The Oamaru Mail. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1880

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 9 November 1880, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1880

Wk mentioned a, few clays since that the reductions in the Civil Service determine:! upon fay Parliament last session had not been made absolute by the Ministiy. The vouchers for salaries are still in:t(le out at the old rate, and the reductions are afterwards made. At the first blush there does not appear much room for fault-lii: ,7 :ng with the system adopted, but a c!, ;er consideration ot the nuf'stion many strong "rounds ibr disapp. *ing of this circuitous metlio'l of reducing salaries. All that can be said in favor of the plan followed is that it holds out a hope to officials that next year their salaries will be paid at the old rate. But this is a very small point indeed, and is more than counterbalanced by the strong grounds of objection that may be urged against the system. It is, we think, false policy to hold out a liope so utterly delusive : for, however glad we may be to see the Colony in a position that would warrant the payment of full salaries, we cannot close our eyes to the fact that there is yet 110 sign of the dawning of a brighter day for the Colony. Then, again, the system is not general; the hope, however delusive, is not held out alike to all servants of the Government. The reductions of the wages of the laboring men have been made absolute; they have been carried far away beyond the ten per cent, decided upon by Parliament ; and still those reductions have been declared as permanent, and not a shadow of hope is held out to the laboring man. receiving a miserable pittance of Gs a day, that he will realise the benefit of re-established prosperity in the Colony. If. it is good to hold out hope to the more elevated and more lightly burdened civil servants that next yefir full salaries will be paid to them, is it not equally good and just that the same degree of hope and encouragement should be held out to the laborers 1 The Government answer this with an emphatic No! They are unable to appreciate the force of the old aphorism, that "What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander." They know- how to finely draw the line between gentlemen and the common herd. This, however, is only one of the minor grounds of complaint against the pursuance of the system adopred by the Ministry, as we shall presently show. "We find that the course adopted will entail upon Parliament next session the necessity for again going over the whole of the ground. The battle of retrenchment will have to be fought again, and at what an expense to the country ! The time of the House of Representatives will be encroached upon by a debate probably extending over weeks. Hansard will be filled with pages of honorable members'" speeches containing the old arguments. (Jther pressing matters of great import will be delayed, if not cast aside, and Parliament will again rise from its labors with little to show as the practical result of the session. Again, the pursuance of the present system ensures to the successors of present officers the full rate of salaries paid, in many cases as the reward of long and faithful service, with, of course the same rights as regards retiring allowance at any future time, on the basis of such salaries. A still more serious objection to the system is found in the fact that it places in the hands of the Ministry power to make heavy reductions from some officers and to pay in full the salaries of favorites. That this is done we have very good reason to believe, and we need scarcely say that in every case the underling with a small salary suffers while the highly-salaried and lazy officer reaps the benefit. Parliament did not intend that such a course should be pursued. It was, we think, understood that all officials should be called upon to feel alike the pinch of the times. Thus, unless we are greatly mistaken, the wishes of Parliament have been set at defiance by the Ministry. Had the proposals of Mr. Header Wood, adopted by the Opposition, been carried, and the rates of reduction definitely fixed, 110 such opportunity would have been a Horded the Ministry of inilicting such gross injustice.

The paucity, of new telegrams and cablegrams in our issue of this evening is due to the fact that " Sunday hours " have been observed in the Telegraph Offices throughout the Colony. We think the time has arrived when the "desirableness, or otherwise, of thus preventing the transmission of news to evening papers throughout the Colony on several occasions during the year should be carefully considered. We are fully aware that to-day is the anniversary of the birth of the Prince of Wales ; and we, of course, are imbued with all the feeling 3 of loyalty pertaining to such a season. But feelings of loyalty are not allowed to interfere with the publication of our paper. We work, and feel just as loyal as those who don't. Nor are we desirous of circumscribing the number of holidays whieh are now enjoyed by officials of the Telegraph Department. It is quite possible to so arrange matters ; s to leave an operator in cjiarge of such an office as that at Oamaru on the Prince of Wales' Birthday and similar occasions. The matter i.s of considerable importance to the conductors of evening newspapers and the public. Of so much importance, indeed, that in Great Britain, the source of our admirable loyalty, the anniversaries of royal birthdays arc not laid hold of as pretexts for holidays. We wish not to be misunderstood. In every case, as public business is suspended, the majority of telegraph operators might be dispensed with; but care should be taken to enable the conductors of evening newspapers to chronicle [events, which are multiplied on such occasions. The same remarks apply with equal force to post offices. That department of the public service was also closed to-day, and, asa result, evening newspaper conductors could get neither their letters nor their exchanges. Exchanges could, it is true, be dispensed with, rather than that the staffs, or any portion of them, should be deprived of a holiday; but it might be of considerable importance that letters should be available without delay. We commend the consideration of this question to the heads of both the departments we have mentioned. Our worthy Resident Magistrate, Mr. T. W. Parker, at times gives life to the proceedings in the Court by sparks of quiet wit. For instance, yesterday he caused a genuine titter of welcome merriment by a racy interjection while Mr, Newton was addressing the Bench at thp close <?£ tl;e

now famous Waif" v. Coliis case. The learned counsel wos dilating upon the conflict of evidence give:* I>y Br*. Wait a:.d de Lautour as to whether Mr. Coliis' leg; was broken or whether h«* was merely suffering from severe coup =ior!. ;;n-l remarked that this was one of t!; points in the case iliat his Worship would luiva to decide. Thereupon Sir. Parker s*id, " If I have to decide whether or not there was a fracture, it will have to be done in a way not very pleasant to the defendant." Of everyone laughed at the aj-nouncwnojii, save Mr. Coliis, who did not appear to relish the idea of a miiiute evamiii t,ion of the neck of the femur if iiis left ieg. to ascertain whether or not it had been fractured.