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Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3610, 22 July 1880, Page 2

The Government have decided, as is now well known, to reduce the salaries of Civil Serrants. As we pointed out in a recent issue, this redaction alone will be. the means of saving a large sum. We think, however, that the Government should have applied the redaction equally to all persons paid out of the public funds. Following the general custom, our Heaven-born legislators are alvrays willing to do anything that does not directly affect their own pockets—excepting of course when it is to their advantage. They are—or rather profess to be — anxious to bring the expenditure down to the lowest possible figure in ord*r that the deficit in the revenue may he provided for. To do this the controllers of our finance have decided on a general redaction. The postal, telegraph, and other Civil Servants are compelled to agree to a loss of 10 per cent on their salaries, and this they do, as may be well understood, with no very good grace. But, " Charity begins at home," and the more praiseworthy method would have been to reduce members' honorariums. The Government employe receiving £100 a year is to hare a sum of £10 deducted, but the members of

the House, who will receiro at the end of this session over £600 each, which amount the bleeding country has to dis;burae\ for , little more than twelve calendar 'months' work, will escape scot free. This amount taken collectively amounts to at least £70,000, a very nice little sum. The members in receipt of this honorarium could for the most part do very well without it, and from the feeling in the Upper House it appears they are unwilling to rebate one shilling of the honorarium. This is an example of their disinterested patriotism. In fact members voting money for themselves in this fashion, are guilty of a glaring misappropriation of the public funds. It should be quite sufficient under existing circumstances for men to obtain seats in the House without receiving money to sit there, and our legislators are in reality levying black maii on the Colony by forcing a struggling population to provide them the means of indulging in dissipation and excess. By reducing one official's salary and not their own, our representatives are robbing Peter to pay Paul. Ii members should be paid at all {nous rien voyons pas la necessite) it should be sufficient for them to receive their bare expenses. It may be argued that men will not leave their business to sit in the House without some compensation, but if their patriotism is of such a base kind that they require more than honour to serve the country, we may not expect to see the public business and the administration of the public funds so satisfactorily dealt with as we have a hope, nay, a right to expect they should be.