The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, JUNE 21, 1872.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 147, 21 June 1872, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, JUNE 21, 1872.

On the 28th of last month there was published a Government Gazette, the plethoric appearance of which must have attracted the attention of all under whose notice it has come. On the first page is a short preface which fully accounts for the goodly proportions of ihe volume to which it is attached, for we are there told that " the following returns of officers in the service of the General, Provincial, and County Governments are published for general inforuiacion, in compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives, dated the 13th of October, 1871." The list is alphabetically arranged, and shows, not only the names, but the salaries of all such officers who were employed ou the lst July, 1871. Thirty-one pages are devoted to officers of the General Government, and as we turned over leaf after leaf of this remarkable muster roll, and glanced at the formidable array of names, to all of which were attached the figures representing the salaries received by them, from the country postmaster with his modest £5 per annum, to the AgentGeneral with his £1500, it appeared to us that it might be well to ascertain the total number of the officers employed and the groBS amount of the salaries they annually draw from the colonial chest. This we have done, and the figure* we are thus enabled to place before our readers are sufficiently startling to arrest the attention of the taxpayers, and to induce them to ask where all this iB to end. It appears that the total number of offices held under the General Government is 2122, which are distributed among 1673 officers, to whom a gross annual sum is paid amounting in round numbers — we have omitted the shillings— to £222,000. But this does not include the salaries of the Governor, the Members of the Executive, the Speakers of the Houses of

Assembly, the Chairmen of Committees, the cost of extra clerical assistance during the session, the honorarium paid to the members, or indeed any of the additional payments attendant upon the sittings of Parliament. All these items would, of course, considerably increase the total, but even then we hsive not done with these alarming figures, for the above have reference only to General Government salaries, and in addition to this there are those paid by the Provincial and County Governments. These we have ascertained to be as follows :—

Tbe returns, from which we have compiled the above statement, do not include the salaries of the Superintendents, excepting those'of Auckland, Taranaki, and Otago; of the Speakers of Provincial Councils; nor of the Police, with the exception of the Inspectors and senior officers; and of course no reference is made to the honorarium payable to the Councillors. But, taking thefigures as wefiad them, it appears that to maintain law and order in New Zealand, and to carry on the business of a .Colony whose population does not exceed 260,000, it is necessary to employ 2237 officers at an annual cost of £337,116. In other words, making allowance for such items as do not appear in the list before us, it may be fairly estimated tbat every man, woman, and child in the Colony is required lo pay thirty shillings a year towards salaries alone. And yet in looking over this formidable roll, it is difficult to say where reductions could be made. Possibly an officer or two might be struck off here and there, but lo effect any material alteration would, as it appears to us, be a task beyond the powers of any of our statesmen. The whole system has grown with our growth, it has become a part of ourselves as it were, and so various and numberless are its ramifications, that he must be a bold man who will begin the work of reform, and a clever and a wise one who will carry it through successfully. One thing is perfectly clear; if we are not well governed in New Zealand, it does not arise from any misguided economy in tbe working of the Civil Service Department.

OFFICERS. SALAKIES. £ OIAGO ... 126 ... 30,060 Canterbtjry ... 77 ... 17,910 Auckland ... 114 ... 14,285 Nelson ... 54 ... 12,523 Wellington ... 42 ... 10,452 Hawke'sßay ... '17 ... 4,045 TARANAKI ... 23 ... 2,584 Maulborottgh ... 21 ... 2,572 Westland ... 90 ... 20,685 Total ... 564 £115,116