THE GLOBE. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1880. IMPERIAL PENSIONS.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2062, 2 October 1880, Page 2

THE GLOBE. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1880. IMPERIAL PENSIONS.

Economy in the present state of colonial finance is very necessary, but there is a limit to all things, and it does seem as if that limit were passed in the treatment of Imperial Pensioners by the Government. For a Government to restore the finances of a country to a sound condition is sublime, for it to pocket an occasional penny that does not belong to it, is ridiculous, and this rapid descent from the sublime to the ridiculous is an accomplished fact at tho present moment. The situation, as we take it, is as following. There are upwards of 2000 Imperial pensioners in this colony, some of them, of course, drawing for very small sums, others for larger ones. The money required for the payment of these pensioners is credited to tho Colonial Government, who have agreed to pay over the various sums to those entitled to them. This is not a gigantic burden to undertake, and as pensioners are well known to be, as a rule, men of probity and industry, the Government have hitherto been willing to encourage their settlement in our midst, and have charged no commission for paying them at intervals. And indeed if any commission were to be charged, the party who should he taxed would bo the Imperial Government, for its regulations provide that no diminution to any pension shall bo made except by order from Head Quarters, and that for certain acts set forth in the said regulations, such as embezzlement of Imperial stores, &c. But what does the New Zealand Government apparently do F It has passed a regulation that recipients of all moneys paid by Government, whether in the form of pensions or otherwise, shall pay one penny duty on each payment by fixing a stamp on the receipt. So far as ordinary payments go that is all very good—tho Government have every right to make such a regulation. With regard to Colonial pensions it may be argued that the matter is different, that a certain pension having been voted, it is unfair to upset tho arrangement in any degree, however small; but this point wo pass over. But, as to Imperial pensions, we fail altogether to see what case the Government can make out for itself.

The money is not Colonial money at all, but Imperial money, which our Government has agreed to pay over for the Imperial authorities. If the Government wishes for a commission, it had better ask for it in the proper quarter, but it has no right whatsoever to mulct the pensioner himself. In parts of the North Island the pensions are, we believe, paid through Colonel Haultain, who is in receipt of a salary for his services, and in foreign countries these pensions are paid Ihrough the British Consuls, a part of whose duty it is to seo to the matter. la neither case has the pensioner to pay a duty for the money. It may be said that if the pensioners were to draw their money through the Banks, there would he exchange to pay, and therefore they should not grumble. That is not to the point. The Colonial Government made no business arrangement with the Homo Government, and has no right, arbitrarily and without the consent of the second party,

to alter the nature of the transaction. And, moreover, there is another |point to bo considered. A good many of these pensions, if they were paid monthly, as they ought to be, would escape the duty, by reason of the smallness of the sum to he disbursed. But the Colonial Government, for convenience sake alone, give out tho sum quarterly, and by this arrangement the sum is raised to one that can bo taxed, and taxed it according is. Now there ready seems to bo something not only unfair but paltry in all this. If tho Colonial Government want something as commission for their trouble, let them ask it from the Imperial authorities, but the pensioners themselves are evidently not the right persons to mulct. It is not a matter of money, hut of principle. A few hundred pennies per quarter is of little importance either to the Government or the pensioners, but the principle of the transaction does not commend itself. As wo stated at tho commencement of this article, there is a

limit to economy, and no Government should be unfair in the smallest particular or make itself ridiculous in tho eyes of the homo authorities or of anybody else.

THE STATE OP WELLINGTON.

An amusing controversy is going on in Wellington between the two evening journals. The “ Chronicle ” is determined to prove that Wellington is going

to tho dogs; tho “Evening Post,” on the other hand, is trying to show that tho Empire city lias no intention of going there at all. Party politics, as is natural, run higher in Wellington than they do in any other part of tho colony. The two journals in question are always laying im wait with a view of journalistically assassinating each other. Tho sevenshootor of tho “ Post ” is opposed by tho sword stick of the “ Chronicle," and the way eacli one blazes away at, or digs at, its adversary would gladden the heart of a Colorado desperado. Tho controversy we have alluded to of course has a political bent. The “ Chronicle ” says there are between 400 and 500 houses vacant in Wellington. This is evidently the fanlt of the Hall Government. The Government organ immediately sends out a man who counts the vacant houses, and finds that there are only 250 of them, and that most of them are mere shanties. Hence Wellington has u®t suffered from the Hall Government. The “ Chronicle ” declares that the exodus to Melbourne and Sydney is composed of immigrants who have been introduced by the Government at considerable expense. The “ Post ” makes inquiries, and finds that tho people who are going over the water are, for the most part, those who have paid for thoir own passages out. The “ Chronicle ” declares that the decadence of the place should be placed on the shoulders of tho present holders of power. The “ Post ” holds a totally different opinion. The ordinary observer will, we think, quite hold with the latter journal. The fact of the matter is, that the extraordinary growth of Wellington was a mushroom growth, consequent on its being the seat of a Government that was expending large sums of money raised by loan. The flow of money ceases, and the mushroom town naturally collapses to a certain extent. Wellington has but little hack country to support it, but its geographical position will always be favorable to it in a commercial point of view. It is destined, no doubt, to play an important part in the history of the country, but time alone can decide what that exact part may be. In the meantime, no general alarm need he excited by the fact that a good number of houses are vacant there, or that a considerable number of people have loft it for Australia. As shown by our special correspondent the other day, tho balance of arrivals over departures in the colony for tho year 1880, up to the 10th of Septem-< her, was 5289, and this in face of tho existing policy as to immigration.