The Evening Mail. TUESDAY, JULY 11, 1876.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 69, 11 July 1876, Page 2

The Evening Mail. TUESDAY, JULY 11, 1876.

Whenever a vacancy in the Civil Service requires t>> be {filed by a competent person ; the Government show an extraordinary desire to pitchfork some man into the billot entirely ignorant of the ways anil customs of the Colony, and. in fact, an utter stranger to New Zealand. The new man must come from Home, or else he is no good. This is the system the Government has been earn ing out for some time past, and on which we have more than once severely commented. If it is an Inspector of Strte Forests, an Inspector of Gaols, or a skipper for a Government tug boat, Home they must send for the gentleman. Our contemporary, the Napier "Telegraph," expresses onr views very clearly on the subject. He says The Government organ at Wellington contradicts the report that the imported Inspector of Gaols is remaining incognito until the wheels of the State run more smoothly than they do at present. It after all matters very little whether the fortunate gentleman is now in the Colony or on his way out; it is tolerably certain the appointment has been made, and the recipient was previously unconnected with this country. It is the peculiarity of this present Government to entertain a profound disbelief in local talent. The 'foreign' article is alone acceptable. Perhaps the visits of Sir J cut'.-* Yooel to England have had much to do with the neglect now shown to able and competent Colonial public servants. Probably the Premier have found it convenient to show gratitude for hospitality received, by first creating ofltces and then appointing to them the scions of his hosts ; or, ma}* be, could only relieve himself of persecution by giving billets to numberless applicants. On the other hand. Sir .Jim is might have been animated by a sincere contemut of the officers of the Civil Service, amongst whom, he might have thought, none could be found worthy to occupy posts like those of Commissioner of Forests, Inspector of Gaols, Superintendent of Constructed Railways, Colonial Engineer, &c., &c. Whatever the cause, the importation of persons who have been specially brought out to fill appointments of high trust and emolument is a disgrace to the Colony and an insult to the Civil Service."