THE TEN PER CENT. REDUCTIONS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 165, 12 July 1880, Page 4

THE TEN PER CENT. REDUCTIONS.

[.' New Zealand Timeß."] Whenever the subject of retrenchment is presented to Parliament the House at once becomes chameleon tinted, racked by indecision, and, like a shy borse, not easy to be made to pose, or even fairly face, the object which startles it. And no doubt the question of retrenchment as presented in its present form is startling, and seriously tends to disturb the equanimity of all who have been' running in the easy grooves of the past few years. It, however, has to be faced, and the Houbo having affirmed the principle cannot retract, and is in peril of stultification by unseemly quibbling about details. Carrying out the latter should be left to the Government of the day. Administrative functions are vested in the latter, while the functions of Parliament are purely legislative, and to attempt to ÜBurp administration is clearly a violation of constitutional practice. The debate last night tended in this direction, and directly contradicted the trumpeted assurances ot a desire to; retrench, or else the time and money of the country would not have been wasted in. senseless, useless badinage. To seek to impose a cast-iron rule of detailed' retrenchment in Civil Service expenditure is simply absurd, and can only tend 'to cripple tbe action of the Government, and seriously impair ifs efficiency. Either the Government is fit to be entrusted with the administration of retrenchment, or it is nbt, and it would be well for the House to oome to a. decision upon this point. If the Government is trustworthy, the case before the House is clear enough ; if it is not, the course to be followed is i qudly clear — lhe ocbupants of the Treusury benches are out of place and ought to be superseded by a Government to whom may be entrusted the responsibility of dealing witb the details of tbe reduction of Civil Service salaries. That the Ministry have pledged themselves to retrenchment is a fact tbat bas been placed' upon imperishable record, and they have even agreed to accept the proposition cf a reduction of ten per oent upon .salaries. But whether tbis involves a ten per cent reduction upon each individual salary is another matter. We do not think any Ministry would be justified in permitting the House to prescribe in the matter of details. It ehould be enough for the Houee, and the country too, if the Ministry under-' take to retrench in any particular direction by the so much demanded by the House. More than tha t is not to be expected of them. We are of opiniou that Mr Sounders' motion leaves tke Government unfettered in this respect, and to attempt to deprive them ot tree action would, we are convinoed, defeat

the very end aimed at* or professed to be aimed at, by many hon. members — viz,, that just end wise discrimination should be exercised io dealing Jvith individual remuneration. The opibion has ofteu been expressed in tbe Ho:uee, when the question of Civil Service retrenchment has been under discussion, that good labor is always ahe cheapest, and that thoroughly efficient officers—or we will say good employees —-may demand, and ought to receive pay commensurate with their merits. This rule applies to every grade ofi the service, from the Under-Secretaries to linemen on the railways. But who is to discriminate between good, bad, and indifferent in such an army of employees ? Clearly, not the House, but, the Government; and, as wo said * before, if the Government is uot capable, appoint another. The discursiveness and nonsense of the debate lost night was in a measure reJeemed by >the passing, at last, of the motion of the member for Cheviot. And We believe tbat by the termsof that motion Uhe hands of the Government are free to carry out, as they may seem best, the details of the reduction made in the lump sum represented by 10 per cent upon the aggregation 'of Civil Sertioe salaries. And we are confident that in doing this the Government will .endeavor to inflict as little hardship as possible upan individuals, and apportion the reduction Jn a fair and meroiful I spirit of jut.t discrimination.