The Oamaru Mail SATURDAY, JUNE 26, 1880.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1317, 26 June 1880, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail SATURDAY, JUNE 26, 1880.

The Government have now the opportunity of giving some evidence of their desire for economy, and that, too, without in any-way-injuring any deserving officer. The resignations of Sir Julius Vogel of the AgentGeneralship and of Mr. Jonas Woodward of the post of Public Trustee places within the power of the Ministry a means of saving about L2OOO a-year, and if they are sincere they will readily avail themselves of -the chance of proving that they really desire economy. We are far from believing that they are actuated by any such desire, iand we are borne out in our belief by the miserable reduction proposed to be made by them in the cost of the Civil Service; but they ran scarcely let the chance of practising economy so opportunely afforded them by the resignations of the, Agent-General and Public Trustee go by unheeded, and still hope to retain a character for political honesty. The Agent-General, as most of our readers, no doubt, are aware, receives LISOO a-year as a salary, and his chief clerk or secretary gets LSOO per annum, and besides this Sir Julius Yogel has the audacity to claim commission for the performance of what he is pleased to term extra and important work. Now it must be evident to anyone that the business which the Colony will for years to come require to | be performed in the Old Country will be small indeed; it must also be apparent to any sensible man that we cannot afford to maintain an Ambassador and retinue in London at an enormous cost; and it must be equally clear to anyone that the Colony might for years -to come get the whole of its work done at Home by an agent drawing L6OO a year with a clerk at about half that sum. There are plenty of men who would be glad to accept the positions at the sums named, and who would do the work equally a3 well as Sir Julius Vogel, and with less show of resistence of Ministerial instructions. Thus it will be seen that in this one direction alone a saving of fully LI3OO might easily be effected without injury to anyone. In regard to the Public Trusteeship we have the assurance of the Wellington Poßt, which is generally very pretty well informed upon such matters, that the actual duties of the office are being efficiently performed by the second in command. This is conclusive evidence that a highly paid officer is unnecessary, and that by adding an additional sum of LIOO or L2OO to the salary of the officer who is now discharging the duties—or better still, giving small increases to-each of the officers in the Public Trustee's office —another very considerable saving might be effected, bringing up the total amount in these two directions to about L2OOO. If tne members of the House are true to the country they will insist upon these reductions being made, and will refuse to vote a larger sum than is absolutely necessary for the purposes of fairly remunerating the future Agent-General and Public Trustee for the work they may be called upon to perform. We cannot afford to pay for mere ornamental officials—officials with highsounding titles and exorbitant salaries, but having comparatively little real work to perform—and we must enter our protest against the appointment of a successor to either Sir Julius Vogel or Mr; Jonas Woodward at anything approaching the salaries hitherto paid.

The water was turned on from the reservoir to the mains in the town this afternoon, •with the most complete success. The' Fire. Brigade turned out, and got the hydrants to work to their entire satisfaction. The National Bank, the Colonial Bank, and the Star and Garter Hotel all came in for a good washing down, and some of our citizens also obtained a good ducking. We congratulate the citizens on the occasion. • The pressure to-day was not more than 601bs. to the square inch, but when the reservoir is full it will be 1081bs.

Captain Edwin wires : —lndications shew falling glass, with winds between south-west and south-east, and sea likely making after 24 hours.

We are reluctantly compelled to hold over several letters with reference to the colliers strike at Shag Point.

Mails for Sydney, per Zealandia, are due on Tuesday, but expected on Monday, will close at Auckland immediately after her arrival.

We are informed that the result of Dr. de Lautour's post mortem examination upon the body of the young man James' Ellis,- who was found dead in Mr. Sutton's stable on Thursday, does not disclose any grounds for believing that death was caused by poison. The doctor did not, we believe, find any trace of poison, but the deceased appears to have partaken freely of fruit of bad quality. This caused excessive sickness, and the inference is that be was choked during a fit of vomiting.

Although many of our readers have by this time received property-tax forms to fill up, they need not give any attention to them. The Government have intimated that new forms will be prepared, and as, should the modifications proposed by the Government in the tax be agreed to, these new forms will require to be filled up, those who have received forms already should not entail npon themselves the work of filling up a double set of returns. In the House of Representatives yesterday, Major Atkinson said that the time for making returns under the pro' perty tax had been extended to the Ist of August, and that a notification of the fact would shortly be made throngh the newspapers.

Those who are anxious to obtain photographs of the great Maori prophet, Te "Whiti, may gratify their wishes by calling at the shop of Mr. It.- L. Rule, who has a large number of likenesses of the prophet on sale. These have been taken from a .sketch made by a gentleman while on a .visit to Parihaka, and are declared by those •who have seen Te Whiti to be faithful porJpraits of the celebrity,