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South Canterbury Times, Issue 2268, 24 June 1880, Page 2

So the report of the Civil Service Commission was stolen, and in consequence of the theft its birth was premature. This is no more than might have been expected. The article had a decidedly unfinished and premature appearance. It looked as if it would have been none, the worse if it had been slept, over. Its conclusions were rash rather than judicial. Singularly enough the reportjis unaccompanied by the evidence on which its recommendations arc alleged to he based. ThcCrand Jury have found their true hill hut the Court awaits the depositions before it can convict. Homo alarming revelations may now he looked forward to. Tliis abortive attempt to hang Mr Conyers and some of the other members of the railway department will probably lead to a thorough i lives ligation of the way in which the Commission has gleaned its facts. The young member for the Waitaki is on the war-path. He insists upon ascertaining what, steps have been taken to detect: and punish Hie culprit who stole, the report and sent a digest of it to the (lovermnent organs. When the very nasty smoke which at prosen[ surrounds this report has cleared away, some highly interesting disclosures may he anticipated.

Til 10 Parliament of Xew Zealand arc a peculiar people. They represent the shifting sands of the political universe. Their determinations are as variable as the seasons. One session they declare that a certain thing shall not he done, and when the next session arrives they determine to do it. Their motto is to practise the reverse of what they preach, Economy and retrenchment generally mean extravagance. A shilling is clipped remorselessly from the wages of the drudge, and a, half-crown is simultaneously added to the salary of the official drone. Parliamentary life and Civil Service life strikingly resemble fish life. The big sharks devour the small fry. The proceeding may he reprehensible or ernel, hut that don’t interfere with the digestion or gratification of this cannibal instinct. A good illustration of this may be found in (lie new appointment of an Inspector of Xew Zealand Prisons. Some time ago, when (bo Yogcl-Alkinson Ministry was in power such an olllcer was proposed, but Parliament considered it was unnecessary. Now again, when retrenchment is the order of the day. Sir Julius 'Vogel is requested to select an Inspector from the distinguished gaol disciplinarians of the United Kingdom, and send him out to the colony. He is to receive L"GOO a year, with travelling allowances, and the latter we may safely presume will represent, at least, another £OOO, if not dE 1000. OP course, this Inspector will arrive in New Zealand full to the brim with bran new ideas, and it is easy to conjecture the result. The gaols of the colony will undergo an overhauling, not with a view of improving their condition or rendering them less harassing to the ratepayers, but in order that they may bo reconstructed so as to harmonise with the new fanglod notions of this new arrival. So far as or utility is concerned we feel safe in predicting that the novice will prove an extravagant failure, it certainly seems singular that when retrenchment is being screamed aloud from the Treasury benches, appointments which are destined to involve a waste of thousands annually should be made. If an inspector of Prisons is so absolutely necessary why overlook the trained and experienced ollicers in the colony ? This appointment is an insult to every gaol governor in Xew Zealand and what renders it infinitely disgraceful, is that it means a serious addition to the cost of onr departmental machinery at a time when a reduction of the expenditure is demanded.. The CGOO a year and travelling expenses which are about to he placed at the disposal of a lazy and probably crochetty supervisor of convict cells, might, at present, be far more profitably expended in assisting the starving unemployed, and keepinghonest labour out of gaols and benevolent institutions.