The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 1883.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4369, 4 January 1883, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 1883.

Sib Jtjuus Vogel is invariably happy in his after dinner speeches. He never fails to tickle the feelings of his hearers, unless he is trying to " gently let down " an opponent in debate. At sophistry he is unequalled, but occasionally some difficulty is experienced in sifting his deliverances, and putting sarcasm aside to allow the real meaning of his words to appear. At the banquet given to him in Wellington recently he referred in most flattering terms to the Civil Service of the colony. Of it he must have almost a perfect knowledge. Now, it is becoming patent that the New Zealand civil service is the most ill-regulated and badly conducted piece of machinery in the world of state management. A small history of deficiencies can be laid to the charge of almost every department in it. Nephews, Cousins, Brothers-in-law, &c, are pitchforked into positions requiring talented and experienced men to fill, and it has been a long-standing system of various governments to appoint raw hands to the conduct of new departments, or to fill good positions rendered vacant by death or removal. Political influence has too long been brought to bear in this matter, and the pets of those in power, and in many instances of their wives, have secured appointments over the heads of old and deserving officers, through social qualities rather than official fitness. Various little sinecures have cropped up when required during various sessions. The worthy eulogiser should travel through that massive pile in the Empire City, that wonderful wooden refuge which costs the colony such sums annually, and he would fully realise Abe Lincoln's remark on the United States Civil Service when importuned to make a fresh useless appointment, "Ah ! too many hogs, and not enough fodder." Sir Julius thinks civil servants underpaid. A few of them may be, but, taking the curled darlings as a whole they are very fairly remunerated, and a very large number of them are very highly paid for doing almost nothing.