THE NATIVE DEPARTMENT.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume I, Issue 19, 26 July 1887, Page 2

THE NATIVE DEPARTMENT.

A " reduced ” officer of the Native De-

partment has been giving the Wellington papers some very interesting figures, which prove how abominally extravagant Mr Ballance’s native administration really is, in spite of all that gentleman's boastful cries of the economies he has effected. Valuable officers have recently been dis - missed and their place taken by incompetent place-seekers whose only merit is that of successfully toadying the Undersecretary, Mr Lewis, and the Heaven born Minister who has so miserably bungled native affairs generally. We all know that Sir Donald McLean was accused of extravagance during his regime, and justly so, but even in his term of office, when the total expenditure was about .£50,000 a year and 460 officers were employed, the expenses of the Wellington head office were only £1165 per annum. Now-a-days, under Mr Ballance’s economical (?) rule, although the number of officers in the out districts, including the Assessors, is only one-third of what it was, the head office costs £3089 to maintain. To prove this we append the following table of salaries : — In 1869-70 the head office consisted of four officials, H. Haise, Under-Seeretary .. .. £5OO T. Young, Interpreter 265 S. Vickers, Record Clerk 250 Metar Te Tona, Clerk 150 Total per annum £1165 At the present time the following are employed :— T. W. Lewis, Under-Secretary.. ~ £7OO J. W. Morpeth, Chief Clerk .. .. 400 E. Davis, Interpreter .. .. .. 450 R- Sim, Clerk 120 E. Welch 100 T. Pori .. 80 D. Gage .. 70 E. Pratt . ■ • • ■ • 70 P. Sheridan .. .. 325 (Taken on during the last nine months.) W. Barclay 250 T. O’Callaghan .. .. .. .. 156 O. Silcox 156 M. Macaiister .. .. .. .. 156 Anderson 156 I Total per annum ~ ..£3089

We have heard lut one opinion expressed by those having a knowledge of the Department and ts working, and that is that the man mainly responsible for the jobbery and corruption of the department is Mr Lewis, the Under-Secretary. He is the “power behind the throne,” the man who ruthlessly discharges tried and valued public servants, on the score of economy, only to take on afterwards a whole host of his own particular friends and acquaintances, Take for instance the caseof Mr Vickers for many years the Record Clerk of the, office. This gentleman, who was drawing £3OO a year, was dismissed on the economy " pretext and yet within three weeks five of Mr Lewis’ pets were battening on the unfortunate taxpayers to the tune of £874 a year (When Vickers at £3OO a year was discharged, the fact was trumpeted all over the colony by telegraph, but a discreet silence was maintained about the five lucky men who replaced him at a cost of £874 a year. And this is economy, at least the department says so. What the public will say now they know the truth will be very different.