New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4827, 11 September 1876, Page 2

New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11.

When Major Atkinson recently declared the policy of the new Ministry, he stated that the Government proposed to reduce the Estimates, and trusted the House would support them in so, doing. A care- , ful criticism and a determined economy would unquestionably result in large sums being saved without injury to the country; but'any'action in this direction.must be taken by the Executive itself, Chichi knows, or may know; the facts of each particular case, of by the House, which is for the most part profoundly ignorant of the details of the whole,subject. But while' endeavoring to' reduce all needless expenditure, we .trust that the Government will not be misled by a cry which has been raised more than once,and become somewhat popular among the ignorant and unthinking portion of the public. To talk of the Civil Service as a monstrous growth, and of its members as a class who prey upon the vitals of the country, will generally ensure a cheer. That such language is unfair and exagerated,- no one who reflects for a moment can doubt, but at the same time it is equally certain that the. Civil Service ia more, numerous than the colony can afford to maintain. That this is partly due to the peculiar physical and political'conditions of the country, is.certain ; whilein most of the other colonies population has radiated from a centre, New Zealand has been settled from various poinis. the former case the principal departments of the Government have.been concentrated, in the latter they have been dis- ? persed.. The result, is, that, instead of one staff of officers doing many things several do; a few. ' '. But if..through the want of anyofithose/officers the public iri any. petty locality suffer the slightest in-; convenience, who so- clamorous as they? From whence too does'the' pressure-on the Government for Appointments' come but, from" the public,;itself ? -'lf; it is proposed to'remove a resident magiatrate,la postmaster, gt _ a con_s_table from the smallest collection, of houses calling itself a town, what a howl.'of indignation fills' the i air. The storekeeper has lost one of his best customers;sand thej gains of the publican'• are > diminished by the cessation.of 1 that court'day which used to result in so many cases'of "drunk and disorderly," and the member" for the district is : reminded that it will be better for him if he does notseekto cohvertithe.; general that' economy is a good thing into this particular application of it. What then is wanted is a Government strong enough and honest enough to disregard popular clamor, and, determined to reduce its staff-on just, the same principle that a merchant reduces the number of his clerks when times are, bad arid profits are • low. • Now, what is* this principle ? It is the very simple ; qne of weeding out the drones and-retaining and attracting the men most suited to do the work that is required of them, j True economy does not consist in a general re-, auction of. pay, but in careful selection. It is the economy of nature itself, by which' organ is adapted to We sincerely hope that retrenchment will not take the form of making a, general re- r ductioh in the salanes_ of a cla'gs jwho are oiitHe whole badly, paid,; andjwhose sole advantage is that their incomes are fixed and regular. : During a period of! high 'prices they have' had to struggle on with no increase of ' pay, and to them the general prosperity of the colony has meant but greater difficulty in making both ends meet. While merchants,! landowners, shopkeepers,. and laborers! have been largely benefited by the Public Works policy,, the official class has positively injured by it ;' at; least- it has only benefited' them at all by affording more openings for the employment : of themselves and their sons. '■ | It is -certainly in the power ' of, the, House to save .a few thousands by.- awholesale reduction of salaries, but with the inevitable result of deterring the most capable men from entering the Government service. Half educated and incompetent men will fill the various departments, and the really good officers who are compelled to remain by force of circumstances will, while smarting under a sense of injustice, perform their work in a perfunctory manner. We could indeed point out many directions in whichJgeneral reductions might be made. There are mail services, costing many thousands a year, which are in the nature of luxuries. The militia and volunteers, in the South Island at any rate, though costing large sums per annum, have no other practical I use except to add brilliancy to a recepI tion.of his Excellency, and to please the ladies with an appearance of military I display. The Native office, too/ if not swept away altogether, might be reduced considerably in numbers, with the result I of producing "greater efficiency. " In no other department is ability, or; "even character, of so little account as in this. In short, no office which is not really required should be kept up, and I none which is j should be starved.' The: same, thing applies to individual officers.! Thetrue secret of administration -is to select men thoroughly fit for the work, and to pay them well for doing it. As it is, the best men, including Ministers themselves, are overworked, because half the clerks' in the Government, service , cannbt be trusted to do their work in an intelligent manner. The result is that the ] most trifling matter, involving any real responsibility, is usually "hung up" for an indefinite period, and the great art of "how not to do it" has reached aipitch of perfection in New Zealand which is probably unequalled in any other dependency of tho British Crown.