Hawke's Bay Times. NAPIER, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1863.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume III, Issue 150, 27 November 1863, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. NAPIER, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1863.

It is verv unfr“ ,tu,i «> t,i > m the interests of the present Provincial Government, that the newspaper which especially affects the privilege of giving utterance to the Govermental opinions and sentiments, invariably does so in such a manner as to render the case in which that choice journal’s advocacy is particularly required so supremely bad, that it ever remains a monument of gross errors and perverted judgment. In an article which appeared in the Herald on the 7th instant, the editor pours forth the vials of his wrath upon Mr. Bousfiekl, that gentleman having incurred the special displeasure of the journal in question, we presume upon the ground of his having expressed his opinions to the effect that both it and the Government it supports are “humbugs.” Strong language, certainly; but still, under the circumstances, not so strong as might be expected. We are not now going into the question of the rights and the wrongs of the dispute or difference between Mr. Bousfiekl and the Herald, hut we shall take advantage of some admissions made in the heat of passionate invective indulged in by that journal, and which admissions give powerful proof of the correctness of the position we have always taken up as regards the doings of the Provincial Government in matters affecting the public service.

That Mr. Bousfield was considered a very valuable public servant, and that that gentleman was remarkably free from the besetting sin of most public servants, namely, getting as much and doing as little as they can, is a very well known fact; and further, that he was engaged for nearly twelve years on the survey of this Province, during which time we never heard any complaint against him, would, we should imagine, have proved a sufficient guarantee against any attempt on the part of the Government to deprive him of his well-earned position. But it would seem, from the evidence adduced by the Herald, that nothing is further from the intentions of the Government than to recognise or reward past and long services; on the contrary, that astute journal is at great

pains to show that the intention of the present liberal and enlightened Government was to dispense with the services of their oldest and most useful servant, with very little ceremony and no civility, had not that gentleman, according to the Herald, saved the hangman his trouble by hanging himself. We beg our readers not to infer from these remarks that we are going to take them into a long discussion of Mr. Bousfield’s individual case, that gentleman is quite able to fight his own battles, and if we may judge from the present position of parties he has so far got the best of it. But we are going to deduce from that case arguments which will go to show that under the existing state of things as represented and supported by the Herald, anything more corrupt than the condition in which the public service of this Province is now in, would be difficult to find anywhere else under the sun. It is much to be wondered at that when public affairs are indiscriminately and ill-ad-visedly given away, without regard to the fitness of the persons receiving them, or the utility of the office itself, it should follow as a very natural corollary, that the applications given under such conditions should suddenly collapse, and leave the afflicted sufferer in a state of despair. But when by careful attention and assiduous perseverance, backed by acknowledged merit, unassisted by any attempt at toadyism, a man, after long years of toil, works himself up through successive steps to a responsible position in the public service, he is to be rewarded by a presentation of a notice to quit, it is not a matter of much surprise that that service degenerates into a hotbed of indolence, sycophancy, and ignorance, and that occupiers of situations it look upon honorable distinctions conferred upon them as a token of their worth, but as just so much plunder, of which they are expected to make the most while it lasts. Surely this is very deplorable.

When the disinterested spectator of this state of things, looks at the tremendous heap of offices of one sort or another, made for no other conceivable purpose than that of serving a friend or disappointing an enemy, he is lost in surprise at the passive submission of the people to such a condition of political matters.

If any really useful but unobtrusive public officer's pay can be reduced, or bis office entirely obliterated, a great cry of joy is raised by the Government organ, and that journal calls the attention of the people to the fact that by one masterly stroke of the pen his Honor the Superintendent Ims effected a saving of ,£SO, and suggests that in token of this great mercy vouchsafed to the people a Te Deum be sung in all the churches, and a day of thanksgiving and general jubilee he appointed, which shall conclude by a Public Dinner, and presentation of a piece of plate to that profound statesman. But in the midst of all this noise and bustle, in the height of all this sounding of brass and tinkling of cymbals, his Honor is effecting the destruction of what little order yet prevails iu the Public Departments, and fur purposes of his own is increasing the already chaotic heap of public business into a heap more chaotic still, and while a saving has been effected iu one direction, a most prodigal expenditure is lavished in another, merely to stop the gap made by the preceding transaction.

If any person will have the goodness to look over the estimates passed by the Provincial Council last session he will therein find sums of money voted in the shape of salaries to officers as useless as unnecessary. That enquiring individual would also be struck with the unblushing manner in which, ostensibly for economy’s sake, the Treasuryship was knocked on the head. But the issue of that little matter has proved dreadfully disastrous to the Government, and we believe that his Honor, like many other good men who make great mistakes, would like to have the undoing of that business, as it has proved fatal to the stability of his ad-

ministration. No sensible man will complain of an expenditure of public money so as to secure the doing of the work wanted to be done in a proper manner, and he will not complain of a reduction of unnecessary offices, but he does complain that while for political and party reasons this man and that man are kicked out of their berths, the duties of which they have fulfilled to the satisfaction of the public, the money thus saved is squandered upon favorites and supporters of the Government, in the most unblushing manner.

It is high time for the peace and well-be-ing of such small communities as ours, that this Provincial system of Government undergoes a total and radical change. Let the people manage their own local affairs ; but let us have such modifications of the New Provinces Act as will effectually take away from small party politicians the power of wasting the fatness of the land in riotous and unscrupulous conduct.