The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. SATURDAY, MAY 14, 1881.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3861, 14 May 1881, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. SATURDAY, MAY 14, 1881.

Mb Sattndbbs, M.H.R. for Waikari, in bis late address to his constituents, coolly told them that he had done more than any other member in reducing the expenditure. 3ji the matter of tKe ten per cent. reduction from the salaries of civil servants, Mr Saunders bad something to do, namely, the introduction of the question, but only in his capacity of a friend of the party in power. He takes the credit for the sating, but before making such a boast he should consider if the step even after all was a wise one. A reduction in the expenditure was required, but there were many other ways of doing it without an indiscriminate raid being made upon the servants of the colony. Mr Saunders could not support Sir. Gr. ; Grey because tbe sum of £ls,ooo,o(Xtßad been spent in two years, a very poor excuse unless he could prove that the money had been spent injudiciously. It was a wonder Mr Saunders did not take credit for all the improvements in the Bailway Department, which he might have done with more truth, as being tbe principal mover in the Bailway Commission. He gaid, however, that he was pleased to see the Government were attending to tbe North Island Bail ways, and we may hear in Parliament that Mr Saunders deserves credit, the saving effected by the discbaige of Messrs Conyers and Lawson, the late Bailway Commissioners of the colony. The Property Tax does not meet with approval of Mr Saunders, but he prefers a land tax. This is a little strange, for, if our memory does not serve us falsely, Mr Saunders, the representative of one of the largest land holders in the colony, approved of that tax when it was first introduced. He always believed in land tax, but differed upon tbe subject of improvements. The latter part of Mr Saunders' address, where he say a that be will support the present system of education, we like best, and also that the cost of education and charitable aid should properly come oat the Consolidated Revenue of the country. There will be a fight in the Legislature over this question of charitable aid during next session, and if Mr Saunders can influence his friends in the Govern* ment to support such a policy as he defines we shall be pleased to allow him credit for it when he next addresses his constituents. His dislike for Sir George Grey led him to question the right of the great advocate of liberal principle to the title of being a Liberal, but Mr Saunders cannot claim to be a judge of such a question. He is a violent party man, and that is all that can be said in his favor.