat or over-drink themselves. The golden opportunity of eating pate-de-foie-gras at the’public expense is not likely to be resisted by gourmets of whom our critic wots ! Before his mind’s eye has evidently risen a harrowing picture of tables loaded with delicacies, both in and out of season, flanked by flagons of the rarest wines, to be paid for by a taxridden country, while admission to members of the Press is strictly prohibited.

Regarding, however, the appointment of the Commissioners in a less desponding light than does our contemporary, and having more faith in the individual capacities of the various members to restrain their unhallowed appetites, wo must confess to feeling that unless the Commissions are thoroughly well managed the Government will suffer severely. The sole object of these Commissions is to collect evidence and digest facts, and to place the result of their investigations in a readable form before Parliament when it meets. As for the assertion that the Commissioners are appointed as buffers between the Government and the House, the idea is simply ridiculous. The House would instantly know how to deal with any Government that attempted to put in practice such a subterfuge. But if the Commissions do not do their work in a business-like and thorough manner, then it will bo in the long run conceded by all that they have been a great mistake, and the Government will suffer thereby. Details therefore respecting the working of the various Commissions will be read with much greater interest than any amount of vague declamation as to the unconstitutional nature of their existence. A northern journal has, in an amusing article, complained of the rapid manner in which the Railway Commissioners have been flying about the country, and hints that it is impossible that efficiency could be combined with such rapidity. The Wellington “ Evening Post” too has been somewhat severe on the Civil Service Commission. It objects to its method of examining the members of the Civil Service. Heads of departments are unlikely to assert that the service is overmanned, while it is even more improbable that subordinates will “cut their own throats” or those of their fellows by testifying to the practicability and advisableness of reduction. What ought to have been done says the “ Post,” was this .—“ The Commissioners should have resolved, in the first instance, only to take evidence for their own guidance in framing their report. That evidence should have been treated as absolutely secret and confidential. Each witness should have been made thoroughly to understand that the nature of his evidence would never, and under no conceivable circumstance, be allowed to transpire; that the shorthand report of his testimony would bo destroyed immediately the Commissioners had decided on their recommendations; and that no record whatever would be preserved that could be used against him at any future time.” It, in reality, appears that more practical good would have obtained by this latter method. The Commission, however, is entitled to its own views on the subject. By the fruits produced by the various Commissions will their utility be judged. Should they succeed in collecting and digesting the varied information which the Government trust they will be able to collect and digest, the country is pretty sure not to object to the cost of the hotel expenses and travelling allowances of the Commissioners.