The Oamaru Mail THURSDAY, JULY 15, 1880.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 15 July 1880, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail THURSDAY, JULY 15, 1880.

We have on several occasions pointed out that by the practice of economy in the conduct of our public affairs can the Colony alone hope to tide over the financial 'difficulties with • which it is beset. We have advocated retrenchment and Civil Service reform, and have pointed out several directions in which economy might be practised without injustice being inflicted in particular upon anyone. But while advocating the adoption of economy we have studiously avoided advocating such a system as would eniflil injustice upon any particular class of public servants. Our desire has throughout been to Bee put in force a sliding scale of reductions in. evei 'Y branch of the Civil Service down to salaries above a given sum. "We have pointed out that ifc is amongst high-salaried officials that the pisjning-knife should first be used. We have shown that in the times of our prosperity the salaries of many of these highly-placed officials wisvp increased to Amounts out of all proportion to £he position of the Colony. We have also seen that while this has been done, the remuneration paid if) unjer-plerks, to telegraphists, and other officials have undergone but little change, and that little "has not been in the direction of expansion. In the Telegraph Department contraction has been the general mode of progression. This was one of our reasons for suggesting that the practice of pruning should be commenced at the top of tjip tree, and be gradually worked dpwnwarcls. Any such consideration as this does not, however, weigh with the present Ministry. They think that if anyone is to suffer, it must certainly not be the elite of the service. The adojVtion of any course that would interfere with the full enjoyment of large salaries for little work by the highlyplaced portion of the Civil S.eryjjnts would, according to the views of Mr. Hall and his comrades, be a dire calamity. Most of these highly-placed and over-paid officials have friends possessing influence, or they would not be in their present easy and well-salaried billets, and to do anything that would interfere with these men of influence would be dangerous. But the officials with small salaries have no friends; they cannot afford to make friends amongst the elite of Wellingtontheir modest incomes will not permit them to co.'irt so freely as others the society of, and to chincc attendance upon, the ladies who possess the par of members of Parliament, who, in their t'U'"? ;u ' e permitted to whisper into the ears of Ministers ; these poorly - paid underlines do not possess latch - keys to open the door leading to the back stairs where the powerful lever of influence is worked, and no danger is run in reducing the salaries, however spi.all, paid to this class. Thus it is that the Ministry insisted upon small salaries and wages being included in the reduction. But they have even gone further. They have, if we are not greatly mistaken, wilfully misled the House. While professing acquiesence in Mr. Saunders' motion for the reduction of all salaries bv 10 per cent,, the Ministry have skilfully reserved to themselves the privilege of carrying out the motion in the direction which best suits them. They will effect the saving of 10 per cent, on the lump sum paid for salaries. But how will they do it ? By equalising the burdens, by reducing the salaries according to the extent to which they Mill bear reduction, or by any well-understood system of regulating salaries according to the work performed 1 Iso. They have devised a better means of performing the operation—a method which will not put out of gear the powerful lever secreted in an apartment approachable only by the back-stairs. They have discovered that ihere is less danger attached to dismissing altogether under-clerks drawing small salaries than in laying violent hands ujion any portion of the {salaries paid to the " ornaments of the Service," They have, unless we are seriously misinformed, already put their brilliant idea into practice, and have, through " the ornaments of the Service," conveyed to many of the, in the political sense, nnimportant clerks intimation that their services will shortly be dispensed with : that they will, at a time when hundreds of unemployed are roaming our streets seeking in vain for work, be cast out into the pit? less world to seek for the employment that cannot be found, in order that those who possess the keys of the door leading to the back-stairs may remain in the full enjoyment of salaries ranging from L-500 up to LI 200 a year. We ask : Is this right, is this just 1 It is however, the outcome of the motion proposed by Mr. Saunders with the concurrence of the Ministry, but \vc scarcely think that it is in accordance with the desire of the House. The country is full enough in all conscience of distress and want, without adding to the amount of misery and starvation prevalent. That economy is necessary we know; that we pay too much for government is a circumstance of which the taxpayers have received painful j/roof. But there is economy and economy. We maintain that tlie /irst step to iuive been taken was to reduce in proportion all the salaries down to a given sum, say, IA 50, tji/tt ;s to have adopted a «Jiding scale of reductions ; to have dispensed with unnecessary luxuries ; to have discontinued all £x.- 1 pftiffcive public services not absolutely ( ;i/:c-:-..saiy. 'lhen t-.hould have fol IqwJgcl , j,ho gradual reorganisation jof i the Civil Service, the amalgamation);

of offices, and the dismissal of unnecessary botlfc'Jii^ii'.anli low. The course that we are informed is being pursued is diametrically opposed to the best interests of the Colony. The numbers of unemployed will be swelled, misery and distress will become still more rife, and the Colony will be still further impoverished ; and all for what? In order that favored officials may continue to draw large and disproportionate. while the starring,, masses.. are offered the beggar's mead—employment on the railway works, at a rate of pay barely sufficient to keep up the connection I between body and soul. This is the justice meted out by the high-minded | set of men who by means of secret caucuses now rule the land. Why, less than this has been considered sufficient to warrant a revolution !