THE Manawatu Times. SATURDAY, MARCH 22, 1879. A COLONIAL STAR CHAMBER.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 38, 22 March 1879, Page 2

THE Manawatu Times.

SATURDAY, MARCH 22, 1879. A COLONIAL STAR CHAMBER.

"Words are things, and a drop of ink foiling like dew upon a thought, produces that whioh m*k« tbouswd*, perhaps millions think."

Okb of the many things for which the present Government has made*, itself notorious, is the constitution of its Commissions — tribunals whose component parts are of such a nature as not only to defeat 'th'ei. end for which they were appointed, but calculated to turow a farcical halo and ridicule upon their whole proceedings. A few weeks ago a merchant m Wellington brought a series of the gravest charges against the Colonial Architect, accusations which, could they have been sustained, urould have exhibited a state of things unknown outside of the New York Cifcy Couric 1 ; atid m the face of . an idjpeachnient which affected the honesty and integrity of a high public official, the Government appointed a) Cornihission 'whose composition presented ho other idea than that investigation was to be burked, instead of courted. To its credit the Wellington Chronicle denounced the conduct of the Government and the action of its, nominees m its -usual trenr' chant- style, but without a^aiW. The. members of the so-called Commission, all brother officers of . the gentleman accused, acted from .the very outset, with\ such grossly palpable ;■ partiality., that tlie accuser, deeming the' verdict a foregone conclusion, declined to proceed m the matter; and ; as might have been expected^ the report stated the charges to be without foundation. In that case, however, it happened that the party accused was an officer high up m the Service, and the accuser a private citizen, so that, acting upon, the supposition that Civil/servants are swayed bjr feelings [and motives which move ordinary hi^nani ty , we should say. the judg- j ment/ \*jas "gjlyen T< \ipbn the " claw-me-ahd-i'lUcla^^you '* principle. The ens- j tpin .of; allowing, one member of the Civil Service to sit m judgment upon another is vicious iin >; the extreme, but j if ever it beoame necessary at all t6 do ) so, the exception instead of the rule should, be the case. While no good whatever, can result fromiuoh aprac- ' tice, it opens 'the door to abuse; either: from partiality fpr tlie rev^rsei Bad, however,- as was ih.e^ Composition of thej Coxirt of Inquiry in 'Mr. Peter's case, it bears no comparison to' the absurdity i perpetrated m selecting a tribuidal' to ! hear the charges preferred against Mr. Hekry Jackson*, and do justice between him arid his Chief. The SurreyorGeneral m making his accusation against, his subordinate, divides 4t into nine .distinct*6j?Bnees, riot a "single one of whioh but ai*e of such a. nature that it is almost impossible for a lnyman to deQide fa}rlj ; ,upon the: question ; and consequently those who assert that the tribunal selected t0 tr 7 Mr, Jac^sq^ ;

