The Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1887. RETRENCHMENT.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1652, 27 October 1887, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1887. RETRENCHMENT.

Pbeviottsly to the meeting of Parliaments 1884, Major Atkinson stumped New Zealand, and wherever he spoke he said that the cause of the depression was that the Government I was not then spending as much public money as it had been accustomed, to spend in _ previous years. The depression in trade, and the distress amongst the working classes was, he said, due_ to a contraction in public expenditure, and every one said he was right. In 1887 he has come forward as the cbampion of retrenchment and every one says he is quite right. According to Major Atkinson in 1884 the Government was spending so little that it produced distress; in 1887 the only way to relieve the distress is to spend less. What was killing us in 1884 was the drastic economy practised by Major Atkinson—What will save us in 1887 is that Major shall carry his drastic economy to the greatest possible limits. And yet there are thousands who agree with this. Now if drastic economy caused distress in 1884, how will extra-drastic retrenchment improve things in 1887 ? Such a thing is impossible, and the people will soon find out that any tinkering will not bring back prosperous times. Let us suppose now that the Government can effect a saving of £200,000. What will the result be? It will result in the owners of property not having so much money to pay away in taxation, but poor people will not get the slightest benefit from it. M any of the civil servants will probably be thrown out of employment or their salaries will be reduced, and poor people think that a very fine thing. They little dream that these civil servants must live, and must swell the ranks of the unemployed, and must render it more difficult for the working classes to get work. Let us suppose that 50 civil servants are dismissed, what will they do? They will try to get billets as clerks, and those who now making a living as clerks will find it far more difficult to get employment then. In the same way men workiDg on the railways muse compete with other workmen, and so on, and each addition !to the number of workmen must proportionately swell the ranks of the unemployed. . Storekeepers will lose their customers, and their business must fall off also. And thus this retrenchment must deepen and deepen the distress and the depression, and all that will be gained by it is that proI bably a man with an income of £SOOO i will pay £5 less than he otherwise would. This is what we may expect ! from drastic retrenchment. The men property will gain a few pounds but those who live by their earnings will find times much worse than they have ever* been before. Ketrenchment, if carried to the limits expected of the present Government, ', may be characterised as a policy that will make the " rich richer, and the poor poorer," and bring upon this colony distress hitherto unknown. In saying this we do not wish to be misunderstood. Economy in public expenditure is absolutely necessary; to waste is to want, and a Government has no more right to be extravagant than a private individual. Economy is wise and good, but drastic retrenchment is bad, and must produce evil results. The Sfcout-Vogel Government practised economy, as instanced iby their Civil Service Eeform Act. By that Act they abolished pensions and retiring allowances, and laid the foundation stone of a system of retrenchment which will save to the taxpayers of this colony in the course of time hundreds of thousands of pounds a year ; but no one has felt it, and no one has been thrown out of employment under it. The good has been done, and no one has suffered in the slightest degree. That was wise and just economy, and ought to have met with universal approval, but we are sorry to say it did not. The poor unfoitunate who had nothing to gain and everything to lose by the overthrow of Sir Robert Stout voted against him. They believed retrenchment was a fine thing, and it is possible fhejr may now get it with a vengeance;