THE HAWKE’S BAY TIMES. NAPIER, THURSDAY, FEB. 20, 1862.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume II, Issue 34, 20 February 1862, Page 2

THE HAWKE’S BAY TIMES. NAPIER, THURSDAY, FEB. 20, 1862.

Uniformly, as our readers are aware, our efforts have been exerted to show the stringent necessity for retrenchment in the expen' diture of the Provincial funds, and we have at length the satisfaction (such as it is) to find that our arguments are perceived to he just by the great body of our fellow settlers.

Several circumstances have combined to bring this state of m atters to pass—a depreciation of our staple export in the home market, the efflux of a great body of our population to the auriferous districts in the South, and certain other causes, have contributed to produce a stagnation of trade, and commercial depression, which has, in time, been detrimental to the revenue, ordinary and territorial, and these being coupled with the certain and speedy annihilation of the latter through the natural effect of the new native policy, is in every way sufficient to account for the enlightenment of the public, and their representations in Council on the subject of retrenchment and economy, and its absolute necessity.

Much, too much, as it appears to us, blame is thrown, or attempted to be thrown, on our Superintendent, Captain Carter, for the present aspect of provincial affairs, and this, it may be, by parties not altogether disinterested, in order that popularity lost by past misconduct, may be now, in some measure, regained. It is, however, our business as journalists to endeavor to place matters in their true light, and while admitting to the full extent all the blame that is really due to Capt. Carter, to show how much this is, and also that the far greater amount of responsibility rests on those who steered our baric amongst the breakers in the first two years of our provincial history. A golden opportunity, such as is seldom presented to one so situated as Capt. Carter, was offered him for gaining the approbation of the people of Hawke’s Bay, and more than

this, the fame of a reformer of ability to meet an emergency, in the eyes of the whole colony*- Previous to his sending down the estimates for the current year to the Council, the state of the popular mind on the financial question could not but be known to him, and unpleasant as it always is to introduce reforms in this direction, and to meet the opposition of those who would most feel the effect of such a measure, it was a duty he should not have shrunk from—one in which he would have been supported by the general public, and which, from a regard to their constituencies, the members of the Council must have aided him in fulfilling. The great culpability, however, rests more on his late Honor than on him, for it must not be forgotten that the extravagant expenses of the administrative department of the Government did already exist before Captain Carter was returned to the Superintendency; and whatever may be said of his neglecting to introduce necessary reforms, it must be admitted that to introduce the abuses that call for these reforms is worthy of infinitely more unqualified condemnation. But, for the present, leaving the question of culpability, the fact still remains of the necessity for reform. The most casual glance at the estimates as prepared for the current year will show that, after paying the official salaries and Wellington demands, something less than zero is what in all probability will remain for the execution of public works, many of which are of absolute, and others of the most pressing necessity. At the time of the creation of the host of unnecessary offices by the late Superintendent, no one could have been blind to the claims which would be made by the Wellington Government on the revenue of Hawke’s Bay. Keither could any have placed dependence on the paternal care of the late ministry for protection from those claims, seeing how all that was asked by Hawke’s Bay of them was quietly refused or indefinitely postponed ; and even if such dependence could have been placed on them during their continuance in power, it could not be ignored that they were always in danger from their Wellington rivals, who were almost certain at some time to step into power, and (as the event lias proved) then they would not fail to show the young Province what demands they could make upon her. Seeing all this, as no one could fail to do, it was little short of madness to build up a system of machinery almost equal to the Government of a State, when our infant Province only was concerned.

As is well known, we have no sympathy with those who would excuse all this on account of the state of the Provincial treasury at that time, and tell us that the Province could well afford it then. We deny it in its entirety. No Province, no more than any man, can afford to toasle funds at its disposal. The uncertainty of the continuance of prosperity is proverbial; the necessities of so young a Province were at least equal to its means, even then, but much more so now ; and though what has already been done in the way of waste is now enforcing its penalty, it must of necessity pass, and it behoves us to see that, as far as in us lie, we use every exertion to bring about a reform. The estimates are before the public ; in a few short weeks the Council meets to approve or disapprove of them ; we trust that the question will be well ventilated during the recess.