WELLINGTON.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 60, 23 March 1880, Page 2

WELLINGTON.

« _ (I'KOjr OUR OWN COnaESPOXDENT). HAILWAY COMMISSION. This is .an a^e of Royal Commis-. sions there being no less than five sitting now, viz, Kail ways, Native Affairs, Higher Education, Local Industries Protection, and Civil Service. The Railway Commission has settled down comfortably to work. Of course the deliberations of the Commission are conducted in private, so that there _h very little, chance of getting to know

their opinion on any particular work until their report is published, but the supporters of the Wellington and Eoxton line should have nothing to fear, and the sooner the Commissioners declare their verdict the bettrtr. I hear that it is contemplated to obtain the service of Mr Higginbotham, late Chief Engineer to the Victorian Railways, to assist the Commissioners, and doubtless much benefit would result from so eminent- an authority being associated with them, but some little delay might possiblj tesult in getting him here, and as the time before the assembling of Parliament is already very limited, no delay that can be avoided should be permitted .to take placa. LOCAL INDUSTRIES COMMISSION. The Commission appointed to enquire into the expediency of protecting local industries consists of Messrs Murray,. .Bain, and Wakefield, M.H.B.'s and Mr A. J. Burns, the Westport Colliery Company's manager, and the promoter of the Mosgiel Woollen Factory. The enquiry, involving, as no doubt it will, a +our all round the Colony, may prove a very pleasant and not very lahorious task to the Commissioners, but it is very unlikely, I think, that Parliament will agree to place duties on all sorts of articles that could be manufactuted here merely for the sake of putting so much money into the pockets of the manufacturers. Taxing the majority tor the sake of the few is hardly a politic principle. CIVJ U • SERVICE COMMISSION. There is no doubt that there is scope enough for all the energy that this Commission can bring to bear to satisfactorily bottom this most difficult subject, but considering the shortness of the time before the meeting of Parliament, and the composition of the Commission (Messrs Saunders and Kelly, M.H.E.'s, and Sir Robert Douglas and Mr Charles Pharazyn), I fear it will be an exceedingly barren affait so far as results are concerned. Nevertheless seme of the crying evils may be redressed, and it is to he hoped that the Commission will most strenuously urge the necessity of passing some new regulation to prohibit the hestowtl of the very Best positions in the service on political suj porters, and men who have done all kinds of underhand backstairs work, to serve a Ministry in distress. The Civil Service Examination farce, too, sadly needs putting on a proper footing, and regulations should be made rendering it obligatory on all officers entering the service to pass at least the Junior examination within at least 12 months of their entering, and not to be eligigible for promotion beyond a certain grade until they have passed the senior examination. At present. I am reliably informed not 10 per cent of the civil servants in the Colony have ever passed any examination at all, and a very large proportion never could if they tried." Then as to reductions. There is no doubt that reductions could well be made in certain quarters, but time and much careful study of the question will be necessary to enable the Corns mission to tender reliable advice on this head. TUB UNEMPLOYED. The " unemployed " cry is being heard again. The requirements of the farmers during harvest enabled the Government to greatly reduce the number of men engaged on the railway works in Canterbury and Otago, but now that the harvest is all in, men are again clamorous for work, and work is being found them at from 3s to 4s per day, Govern ment providing tents, but not tools or rations. This unemployed difficulty seems likely to be of rather a lasting character, as even when business looks up again, employers will this time be as cautious as previously 'they were reckless, and channels of employment will be slow in opening. It therefore behoves the Government to devise some ,scheme by which the men employed could have some portion of their earnings devoted to the purchase of pieces of land '(which should be sold at a very., moderate price, and on the easiest possible terms'), so that by degrees these poor fallows might develop into independent settlers and produceis, instead of being a burden to the State, and living on what is next door to charity. There is no doubt that tho population of our large towns, compared with the pojjulation in the country, is abnormally large ; and that before permanent prosperity can return to our cities this surplus population must be drawn off, and located where profitable employment can be found for it, and the only way in which this can be done is by the waste lands of the Crown being thrown open on more favorable terms than at present. It wttold pay the Government to .give theses men the land if they could only^e induced to settle upon it, and so relieve the Government fiom the task of keeping from 2,000 to 3,000 men in employment on a lot of out-of-the-way railways that will never be of any use when they are done.