The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1874.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 263, 5 November 1874, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1874.

The correspondence wbich we published on Mon lay is not calculated to render service, under the Provincial Goverament of Nelson a thing to be desired, showing, as it does, that -throremtrero ofthe Executive daimthe right to bring charges of the grossest nature against their servants, and then to refuse to allow thenuthe. only.- satisfactory ; opportunity of , clearing themselves, namely, a public inquiry. In the present instance, the narrative of events, so far as it may be gathered from the correspondence, is of an exceedingly interesting nature. It commences somewhat abruptly, but we learn that the clerk to, the Superintendent had received notice that he was to be removed to Weatport, the reason given for this strp being that he did not possess tbe confidence of tbe Government. Confidence, after all, is but a matter of opinion, and, if tbe Executive did not feel thatth-y could repose it in their clerk, they had a perfect right to remove him. The officer referred to appears to have recognised tlm, aud in a most, courteous and respectful letter he at once expressed bis readiness to comply with the wishes of his superiors. An internal of , four days elapsed without his receiving any further communication, and he theo, naturally feeling anxious abouc his fate, again wrote asking it any decision had been arrived at Bui, during that interval of four days, an unexpected and somewhat embarrassing contingency had arisen. Mr Bowen, who was to be removed to kelson refused, as we learn from the Weatport papers, to come, probably preferring io retain his situation in the service of the General Government, about which there was some degree of permanency, therein diffei iug from that of the Provincial Government. Still the Nelson clerk had to be got rid of, and consequently, he, in reply to his second letter, received an Executive Council memorandum containing the grossest and most disgraceful charges against himself. We use the word "disgraceful" advisedly, for, if true, they were disgraceful to th* clerk, if untrue, disgraceful to those who preferred them. If true, the accused should have been summarily dismissed the service,if untrue, the Government were guilty of the most cruel injustice in making them. Their serious nature may bd gathered I from the interpretation put upon them by the accused party himself. He briefly but pithily summarisea them thus : — 'Perjury, complicity with : &- road ovtraeer to obtain money wrongfully from the Provincial Treasury, the opening of public letters, and breaches of confidence." It is tme that later on the Executive somewhat modified the first of these. They did not mean to accuse him of perjury but only of lying. We are not now going to discuss the truth or otherwise of the charges Which have been replied to as satisfactorily as is possible within the limits of an ordinary letter. To the unexpected torrent of accusations which was ponred upon, his devoted head, the clerk writes an indignant, or, as the Government call it, a *• reprehensible" reply. We cannot agree with them in the nse of this term When »n officer who ftelshii innocence is charged by his employers with everything tbat is base, it is not to be wondered at, nor can he be blamed, if, in replying, the serva> t b comes merged in the man. or if the tone of his reply is somewhat different from that customarily used in communications between employer and employed. In the present instance ihe accused adopted the only course open to him, and made the not unreasonable request that an enquiry should be instituted before a Board, consisting of two gentlemen to be named by the Executive, and two by himself, the Superintendent presiding. But it no i appears to hvre occurred to the Executive for the first time that there exists a vast difference between making charges and substantiating them. They refused a public enquiry, but, in lieu thereof, they made a most extraordinary proposition, namely, that Captain Bough should take evidence in the case, which evidence was to be carefully' stowed away until ihe Provincial Council met. He was not even to make aoy report, but merely to preside over tlie taking of t evidence, which was to be put by f,.r six months and then submitted to a political tribunal. Tne Provin. ial Secretary, with his ( usual astuteness, no doubt saw that if his Government should happen to be popnlar at the time of the meeting of the Council, it would be easy for him to make the matter a.. " Ministerial " question, Hnd to cmc down to the Council and say, " Gentlemen, if your verdict is against us on this business we shall send in our r signations," ani the Council, if satisfied with their policy on other heads, 1 wonld scarcely be prepared to turn the Executive out of office mercy because .they had acted harsuly and unjustly to a clerk, and so an unsatisfactory conclusion wou'dprobably be a/rjvtd at. „ If, on tne other Juno, tbe Executive had forfeited the confidence of the Council upon othtr questions, it would matter little. to them that there wes one count more' or less io the indictment. , ■ The clerk, as might be expected, positively refused to be a party to an* such mock enquiry, but agreed to submit the whole case to Ciptain Rough— a gentleman of nigh standing, universally respected, and ot large official experience—' and to allow him to be the j udge, merely stipulating tliat the whole affair should be made public without delay Bui the Government were seemingly atraidto appeal to an unbiassed and unpolitical tribunal, and their reply to this ne * proposal was tliat -as the accused object -d to the mode of inquiry they had suggested, they coosiderel it was ''no longer necessary to hold any such enquiry." And bo the-, avoided it : for the time. The clerk was, in tbe meantime, offered a temporary appointment in the service elsewhere, but this he declined to accept, and the consei quenco was tbat he was dismissed with three f months' pay. Now, what will be thought ot our Government service when this correspondence is read throughout tfce provJnce,.anji in. otber pwts ' of thu colony ? Will it not be brought into j the most thorough disrepute ? Who that I could e^ni biSj Jiving in any other possible j roanm r would enter a service in which, as Mr . Curii* bas put it, "pjliiieal chaiges over » which ho coull have no control" might « resole in his being charged with the most > htiuiusotlenie-, the right of tnquiry before ( an unohwsed' judge or boJjr of judges being.] absoluiey deuieuhim ? as in this instance, be (iiitfht, alihou^f perfectly conscious of his I inno ence, be accused of ever> thing but > i rime in the leg*al sense of the word, and reiused an opportunity of clearing himself. He migbt have a list of the gravest charges 5 thrown ai his head, his accusers not atttmp!ing to (rove < hem, but lajung upon bim the ,01ms of proving that theswere untrue. To t prbvca negative is of m ii&oga the. most , difficult, and ) et a clerk \fJlO was not so well knowii as the one now* in question might ■uddenly find himself redacel to the alternative ot doiog that or beidjf removed from his office with a blackened character. Suppose snch a course were pursued in otber matters, and that the police were at liberty tp arrest a man ' » on a charge of theft, to decline to prove tha charge, and then to secure a conviction \ because tbe unfortunate pri»->nerwas not at

the moment in a position to prove he was not a thief. Would cot all the ga?la and honse* ot correction ia the colony be infinitely too limited in size and ia number to conta n the inmates for whom they woald lave to provide . accoii modation ? • And "ijet/otf* Provincial Executive consider themselves 5 justified in adopting such a line of action — repugnant as it must be to every man's sense of justice— to a public servant. A lew, a very lew. ye»rs of such conduct on the partof the authorities, and the Provincial Government will find itrelt served-i-well, jast as well as it deserves to be. V There is yet another phase of this affair which cannot escape comment. At the close - oir the correspondence will bo found a- - letterfrom the bujierintendent bearing testimony to the character for honesty, fidelity, and capacity for hard work borne by his clerk whom the Executive had dismissed. How could be, is the question asked on all sides, while entertaining so high »n opinion of that clerk, stand quietly by and see him thrust out of the office? We know not the secrets of what a member of the Provincial Council once urmed the «« Executive prison house " beyond what has been revealed oy Mr , Patt, who has fold us ; tnat the way % .wliich the business of the province is conducted is tbat the .Secretary, Solicitor, and pottfolioless member first shut themselves up in a room together and decide what they will do, and 1 then go into Council prepared to, vote in a body against the Superintendent. This, we presome, was the coarse paraded in the process ot accusing and dismissing tbe clerk, but it would be interesting tb know whether any protest was entered by Mr Curtis against the injustice that has beet; perpetrated throughout. this transaction. But he might have taken a still more determined, more dignified, and more practical stand, and said, " Gentlemen, tbis is my e'erk, and I will at least see that justice is done him." But he did not. And Mr O'Conor, stung as he mast have been by the implications of falsehood against the Executive contained in Mr Curtis' letter, must also have laughed in his sleeve as he derived therefrom a proof of the complete mastery he bad gained over the Superintendent. . Something in . this style must have been bis reflections : — ' His Honor the Superintendent knew that I was depriving the province of an excellent officer " of wellknown ability, and proved integrity, of long experience, and intimate acquaintance with the duties of his office," and yet he dared not oppose me beyond the utterance of a feeble '-"JNO." ! ... '