COST OF "CIVIL SERVICES" IN 1852.

New Zealander, Volume 9, Issue 706, 19 January 1853, Page 3

COST OF "CIVIL SERVICES" IN 1852.

[Froin the “Timet."] The Estimates of the Civil Services of the country have been reserved, as usual, for that close of financial argument which rarely assumes the form of a climax. Either because economical scrutiny has lost its edge* upon the discussion of more debateable principles, or because the pacific developments of a State are thought to present fairer fields of outlay, it is certain that objections against this branch of the national expenditure are made with less vigour and tenacity than against any other. In fact, we think we remember an amateur budget of Mr. Cobden’s in which, after an unsparing curtailment of the warlike estimates, it was proposed even to augment those for the civil service by a considerable addition. Yet the Estimates now before us involve no immaterial portion of our yearly outlay. They amount, in the whole, to a sura exceeding 4,000,000/., and they show a net increase upon the past year of nearly 250,000—an increase, indeed, which would be still larger but for the dimensions which were given to the vote of 1851 by the exceptional charges of the census. The Civil Service Estimates differ both in form and classification from those of other departments. They are elaborately divided into seven general classes, each of which comprises its own special items of outlay. These classes are —first, Public Works and Buildings; second, Salaries, &c., in Public Departments; vhird, Law and Justice; fourth, Education, Science, ami Art; fifth, Colonial, Consular, and other Foreign Services ; sixth, Superannuations and Charities; and seventh, Miscellaneous, special and temporary objects. The best general view of the subject will be obtained by contrasting with each other the demands under these several heads. Thus, the largest outlay of the whole is upon the third class —that of “Law and Justice,” upon which we expend 1,294,574/., while upon “Education, Science and Art” we bestow only a third of this sum, viz., 470,762/. In like manner, Salaries in Public Departments cost us 1,032,283/., while 621,231/. only is to be invested in Public Works and Buildings under Lord John Manners. Colonial and Consular Services are set, in the aggregate, at 860,318/., while Superannuations and Charities take 213,023/., and 81,145/. provides for the “ Miscellaneous” objects of the national expenditure. Over and above these demands is a round reserve of 100,000/. for “civil contingencies,” constituting, with the items previously enumerated, a gross total of 4,182,086/. as against 3,948,102/., the vote Liken for these services on the last occasion.

On a further analysis of these Estimates it will appear that under the first head of “Public Works and Buildings” the largest item is 170,000/. for Harbours of Refuge; the two next ' ■ dimensions being that of 121,249/, for the New Houses of Parliament, and 113,470/. for Public Buildings and Royal Palaces. Royal palaces, however, take but a moderate share of this total, 39,331/. being all that is thus absorbed, even inclusive of those residencies not in the personal occupation of Her .Majesty, such as Kensington, Hampton Court, Kew, and so forth. In addition to the general vote for harbours of refuge, Holyhead harbour and roads take 89,396/., Kingstown harbour 11,028/.,, and Portpatrick harbour 1,351/. The Royal parks and pleasure gardens consume 60,546/., but this estimate is expressly described as “ limited to such expenses in the several parks and gardens as are requisite to maintain them for the public use”—all charges not strictly connected with these purposes being otherwise provided for. When we add that 8,320/. is asked for the Record Repository, and 10,000/.’ for the Stationery-office, we shall have indicated the constituent portions of the first vote.

The Salaries and Expenses of Public Departments form a very serious aggregate outlay, and one to which exceptions could be taken without much difficulty. Four-aud-twcnty u departments, including all descriptions of commissions and services, put forth their claims in succession, I he Houses of Parliament cost 95,800?. a year, the Treasury 54,400/., the Privy Council-office, with its branches, 65,320?., and the offices of the three State Secretaries 133,000?. The Poor Law administration in its several departments absorbs upwards of 220,000?., and after a variety of smaller items we arrive at a demand of 216,509?. tor printing and stationery alone. Law and

