CORRESPONDENCE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 124, 24 May 1873, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

' " ii i_ f\ | ' . ' • ♦»• Wo are desirous of affording every reasonable facility for the discussion of public subjects; but it must be understood that we are in no way responsible for the opinions expressed by correspondents.

DEPARTMENTAL EXPENDITURE.

To the Editor of the ' Nelson Evening Mail' Sib — I shall be glaci if , you Twill give me, space to make a few comments on your article of yesterday, in 'which you criticise the report of the Committee appointed to consider £he Departmental and Miscellaneous Fxpenditure You imply that there could be but small room for retrenchment when the keen. eye of one of tho;rnerribers of the committee could recommend no more reduction than £3000 on the Estimates sentdo^n, including contingencies. • ■...;■; To that I would reply, that it waa'not because the Committee could see no other items than those enumerated on which to propose f eductions (as myself and other members of the Committed considered they might be r- duced by a very large amount), but wished to abstain from proposing greater reductions than they- thought the Council would be inclined to pas's. I ngret to say the result has so far shown that the Council are not inclined to makeany' reductions worth . speaking of Jn the departments. You dwell nt some' length on the fo T ly of reducing the item contingencies, but when so many queer, aecounts^appear under, that heading, such as anti-separation petitions ' arid btlrers of a like nature, /I for one,;think it is as \*ell to confine the discretionary j>bwer of the Executive within more moderate s limits/-' 1 '■'■'■ '•' ; I quite agree with your remarks as to the expediency 1 of '' the ■ Superintendent travelling much more thanhe doeß, but L think the journeys should be taken much more, frequently and, at other times than just oh the eve of ari election. To be useful they must be taken in a very different 1 spirit to that. ■ Fuch' royal with everything prepared beforehand have not the. practical value.that. more frequent journeys would have ; indeed, as you aptly remark, the knocking about the country. would be more , the sort of ' thing, nor :do I think it' becomes the dignity of the Superintendent of the Province to put down such sums as£2 odd fora constitutional up the Waimea road to see a bridge, which we find twice amongst the. items in t he ; . account. It is such things as these which i' duce'me to think that travelling expenses should be included within the amount of" Salary paid^o tndgeritleT man who now holds the office, and who, I suppose, is to be Superintendient fdr' ! Ufe, r oY till the rttilway is made. If he would jonly. go about the province and see whether wardens having from £50U to £600 a year really required to spend from £50 to £100, ,Sc!)b;lnspe,ctor.s spme^ £140 a year ; jn expenses, and other offi<jer3 in like proportion, perhaps : there .wou^d.;be yaWie recejyed , for., 'l,he mo ley spent; and as you say not even a select committee appointed tp.rfitreneh ;'(with myself as a member) would find fault with the expenditure, but for all that: I :.tbink ithafr. a smaller salary might be attached to that as well as many other offices which have been passed by the Council,, and bring,, , ,the x expended niore within the resources the province^ W$ should then have been able to show a reduction of a few thousands instead: ola .few^ihuudreds as proposed by the committee and the next annual statementof the. Tceasurer' show, a, better state of things than they did in his last, in which it is shown that £23^87-2 r 18s ■sd-was^spent : 4h the departments as azainst the small sum of £16;2iJ9 Tsra Bp?ht in-Fut)iic<Work;B'ia'ail parts of th,Q JProvinpe.. , t T ; '•"'• l : '•■ v - :AU: } a 'Vhzve} &<!.->- : .■:.'•-',.;.' riy.Wji) Gtßus M. P. C.