The Oamaru Mail MONDAY, JUNE 21, 1880.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1312, 21 June 1880, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail MONDAY, JUNE 21, 1880.

We publish elsewhere a precise of /the report of the Civil Service Commission, furnished by our Wellington correspondent. Although, as our correspondent informs us, the summary is necessarily a very brief one, it contains nearly, all the salient points of the original document, and - will well repay a perus.al by those who are anxious to get an insight into the way in which we are governed. It discloses many abuses, much extravagance, and a fair share of transactions of a discreditable nature, and points the way to many reforms. It now remains to be seen whether or not the Ministry will give effect to the recommendations made by the Commission; whether it will remove the thousand and one blots upon our Civil Service, now that a flood of light has been let in upon them by these prying j Commissioners; whether they will carry out the reforms and. effect the I reductions to which their attention has! been so clearly directed ; whether they will, in fact, have the courage to cope manfully with .the monster that has been exposed to their view,-and brave all the opposition likely to be raised by a host of quaking officials, who will certainly not be driven from office without a struggle. If the Ministry do this work and do it impartially they will certajnly earn the thanks of the Colony and the eveiv lasting gratitude of the oppressed taxpayers. But will they undertake the task ? We fear not, and our fears are tolerably well-grounded, for have we not the assurance of the Colonial Treasurer that the reformation of the Civil Service is a work of time and must be gradual. Besides this we are told bv our Wellington Correspondent —and we find that he is not the only one who makes the statement' —tbat, ; although fche work of the Commission has not been completed, the Government have intimated that their services will no longer be required. Nay, we are assured that this course has been adopted owing to pressure having been put upon Ministers by other departments of the public service, the members of which have taken fright at the terrible disclosures made in the Bailwav, Public Works, and Survey De{>artments. Those who know the influence that the Civil Service wields in the Colony will not be surprised at this statement. So powerful has this Service grown that no Ministry could thoroughly reorganise it without facing inevitable annihilation. No Ministry dare boldly undertake, the work of sweeping out the Augean stable without facing the prospect of being utterly routed at the next election. But°still the work mxtst be done. The horrible wound has been laid bare in all its hideousness, and the remedy must be applied promptly or the whole bodv'may become corrupt andthepatient perish. We envy not Ministers the duty that has been forced upon them by a Commission of their own creation. We opposed the appointment of the Commission, not because we did not believe that it would find plenty of unpleasant work, not because we were not convinced of the necessity for a searching investigation into the condition of the Civil Service, not because we were not assured that the service required reorganisation, not because we did not think that the report of the Commission would bring to light the extravagant and wasteful manner in which all the services of the Colony were being performed, but because we felt that the Ministry would not have the courage to act boldly on the suggestions of the Commissioners, because we were firmly convinced that their labors would in this respect prove valueless, and because we believed that a lurge sum of money would he expended merely to raise a bogle to scare Ministers instead of a beacon to guide them on ■ their way. The Government, however, chose to create a Commission to raise the monster, and it now becomes their evident duty to battle with it, and not flee affrighted from it like little children. If they are sincere in their professions, if they really desire to bring our expenditure within reasonable bounds, if they are anxious, as hey profess to be, to undo the evil that been done in the past, if they have • in } respect for the welfare of the they will manfully do the work their hands find them to do. This in u t f me f or shilly-shallying and empty Poises of amendment. The Colony is i. financial difficulties; its creditand are in danger; and there mus, Jjalf-measures of reform., no Hting Q ff \ int jl tomorrow the work * fc rightly belongs to tp-day. Fresh are being heaped upon the already borne down by j oa{ j c f tion. and who call for rejLf demand for economy and refor. j a ur „ en t and upon the faithful perfoi, 0 f the work which Ministers prolog their readiness to undertake depend- the future welfare of the Colony; biu£j ie urgency of the case will not be mefr-,y cheese-paring reductions such as weiv foreshadowed in the Financial Statement. |

Tirs. Hon. Mr. Scotland ia likely shortly to dbtain celebrity for the pungency of his speeches in tl« Legislative Council. Hitherto the name of Scotland, as applied to a member of the Legislature been almost unknown, but Mr. Scotland late v make some remarks in reference to Sir Juliu, Vogel that were deemed of sufficient force to entitle them to be telegraphed throughout the length and breadth of the Colony. For thes v he was taken to task by many who objected to an absent man being Bpoken of in the man« e r in which this new star in the political firmament had referred to him. Undaunted by these rebukes, the hon. gentleman has again given the public "a taste of his quality." but on this occasion he has directed the [shafts of his mereile#* wrath against t'.e (if Ml.-.t 111-Hv'lltf-ll •■!«..* ti'l f{:(- 11,. j) h-y-V \\. •—. c! ! .m t': lc Treasurer (ilnjor Atkinson) and !.:j jatul:i:e, i

Colonel Trimble, as two of its representatives. He has, in the Colonial House of Lords, characterised Taranaki as loafing upon other parts of the Colony. Nay, he has even gone further, and said that the people of this modern Arcadia —this land of the Atkirfsons —instead of endeavoring to develop their natural resources, depend on Government expenditure. Men apparently go there not to work for their living, bat to put on a uni- - form.and pose as "officers and gentlemen.' People there talk lightly about the probability of another war, and as if it was a very good 'thing. He compared the condition of Parihaka and New Plymouth, as regards drunkenness and othersocial vices, infinitely to the advantage of Parihaka. He even quoted from the Patea Mail advocating war, on the ground that it would.be a war of extermination. His speech was, in fact, a merciless exposure of the political and social rottenness of Tarapaki, and, as he is a resident in that part of the Colony, he can scarcely be accused of speaking without some personal knowledge upon the matter. This same Taranaki, we may say, is the most over-represented portion of the Colony. It has ho less tfean three votes in the House of Representatives, notwithstanding that at the last census its population only reached 9463, while that of the Waitaki district, with only two members, amounted to 11,559. Who shall say that a readjustment of the representation is not necessary .when such a politically-rotten place as Taranaki can. outvote a district like Waitaki? Who shall say after this that tfrg larger-and more industrious population of Nor£h Ot&gp can hope for fair play in the way of expenditure of public money, while it can be outvoted by a place with a smaller population and less wealth like Taranaki ? -