THE Grey Riber Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1871.

Grey River Argus, Volume X, Issue 794, 11 February 1871, Page 2

THE Grey Riber Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1871.

That the financial circumstances of the Couuty of Westland are iv such a condition as to render the strictest economy necessary in every branch of the publ c service n > one can doubt. This necessity has borne its impress upon the action of the Council in regard to the estimates of expenditure for the ensuing half-year. Tae County Chairman most unselfishly commences with his own salary, which he has voluntarily reduced at ttie rate of £100 per annum, being a reduction of about 8| per cent. Other reductions have been made in Committee, viz., £50 per annum from the salaries of the three Wardens, and a reduced rate of pay to the police. All the other departments have been left almost intact, very little reduction being made in salaries of the clerical staff of the County, Survey or Engineering departments. We coutess we are at a loss to comprehend the basis upon which the reductions have beon made. We could have understoiiii an all-i-onnd deduction of, say, 10 i>f j r cent. ; hut it is quite imxplioa' l'e why one or two uep'irtmeuts only sh-iultl have iH-en >-electe<i for ie pruning knife. T -ere Seems t> hitve been no rule by winch t:e Con ■■■ 1 :ul3 l\-:jul ite<i i<H ttCoirOM.y iX.vji a ■ i b i-iviry eXfiv:se -f >v;.a. ot v ns: j o b un-.raud .ri.t d oTiu. a r i-> . r Li-u, ■>•.!.' d..-.^'v e » .tii i.i',«-b. t-ir iji ■•'. ntary re-inquu.ino'i.t i 1 iilOO >er u;<. !>■'.:■ we oHiini" S''--- wir-'-f .•:>ii'*i y ..- • ■ ;V SO:.iU-.i- c-<- ti.l— liiv O«.:IC>: S .ii • his depart me: :t was n -t ivdiuei. We are certain thnt at least one otticr.-r un er hia official roof, could be dispensed wiUi without impairing the efficiency of the service. The offices of County Treasurer and Secretary to the Council could very easily have been combined in one officer, and no cheese-paring reductions of salary would have been necessary. Tuen again why reduce the salaries of the Wardens to the extent proposed ? In Otago the Wardens, who have lighter work to do, receive £550 per annum and houses. More than the amount proposed to . be saved by docking them of £50 per annum could have been gained by dispensing with at least one, if not two superfluous Wardens' Clerks. Both at Greenstone and Kanieri the work of the Warden's Clerk could be as easily done by the constable in charge as it is at Maori Gully and Clifton. On the Nelson Gold Fields in the Upper Grey District where there is a population of more than half that of all We3tland there is only one Waideu's Clerk— and that is at the Central Court at Allan '-a. Most probably the Wardens will appeal to the General Government, under the Gold fields' Officer*' Salaries Act, 1869, and recover the amount proposed to be deducted. With .regard to the police, the Council ha 3 made a mistake. No doubt the total cost of the force could be reduced without impairing its efficiency, but to effect this properly, the whole force requires re-organising. Just fancy the absurdity of no less than twelve efficers to fourteen meu ! It takes one Inspector, one Sub ditto, and ten Sergeants to look after fourteen constables ! We are aware that it is a difficult and exceedingly unpleasant duty to reduce men's rank, but so long as the police remain under the Council, and have to be paid for by the County, these nice distinctions must be cast aside. It would have been better even to have entirely disbanded the f >ree and re-enlisted the men in the capacity of 'working constables at the old rate of pay than to have perpetuated the existing absurd disproportion of officers at the price of cutting down the salaries. To our mind the Council has adopted a wrong principle in its reductions. A reduction in the number of officials, and keeping only the very best "men at good salaries would be by far the best economy. The course now being adopted will only tend to dissatisfaction and may probably drive away the most valuable servants. And after all the saving effected by this cheese-paring is not ntar so much as could have been secured by a judicious weeding of the service.