The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1883.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4611, 15 October 1883, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1883.

Sevebal accounts of commercial depression are to hand from various parts of the Colony, arid although many of sthem are pictured by. various word painters in somewhat overdrawn hues, there is little doubt that serious consideration should be given to them. It is only a few years since the colony received a very severe lesson in this direction, and what it suffered then should forearm it against any direful results likely to arise from a similar calamity overtaking it. The last strain was attributed to many causes, the chief amongst them being the withdrawal of Home capital from New Zealand, and the consequent necessity on the part of the Colony to replace it by some means. Oar borrowing capacity has been fully taken advantage of, and our taxes have—• in all conscience—been freely imposed. Taking our productiveness into consideration, while considering the taxation, it see ns quite reasonable to suppose that having overcome the difficulty of a withdrawal of a large amount of outside money from the colony our affairs would go on smoothly, and no such disastrous result as even a partial commercial crisis could ensue. Some evil must lie at the root of the growth ctf such things under the circumstances, and this evil is one which should be exterminated. To anyone conversant with the subject, to.the constant peruser of the newspapers of the day, to the ordinary observer of current colonial events there is one very palpable root to this ©Till and ttiat is the enormous amount

of money wasted—literally thrown away —in the administration of the Civil Service of the colony. It is quite unnecessary to follow a beaten track, acd show the too frequently abused patronage-exercised ,by all in power in bestowing Government appointments, on friends, on those who are pushed upon the Government by their supporters, to obtain support, or to appease wrathful and indignant representatives of the people; this glaring practice has been exposed from time to time in the House and through tbe columns of the Press. There is now within the colony an army of civil servants which, taken all round, consists of the rawest recruits- an army—brought together for any particular purpose—could well comprise. The officers ia this gathering are, in many instances, as ignorant as those under them generally; but many of those within their control are superior from an official point of view to their commanding officers. This large army is drawing the vitals out of the colony, is draining it of the hard-earned money of the people, is living in comparative luxury on the results of public industry, is reurning very little indeed for what it receives, and is causing to a great extent this depression we complain of. We will endeuvor to prove our statements. The body we refer to, is in the first place unnecessarily large; .we know that in certain Government offices in the building known as the "refuge for the respectable destitute " in Wellington, when a vacancy occurs —a blotting pad is in front of nobody, a stool requires to be sat upon— some individval who has a friend or rela» tive, who is a friend of a member, a Minister or aa Under-Secretary, is shoved into the position, no matter what his qualifications, or whether he, or even a qualified person is required to fill the stool vacated. Thus the army is kept up fco the standard in numbers, but in efficiency; alas! we can write no laudation here. The higher class officers are in a gi-eat number of cases, well-paid beings who act as signing machines, and who have, in a great number of cases, been politically appointed. The vitality of the Colony is suffering through having to pay this army. The hours of labor entailed on them do not exceed six, daily, and during that arduous time many of them merely put in an appearance in their respective places. Thus they live in ease, and return little for what they ore in receipt of, and in absorbing the very large sum per annum which it takes to pay them, they use money which should be available for reproductive expenditure, and cause extra taxation to be levied upon the people. This army should be -reduced in numbers considerably, and many useless sinecures should be abolished. Efficient and useful officers should be selected, and the appointment of subordinates left to other hands than those who now have such power. Political patronage should be ..done away with, and wherever practicable the selection of candidates should, be determined by fitness after examination. The reform of the civil service is too large a subject to be exhaustively dealt with in one article, and we will refer to this important matter again.