Justice are still more costly, exacting, as we have said, from the public purse a sum of more than a million and a quarter, all consumed upon prosecutions and punishments, penal establishments, and prisoners’ maintenance. When we observe even the material expenses arising from crime, and reflect that crime can best be encountered by teaching, we are tempted to wish that our investments in the cause of education proceeded even more encouragingly than they do. On “ Public Education in Great Britain” we spent in 1850, 125,000/.; in 1851, 150 000/.; and 160,000/. is now proposed for 1852. about as much more being every year applied to the like purposes in Ireland. To the British Museum we devote some /0,000t., and to the Museum of Practical Geology about 15,000/., but with the exception of these items, and that of 18,000/. to schools of art and design, our votes in this class offer a melancholy contrast to the huge demands for criminal courts and convict settlements. The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge receive only 2,000/., that of London 3 957/., those of Scotland 7,560/., and those of Ireland something less, exclusive always of that famous grant to Maynooth, which is removed from these regions of discussion. As to the National Gallery, it appears to have been enriched only by an outlay of 795/. 10s., which secured us, as we are told, a picture by Van Eyck and a portrait of Rembrandt by mmsclf. In the Estimate for Colonial, Consular, and other Foreign Services, we obtain a view of the multifarious channels through which the public money is perennially flowing. We have civil establishments in all quarters of the world, and when Africa, America, and Australia have been exhausted there is a little section reserved for the “ miscellaneous” settlements of Heligoland, Falkland Islands, Hong Kong, and As emigration is just now an important topic, it may edify the public to learn that in rectifying the equilibrium of the empire by exchanging the population of the old provinces for the produce of the new, we sagaciously expend about half the sum devoted to the “ support of captured negroes.” Thirty thousand pounds at least is described as presently required for this benevolent purpose, and it is positively a fact that last year our black retainers ate up almost as much as was spent upon the British Museum. Our “ Consuls abroad, Chinese ports being included, consume about 150,000/., and 16,000/. seems to be about the average of the “ Extraordinary Expenses” of Ministers at foreign Courts. “Allowances and gratuities for charitable and other purposes” constitute very fair but certainly not very costly objects ot national outlay. Bearing in mind that captured blacks cost us, in food only, 60,000/. last year, and are expected to devour at least half as much in the present twelvemonth, while the expense of the “ Commissions” for investigating these “captures” runs from 12,000/. to 16,000/. a year, the reader may proceed to understand that our liberal Government allots a grant of 325/. to the Refuge for the Destitute, 2,000/. to the Vaccine Establishment, and about 18,000/. to a cluster of nine hospitals. As for the rest “ Superannuations and Retired Allowances” amount in the aggregate to 135,359/., while 3,219/. is asked for certain Toulonese emigrants and American loyalists, who, as far as long life can denote good treatment, must certainly be doing credit to our bounty. Finally, there occurs; in the Civil Estimates that “ class” from which no catalogues, however scientific, can hope to escape—the “miscellaneous.” That it deserves its title in the present instance will be evident, enough when we enumerate the General Board of Health, Encumbered Estates Commission, Lighthouses, Census, British Embassy at Constantinople, the late Lord Shaftesbury’s pension, and the Navigation of the Menai Straits as its constituent sections. The Board of Health costs us over 10,000/. a investment which we forbear to test by its returns; Lighthouses are put in cheap at 7,000/. odd ; and the late Lord Shaftesbury’s pension will not be thought immoderate at 2,000/. more. The Census, taking the two years of 1851 and 1852 together, stands for 170,200/.; but we are not perhaps come to the end of this computation. The Cuffe-street savings-bank, the cholera in Jamaica, and the Babylonian inscriptions, each in previous years put in their claim for consideration, but are now only commemorated to show us from what w# have been relieved. Altogether, perhaps, 81,145/. is not a heavy charge for so troublesome a class as the “Miscellaneous” division, and whatever may be said of these Estimates in detail, it is at least certain that a demand of 4,000,000/. for all the civil services of the country assumes no very startling aspect by the side of 13,000,000/. for Army, Navy, and Ordnance.