The Weekly Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. THE FAILURE OF THE GOVERNMENT SCHEME OF RETRENCHMENT.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 2, Issue 79, 13 July 1868, Page 169

The Weekly Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. THE FAILURE OF THE GOVERNMENT SCHEME OF RETRENCHMENT.

times and urgently we have pressed on -the attention of the the,;necessity nf contracting the ad* ministrative expenditure, in view of thd'fafiing: resources J of the Province, by the!reduction of the number pf officials, receiving salariesand ulsavof the to those holding the higher offices. i-It-was, with 'something ; ofa-feeHngofßatisfactioii jp- Jvtz ■> torpnchment of expenditur&by redurang the ..salaries ot all; officers in receipticl over: <£2so -per'anmunby 20percent. The l readers are

aware, been defeated in Council; and such :reductioii hiia : not beeii iiiadel : : i

j It yfillßfe that; on jthe, financial J . 1 seneihe of ’ the” Governmenf coining. before.the house,- ceriain memberßftook, ./exception to *it as being too extravagant for the present means of the Province; and, mudh against the will bf the Government a committee

was appointed to/investigate the whole matter .with the view of effecting a further reduction in the estimated expenditure ; also, that after such committee whs* appointed, the Government brought on their confidence motion, and succbeede'd in passing it, and in modifying the finance committee by the addition of three other members. On the report of this committee bein brought up it was found that, with one or two invidious exceptions, all the salaries of the Government officials were restored to their original amounts, and the Council, not seeing the justice of making the exceptions indicated, restored .these also to their previous amounts.

The aspect of the. question then at present is as follows; —The Govern ment has tried to effect some reduction of administrative expenditure, hut has been prevented by the Council from carrying out its intention. In review of the whole case several questions of some, importance arise and demand our attention: as, when the Government proposed the contemplated reductions, were they sincere in their intentions of carrying it out ? If so, were they so* far offended by the action of the house in its appointment ol the finance "committee as to resolve on the opposite course ? or, were the intentions of the Government themselves actually reversed by the committee, as modified by the addition Of the ihreO Government inen, and the Government, As well as the house, defeated by that committee ? In any case the position is most peculiar. A scheme of retrenchment is proposed by the Go vernment, which is not sufficiently extensive to satisfy the house, and a committee appointed avowedly to amend and extend that scheme succeeds ini' demolishing it altogether. One thing seems . clear—that it was solely owing to the after addition of the fresh names to the committee by the- Government that such an unfortunate result followed from its investigations, because that result was so different from its first progress report, and we can hardly regard the Government as being in a position to say to the house,* when charged with extravagant estimates, “We did our best to effect a reduction in the expenditure, but you have prevented us : from carry ing out our wishes ” : as at least the appointment of the first committee was in good faith on the part of the house, and its failure to effect its purpose arose from the opposition of the Government,; and their succeeding in effecting an important change in the composition of that Committee.