RETRENCHMENT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 147, 21 June 1880, Page 4

RETRENCHMENT.

. (N.Z. Times.) ''-' The question of retrenchment has never within our recollection, engaged public attention so generally as it engages it at present, nor, indeed, has the necessity for retrenchment ever been so urgent as it is at present. It was not many years ago that a leading public man, the only one of our public men, perhaps, who may properly be called a statemao, expressed hia conviction, in his place in Parliament, that the people did not feel the taxation, heavy as it was, compared with the taxation of less favored countries. He j referred, of course, to the indirect taxation, for at that time the whole of / the, colonial revenue was raised by j Customs and stamps. He predicted, however, that the time would come . 'when the taxation would be severely ; felt, and that then, and not till then, the question of reducing the expenditure would be Beriously entertained. We live; fast in New Zealand, politically as well as sooially, and the time that that statesman spoke of has arrived : far sooner than even he anticipated. '• The taxation has increased oat of all - proportion to the taxable material. It "already presses; heavily upon every class, and it threatens to grow speedily •;•= to dimensions, which, in prospect, appear intolerable. It has overtaken the oountry,; unawares, and neither the people nor tbe Government — in which term we include the Legislature— are , even yet prepared to realise it full ''significance. There is, however, b j '.?: strong:, though as yet a vague, feeling arising tbat something must be done in 'order to relieve the country from the crushing burden tbat threatens it. ; 'Naturally enough, that something takes "the form, in tbe first instance, of an attempt on the part of each section of the. community to push the burden off .^tliiair^pwb ,, shoulders on to their neighbors'. ./From every corner of the colony comes the cry for the repeal of this, that, or, tbe other tax, but scarcely any 4 and none practical, are j ; made, for supplying the place of or .. removing the necessity for tbe taxes which are so distasteful; Thiageaeral soreness is nevertheless a hopeful sign. IS must shortly lead — it is already ••"' leading —tb just that detaand for /'retrenchment, which ought to have ; arisen years ago. The people are slow ;. to the ever-varying processes of tbe science of government ; but they are beginning now to discern pretty clearly the intimate connection that exists between an extravagant expenditure and a burdensome taxation. .•; v .. *. * .*-■•. * Jf 'we rightly interpret the popular feeling, it is that, when taxation is being imposed ' which seriously hampers them in their everyday concerns, and puts a new esp'ect on their conditions of life, the

propla expect that a gunuins substnntial effort thouli Le rn^do to reduce the public expenditure. Mere cheeseparing? will not meet tfaa case at all. Mere juggling of figures from one account to another will not meet it at all. What is Deeded is that the Government and the Legislature should so order things tbat all superfluities of whatever kind, may be at once dispensed with. Let it not be supposed that we, are among those who see in every Government clerk a bloated oligarch, wallowing in wealth dragged out of a poor man's pocket. Nothing of the sort. Still less are we disposed for any Black Wednesday vengeance here. But we cay, nevertheless, that the official staff of the colony is utterly disproportionate to either its means or its requirements. We say, moreover, that the kindest thing tbat can be done to the Civil Servants themselves is to diminish their number now, rather than to keep it up until the inevitable crash comes. If there had been a judicious weeding out, as there ought to have been last year or the year before, the necessity for it would not have been as great as it is now. If it is neglected or evaded now, the demand for it next year will be irresistible, and then there may not be any opportunity for discrimination. As for tbe pretence that the savings already effected or proposed by ; the Ministry are all tbat can be done in the way of reductions, it is unreasonable to suppose that that will satisfy the public, If the Ministry really mean business, let them strike off every officer whose duties can be dooe without or performed by another. * * * In prosperous times, and with a flourishing revenue, the public even would not object to have the public business easily and elegantly performed. But not in times like these, when one tax is tripping up the heels of another, and when the question with everybody is how to scrape together the means of paying them. Surely the Government must see the inconsistency of imposing enormous taxation on one. hand and maintaining on the other much the same staff that was maintained during the merry days before taxation was increased. We urge upon them most earnestly the necessity of making a clean sweep at once of all the departments that can be either dispensed with or amalgamated with others, and of cutting down the rest to proportions suitable to a country that is at the last extremity for cash' to pay its way with. At the same time, we urge upon the House the necessity for supporting tbe Government in that course. They are the people's representatives, and to them the people look to be protected from oppressive burdens. Hitherto the functions of a member has been to get aa much money spent in bis district as possible. It is perfectly useless for the Government to propose economies un-

less the House are resolved to. carry them out. But tbe Government obviously must lead tbe House in tbe matter, and if they lead them boldly they need not; fear they will not be followed.