New Zealand Mail. PUBLISHED WEEKLY. SATURDAY, JULY 22, 1871. THE WEEK.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 26, 22 July 1871, Page 11

New Zealand Mail. PUBLISHED WEEKLY. SATURDAY, JULY 22, 1871. THE WEEK.

The recent appointment, about which so much noise has been made, suggests thought about appointments in general, and not that one in particular. No office should be given for the sake of the holder, but for the sake of the service. Every shilling paid should be for work done; every shilling otherwise expended is fraudently filched from the public treasury. Not a single office should exist except for the sake of the service—not for the sake of the servant. Every office maintained for the sake of the office-holder is a fraud. Office should never be given as a reward or provision for the individual. An appointment for that object is an abuse. If men have rendered an unpaid service to the country, let them be paid directly for that service; not indirectly by appointing them to offices which are not required, or which they are not qualified to fill. Let the payment be distinctly and avowedly for services rendered, and let the services themselves be as distinctly specified, so that there can be no possible misunderstanding about the matter, either by the public on the one side, or by the recipient on the other. " The Gods forbid," said Themistocles, " that I should show no more mercy to my friends than to mine enemies!" This is not required. When the qualifications of two candidates for one service are equal, the political friend or near relative ought to have the preference. But in making appointments these questions demand a satisfactory answer, —Is the office necessary ? Is the candidate able to discharge its duties ? Is he better qualified than any other candidate for that particular office ? We cannot believe that the evils arising from the drinking habits of society originate in the existence of public houses; we believe »ather that the public houses originate in those drinking habits. The effect is mistaken for a

cause. Neither can we believe that publicans are criminals. In order to establish a crime

against any person, it is necessary to establish a criminal intent. Without such intent there may be incalculable mischief, but there can be no crime. The great mass of publicans do not feel that they are engaged in the commission of crime; though some of them may now and then feel that they are the indirect cause of much mischief. But believing, as most of them unquestionably do, that the article they deal in is a good thing, and only injurious when used to excess, they at once, and very naturally, attribute the blame of all such excess to the parties who indulge in it. Such persons, then, cannot with propriety be described as criminals, because the criminal intent is lacking. Again, the effects of American legislation on the liquor traffic are, as well as the legislation itself, caused by a change in public opinion. The general belief in, and practice of the principles of total abstinence effected the change in the law, and also in the habits of the community. An overwhelming majority of the inhebitants of the State of Maine are teetotalers, and hence not only the Maine liquor law, but the absence of open drunkenness on the part of the anti-teetotalers. That therefore is ascribed to the effects of law, which is really the consequence of a change in the habits and opinions of the community. All the newspapers out of Wellington are, as most of the country members in the Council were, opposed to the legislation of last session relative to the District Highways, which it is asserted, was only carried by the votes of the members for the city of Wellington; which had been expressly excluded from the operation of the act. Under these circumstances we think it is to be regretted that the amendment moved by Mr Brandon, to the effect that improvements should be excluded from the assessment, was not adopted by the Council; but in that case a higher rate than a penny in the pound for the construction of roads would have been necessary, while townships would have been entitled to a local Government of their own. We can state with some degree of confidence that the views expressed by Mr Brandon on this subject accorded much more with the views of the Superintendent than those expresssd by Mr Bunny, and had they been incorporated in the act the opposition which has been excited against this necessary measure would not have attained the formidable dimensions it has now acquired. ]?rom the annual report of the New York Commissioners of Emigration for 1870, we find that the number of emigrants who had arrived at the port of New York during that year amounted to 255,466 ; exhibiting a falling off compared with the previous year of 45,339, owing to the Franco-German war. Of this number 65,168 were from Ireland, 70,350 from Germany, 33,340 from England, and 10,731 from Scotland, there being comparatively very few emigrants from the other countries of Europe. The total number of emigrants that had arrived during the last twenty years exceeded four millions. This large emigration from the United Kingdom to America is partly owing to the low price of passage; in part to the circumstance of the emigrants having already friends settled in the country; and in part to the attractions which the cheap land and high wages which prevail in America offer to the emigrants from Europe. There are hundreds of thousands of people who would emigrate from the United Kingdom, and are prevented from doing so solely because they cannot get away from their native villages, even though they had a free passage offered them to the colonies. We make this statement with a thorough knowledge of the facts of the case, and we consider it is well worthy the serious attention of the Government. The population of England, more than that of any other country in Europe are in the habit of living from " hand to mouth." This accounts for the circumstance.