The Nelson Evening Mails. TUESDAY, AUGUST 24, 1880.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 201, 24 August 1880, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mails. TUESDAY, AUGUST 24, 1880.

At the present time when the salaries of the Civil Servants are being cut and slashed at indiscriminately, injudiciously, and altogether unfairly, it would not have been too much to expect that when higher game offered it would have been eagerly flown at. Such, however, is not the case, for when a proposal was made the other day to reduce the salaries of future Governors, Mr Hall at once put hi 3 foot down, and said that Sir Arthur Gordon baying been already appointed it waa too late to interfere with the salary, and consequently there was no occasion for any hurry in dealing with the matter. With respect to the former statement that the reduction could not be effected because the appointment had been made, we are inclined to demur to Mr Hall's ruling, but, as there may be certain rules and regulations with which we are not acquainted, we cannot speak with any degree of certainty. But to say that no action iB called for just now is a great mistake. In the first place, no one knows iv how short a time another new appointment may be made, fn the ordinary course of things, four yearß will elapse, but the hurried removal of the present Governor conveys a warning to tho colony not again to be found in a state of unpreparedness for a similar event. But a far stronger argument in favor of the proposed reduction is contained in the fact that it would be an indication of something like consistency in the policy of retrenchment which has been so hurriedly adopted and carried out in bo unstatesmanlike a manner. It would surely have been more satisfactory — even supposing the resolution could not have been given effect to in the case of Sir Arthur Gordon — to have it appear on the records of the House that the country intended to carry out its reductions on some-

thing like, a systematic plan than to leave it to the future student bf New Zealand history to discover that in tbe same session when it was agreed to take ten per cent from the little telegraph messenger's wages of £3 a month, a proposal to make a deduction from . the Governor's salary bf £?500 a year was' set aside as being inconvenient aud useless to consider. The salary was increased at a time when the colony was enjoying a fictitious prosperity, and now ih tbe time of her depression, it is not too much to expect that it shall be proportionately reduced. *In a recent issue of the Auckland Star a list is given of the salaries of some of the leading officers of State in Great Britain and America, which shows that tbe Governor of New Zeahnd need not consider it a hardship to undertake the duties of the office for £5000 a year instead of the £7500 which the colony fixed as his ren-uueration in a moment of weakness and of false pride. The Prime Minister of England receives £$000 a year, and so does the Secretary of State for the Colonies; the Firßt Lord of the Admiralty gets £4500 a year, and the Commander-in-Chief and Field-Marshal of Great Britain £4432. In Nova Scotia, with a population about the same as New Zealand, the Lieuten-ant-Governor is content to perform the duties for £1800 a year. The President of the United States receives £10,000 a year, bufc the highest salary paid to the Governor of any of tbe States is £9000, drawn by tbe Governor of New York. After a perusal of these figures it surely looks like fche very height of generosity or something else on the part of New Zealaud to pay her Governor £7500 a year. The advocates of an inordinately high salary to Her Majesty's Representative in the colony talk a deal of nonsense about the necessity for keeping up very dignified appearances, and the expenses to which the Governor is put in dispensing hospitality. Few Governors bave been more respected tban the Marquis of Normanby, and one of his chief recommendations was his homeliness of manner. The dignity of the high born gentleman was always maintained, but the absence of the tinsel, known as "dignified appearances" — the glitter of which is only to be kept up by money — was very marked. As for the hospitalities of Government Honse, they have never been of so profuse a character ad to warrant auy specially high salary for their maintenance. All the arguments in favor of the excessive amouut the colony now pays are of the weakest and most transparent description ; all those against it aro sound and based upon common sense.