New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Wednesday, May 23, 1849.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 397, 23 May 1849, Page 2

New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Wednesday, May 23, 1849.

Some preliminary discussions have arisen on the Estimates which are likely to produce an animated debate to-day, when the Revenue Appropriation Bill is to be considered in committee. The settlers have now, for the first time, an opportunity of expressing their opinion on, and of exercising, through an authorized channel, some degree of control over, the expenditure of the Local Government ; and the constitution of the Council offers, in the preponderance of the non-offi-cial over the official members, a guarantee that this control will be effective. Since the founding of this settlement its government has undergone several successive! changes ; at first the settlement was placed as a dependency of Auckland, under the control of a Police Magistrate. The vehement and indignant remonstrances of the settlers against the absurdity of placing the seat of Government so far from the governed, and the injustice of sending the surplus fevenue of this settlement to be spent at Auckland, at length induced the Home Government to appoint a Superintendent ; still dissatisfaction existed, and it was found that nothing less than the removal of the seat of Government, to Wellington, or a separate Government would satisfy the southern settlers. But though the division of the colony into two Provinces, each having its separate machinery of Government, necessarily entails a heavy additional expense, we do not feel inclined to join with those who desire this advantage, but are not disposed to pay for it ; we believe a separate Government greatly calculated to advance the prosperity of the Southern Province, while it certainly is in accordance with the expressed wishes of its inhabitants. The question" to be determined is, how the Government can be carried on with a due regard to economy,' and so as to ensure its efficiency. This question, important in itself, becomes still more important when -we remember that the decision of the Council cannot fail to react upon the Northern Province ; that the scale of expenditure sanctioned by ,a legislature in which the colonists have 3 d,e£ided majority must have a salutary influence in' regulating; the .official t expenditure at Auckland, and in preventing

too lavish an expenditure in the provinces to be formed at the South. That the settlement of Otago, and the proposed Canterbury settlement at Port Cooper, should be constituted, ab initio, separate provinces with Lieutenant- Governors, Judges, Attorney Generals, and an imposing array of officials, seems, to say the least, piemature and inconsistent with that due regard to economy which ought to regulate the Goverament expenditure. If the whole revenue of the Southern Province is inadequate to defray the present expenses of the Government, how are the expenses to be provided for when they are increased three fold? The estimated expense of the Government of this Province for the current year exceeds by £2704 the probable amount of revenue, and it is proposed that the deficiency be made good from the Parliamentary Grant. In his opening address, the Governor-in Chief exhorted the Council " to watch with •the utmost vigilance over the appropriation of the revenue," and reminded them that "a frugal expenditure of the public resources in this early stageof the colony will do more to establish its present prosperity, and to promote its future welfare than any other measure" that they could adopt. If they act on this excellent advice, the least that can be expected from the Council is so as to arrange the estimates as to defray the expenses of the internal Government of the Province from its own resources, by reducing the expenditure within the probable revenue. The Parliamentary Grant should be exclusively devoted to purposes of public improvement, and not applied to make good the deficiencies in the current expenses of the Government. Unless the protecting segis of the Civil List be interposed, the work < f reduction will be comparatively easy. The greatest increase in the amount of salaries has taken place amongst the heads of departments, where in some instances the duties bear an inverse ratio to the salaries received. To take a few examples at randon. It appears to be the general opinion that the working department of the Treasury might with equal advantage to the public service be transfered to any other nominal head, and £400 a year saved ; while there appears to be no reason why the Resident Magistrate at Nelson, merely because he is called his Honor the Superintendent, should receive £200 a year more than the Resident Magistrate at Wellington, who is also Sheriff without any additional salary, and who has at least three times as much to do. We have not the slightest objection to the title, but it is hard to be obliged to pay so much for it. If we turn to the judicial department and compare the amount of duties required of the Judge with the amount of salary, the office appears almost a sinecure. And if the amount of litigation in the newly formed and projected settlements to the South bears the same proportion to the population as in the older settlements of this Province we feel assured that the present holder of the office would gladly desire that an occasional trip to these Provinces may be included in the routine of his duties, so as to afford some occupation for his leisure time, and spare the colonists for some years to come the expense of additional judges. Among the anomalies in the estimates we may point to the charge for the purchase of horses for the mounted police £125, and the cost of their keep for one year £319:7:6. But there can be little doubt that the estimates will undergo a thorough revision, and that the non-official members of the Council will not lose sight of the excellent advice they have received from the Governor-in-Chief.