The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. SATURDAY, AUGUST 11, 1883.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4556, 11 August 1883, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. SATURDAY, AUGUST 11, 1883.

In a recent article we had occasion to point out the baneful effects of an unlimited amount of patronage being exercisable in connection with making Government appointments, and we must still adhere to the opinion*th«n expressed, that the wofuT state of incompetency under which our Civil Service staggers is due to this unwholesome cause. One department especially suffers from this terrible disease that is the Railway portion of the Service The many opportunities occurring .of making appointments, ranging in importance from a signalman or a porter to a general manager, placed in the hands of a Minister is not forgotten by those who have claims upon the Minister, Ministry, or other influential persons, for personal or political services rendered by them. In fact, it is the common story that efforts made at election time are to be—if even these arrangements are hot carried out— subsequently rewarded. The adherence of certain members to a party frequently gives them a s right to ask favours from that party. Even Heaven-born Ministers are at times prone to reward their friends by giving them public offices. In the face of this unsatisfactory state of affairs, it is rather gratifying to see the Government making a move 1 to place the Railway Department under the head of a responsible minister whose sole political duty it will be to administer it. The importance of this branch of the publio service is second to none other. It is one of the few sources of revenue the country possesses, and the prospect of the profits to be derived from it should make the Government more than ordinarily careful that it should be tenderly nursed and cared for. In Victoria, where a very inferior line was carried over a very limited length by a private company under the control of a Board of Directors, the result was most satisfactory, and to go farther afield, the English lines of railway managed by companies are carried on much more profitably, and in a more thorough state of efficiency than are the State railways of the Colonies. "We would go even farther iuhan is . now proposed by ; the. Government; we would place the management of the state railways under the control of a non-political board to be appointed by Parliament; the members, or any one of which would be removable only by an Act of the House, . and that they should have as their/ Chairman the Minister of Railways of the day. This idea is about to be tried In an adjoining colony, and with every reasonable prospect of success. The advantages likely to arise from the efficient direction of this, important wealth producer are not at all of a onesided nature; the farmer and mercantile man would reap benefits as well as the owners of the lines, i.e., the colonists. The management by duly qualified business men of an undertaking of a commercial nature, is according to reason likely to be more satisfactory and remunerative than when the same business is carried on by inexperienced and incompetent persons, more particularly as it has at present influences of a barnacle like nature, attached to it, which are enough to destroy the efficiency of its management. It is only human nature, to grasp power if it be placed within the reach of the ordinary man, and the power of appointment or conferring favors is so pleasing to some people who so cheaply pay their debts, that until this is placed without their reach, the service under review is sure to suffer. Under such a system as we now advocate a great deal of unnecessary responsibility would be removed from the shoulders of people whom we judge are not overanxious to bear it, and at the same time a certain amount of importunity on the part of members, and jj others requiring rewards, would be done away with, and some worry to Ministers thus obviated. We are in hopes that a move will be taken in the direction we speak of, this session ; but it is very unlikely that members will care to relinquish one of their means ..for rewarding their friends. ' , •