was packed, have very, good reasons to adduce m support of their statement. In a matter like the present, involving the fame, reputation, and prospects of an old and highly efficient public servant, it behoves the people and Press of this Cojony to protest against the ! Stair: Chamber proceedings by which a man's character and livelihood have ,been ruthlessly taken from him. When tile master of a vessel loses his ship, by a wise and equitable provision he is put upon his trial before those whose nautical knowledge and science give their Utterances and judgment an ex cathedra weight ; but what has been the nature of the tribunal before whom Mr. Jackson was put on his trial— three very subordinate officers m their several departments, who had as much knowledge of the technicalities of surveyors as a cat has of conic sections. What could Mr. William Gkay, the Secretary of the Post Office, know of the difference of surreys upon magnetic or approxi- | mate magnetic meridians, or those conducted on true meridian ? Would Mr. R. G-. Fountain — who no doubt is an admirable subordinate m the Law Office— be likely to be an authority upon topographical plans, angles of triangles, altitudes of station, reductions on meridian and perpendicular, and all the other professional phrases brought before him? Or would Mr. R. C. ' Hamkhton's efficiency m the Stamp Department fit him to even understand what was meant by the methods of record and reduction, or the measurement of base lines ? We think not, and if we are not mistaken such will be the verdict of all who take a common-sense view of the case. If the Government had been desirous to mete out justice, tbey would have taken the precaution j to appoint men to deal with the case [ outside of the Government service altogether, whose decision upon the score of impartiality could not be impugned, and secondly, possessed of the necessary professional knowledge to give their opinions and verdict as .'those of experts. There cannot be the least doubt that m ever appointing that antiquated, acrimonious old. fossil, Mr. J. T. Thompson, to the position of Sur-veyor-General, a most egregious blunder was committed ; and the only question for the Commission to decide was the guilt or innocence of f Mr. Jackson qf. charge of insubordination- -or, m "other words;- did Mr. Jackson do his best to perpetuate the blundering system introduced into the Service by his stupid and stubborn superior. That is really the question which the tribunal was appointed to try, for we notice the swollen . list of charges is made up of many such as the following : " That your mode of keeping office maps m rolls round the walls is singular m its want of cleanliness." Of MjvHenby Jackson's ability we will liave occasion to speak further on, but we will now deal with what the whole of the charges put into a nut-shell amount to — insubordination or disobedience of orders. Mr. Jackson has been known as a truthful, honorable gentleman, and the spirited manner m which he chose to reject with scorn a sum not far from £1000 m preference to leaving the service with a stain upon his reputation, is a convincing proof of the instincts of the man keenly sensitive for his honor. He is just the very person that had he set himself down m opposition to his Chief— being fully aware of his own acknowledged superiority— would have proclaimed rather than striven to hide his antagonism to the ordered working of the Department. But we will let Mr. Jackson speak for himself, and then .leave those who have known him for the past dozen years to say whether they believe him or not. In his reply to the charges he says : — But, Gentlemen, on my honor Ideolare that however widely I may have differed m principles of surrey from those of the Sureyor-General, and however repugnant to my feelings and oontrary. to my in■tilled mathematical tenets the new system . may be, I have, nevertheless, endeavoured to carry out m the most conscientious manner, possible the regulations issued ( by the Sur-veyor-General, and that I will, morover, certainly continue to do so whilst they remain the law for the conduct of surveys m thi» country, bo long as I hold the office of Chief Surveyor. " •■r.'ic"/^': We will not make one line of comment upon that assertion, which bears truth and honor m every line it. When it is borne m mind that Mr. Jackson hold the most prominent position m (She Provincial District before the abolition of the provinces, that he aot only possessed a Colonial but an almost European reputation, and that the present Surveyor. General was not only far his inferior m ability, but a stranger to the Province, we think that, if at the end of a long period cf . service he could pen such a statement as that quoted above, particularly under the petty : tyranny to which he has been meanly subjected, it is a strong proof of that discipline whose ex : perience he gained m the service of his Queen. The manly independent tone of his reply to the charges is a. contrast which puts to shame the brutal letter of his superior convey ing the informaction that he . has been dismissed the -public service. Tbat document, "alone furnishes the I key-note to his persecution, and evinces a spirit of triumph at the riddance of a dangerous rivaL It is just possible Mr. Thompson has warbled his pmari of triumph a little too soon, and that he may yet learn t'jat packed juries, and, prejudiced judges are^ things of the past. By his contemptuous refusal of the bribe for his silence, Mr. Jackson has left -himself free to appeal, for justice. to i.the country and the Parliament, when m spite of his high position and the toadying report of the Triumvirate, the Surveyor-Gene-ral may find that retribution may reach one placed even upon the pedestal of security m which he fancies himself. We regret that our space precludes us from giving at length the very high testimony borne to Mr. Jackson's ability by Major Palmeb, a gentleman who asserts that at the time he was called upon to give his report, j;lie surveys of . the Wellington District had been, brought out of the muddle, confusion, and chaos by the very system which is now high treason to look at. We feel a gross injustice has been don© to an old and valued servant of the State, ' and a system of petty tyranny exercised over an honorable and sensitive gentieruan, and although our weight may not be much, we throw m inio the scales with those more powerful than ourselves m denounoing the disgraceful partisanship" exhibited by the Commission, In our nest issue we hope to find

room for an extract from Major Palmeb's report, for the benefit of those at a distance, to whom possibly Mr. Jackson's abilities may not be known, so that they may judge of the gentleman who has been hounded out of the service, and lost for a. time — but only for a time, we trust— tai&e country.