Manawatu Herald. FRIDAY, MAY 13, 1881. MORE RETRENCHMENT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue 73, 13 May 1881, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. FRIDAY, MAY 13, 1881. MORE RETRENCHMENT.

Why is it that the present Government seem to make such strange , selections under the coinbination-of-bffices system? We have heard on the very best authority that it is proposed to appoint policemen as inspectors of machinery in their respective districts, and that upon them will devolve the duty of watching lest the owners of steam machinery work them beyond the pressure allowed by law. Well, there have been a great many jokes in connection with the retrenchment mania, but this caps all. Just picture Constable Gillespie making a tour round the sawmills in the Palmerstou district to look at the gauges of the boilers and see that too much steam had not been got up ! or Constable M'Anulty riding to Paiaka to see that the fireman at the mill there did not pack on too much fuel ! The thing is fright fully absurd. Supervision in such matters in order to be effectual must be constant, and this the Government cannot afford, nor is it necessary. We have glanced over the last report of the Chief Inspector of Machinery, which deals with the period ending March 81, 1880, and find that this department • pjff the public .service is more than self-supporting, as there remained a profit of £170 on the

nine months; also, that the gaugeJtosters which have been imported from home greatly facilitate the work of the inspectors, and that during the period referred to not one explosion took place. Why, in the face of these facts, and in the absence of any recommendation which has been made public, the Government now contemplate making the police officers "boiler-watchers," itwould bo difficult to say. Tho supposition is that they intend to decrease the number of inspectors, so that with the aid of police supervision the boilers need not be inspected so frequently as they are at present. If this supposition is correct, we hope the people throughout the colony will resent retrenchment in this direction. Retrenchment is all very good in its way, but when it impairs the efficiency of services instituted for securing the safety of human life it is time for the colonists to insist on the " brake " being applied. The loss of over a hundred human lives at the Tayarua wreck may be traced to the parsimonious neglect of tho Government in not placing a lighthouse on VVaipapa point. The saving of human life should be thought more of than the saving i-f a few hundred pounds to strengthen a tottering Ministry. Consequently, we trust la.* number of inspectors of machinery will be increased rather than diminished, as they have without doubt done good work. In any case, if the police are to be appointed only as supervisors, it will be a farce, as they have neither the training nor the time to do the work thoroughly.