GOVERNMENT EXTRAVAGANCE.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 15, Issue 771, 21 March 1870, Page 3

GOVERNMENT EXTRAVAGANCE.

f Wellington Dally Advertiser.] People may say what they like of u<s, we are either a very rich or a very foolish people—or rather-we have & Government who believe us to be very rich or very foolish; but there is a limit to all things, as one of the sages of old used to express himself in his own vernacular, Est modus in rebus. We know how the present Ministry boasted, if the old S. afford Ministry were ousted from office, that they would save the country a certain amount of expense; how they would capture Te Kooti within a certain time; how they talked of Whit more playing the fool in in useless march e?, retreats, and countermarches; how Fox got up his supposed Maori letter supposed to have been dropped by a Maori who seemed fco have an intimate acquaintance with Titokowaru and his movements, in which Whitmore is caricatured as a flea, "and great was the jumping of that flea." Whatever be the faults of Whitmore and his expedition, we know that he was consistent; and, however great his shortcomings as a General (and they were not a few), yet he never led us to expect results of such a nature as to astonish the weakestminded individual in the Colony. He planned certain movements, and they were, not carried out, because our rulers deemed them unnecessary, but are now adopting the self-same line of action. M'Donnell is selected, and we know the result. Already the Cabinet is divided on the subject of his command. We never could see how he had qualified himself for a post of such an onerous nature, and we are not displeased to learn that the distinguished task of capturing Te Kooti is entrusted to other hands,

By the latest telegrams of our contemporaries we learn that the Auckland portion of the Colonial Ministry have decided upon giving “ Fox and his party ” <£5,000 towards capturing the great rebel chief. We presume the Fox referred to is some relative of our Premier ; but if To Kooti has evaded the cunning Premier, is it not likely that he will baffle the wily stratagems of any other Fox! The hon. member for Rangitikei might reflect when he next meets the assembly, before reading a pretended letter from some great chief in allusion to his own exploits, who may fully compare him to the old frog in the fable. We are not so simple as to take all this chaff in, and we tell Mr Fox that he will have to put all his genius to the test when he meets the House—which by-the-bye is prorogued for a longer period, in order to give Ministers breathing time for maturing some pet scheme before they are turned out of office. Expenditure seems the order of the day, end when we learn that the present office-holder's have already spent in one item alone, viz., military expenditure—or rather de-militarised ex-penditure-double the sum voted by the Assembly for that purpose, we think the sooner they are brought to an account the belter. And, whilst on this subject, we would call the attention of the colonists 'co a wanton piece of extravagance in the way of military expenditure, viz., that of Inspector of Militia and Volunteers, What in the name of common sense is the meaning of having this officer ? Is it to place our citizen-soldiers on a war footing, or to perform anything more than the ordinary routine of goose-step and company drill? Will the inspections render the men one whit more efficient? We can scarcely think so. Ho, it as to provide a comfortable position for a live Colonel, who has been deprived of a more important command, and that, too, at a tune of three guineas per diem as travelling allowance, and his usual pay besides. We must be a rich people to afford to pay for such a luxury, and what is the result ? Why the more days the more dollars. We ask again what do we want with this officer? Is it to correct the inefficiency of th©

juiinerbiis Colonels who grace tbei Colonial roll of officers. We can; scarcely tliink so \ at least we have up to this considered that the gentlemen who commands this district was aufait at his work, and able to do all the duty required towards* perfecting the discipline and training of our local forces. There is only one alternative which suggests itself to us, namely, that certain persons must be provided for, and that at the expense of our already over-taxed population. We know certain officers who are large land-owners in the Waikato and Tauranga districts who used to ha\e their labor obtained cheaply at the Colonial expense, and deprived of thar, some other little snug quarter must be obtained. We can scarcely blame a nvm for receiving even more pay than he is entitled to, but we do object to any man receiving public money for doing nothing, or for pretending to do work which when done amounts to nothing, and which is of no benefit to the party who pays for it. Tt is now come time since the gallant Inspector of Volunteers commenced to make his rounds; it will be much longer before he finishes his work. We do no* wish to speak disparagingly of his qualities as an officer, but we do protest against his appointment, as one which is by no means likely to confer any benefit upon our local forces. Either one of two things: our commanders ot districts are superfluous, or our lnspec tor of Volunteers is an officer whose services we can dispense with. Have we not an Inspector of Stores; could not he do the work ? for we know that his other duties are light, and capable of being performed by one clerk. No, we must keep up our appearance of being a rich people, and next year we hope to hear of the appointments of Inspectors General of Stores, Militia, Volunteers, Armed Constabulary, and Nuisances.