The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Ressurexi. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20, 1884.

Thames Star, Volume XV, Issue 4871, 20 August 1884, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Ressurexi. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20, 1884.

The proverbial_clean sweeping of the new broom' will be carefully watched in connection with the Ministry's method of dealing with that Aufcean stable, that colonial millstone, the Civil Service. The Stout-Vogel administration is taking office , at a time when it has no easy task before it in treating financial matters, and most .recognise the bald hard fact that the Colo* j nial debt ii a heavy one, and no farther borrowing can be) in decency, indulged in, otherwise than according to schedule for reprodnctire works only; that is, every pound borrowed must be for a specified purpose, and can be diverted to no pther use—this is one of the duties it must not shirk. Taxation at the present rate of luring—taken generally—can hardly be increased, and therefore a careful and solidly thoughtful consideration of our means as a people must be at once taken by those who bare assumed office. The reckless extravagance whichjhas, almost from its inception, characterised expenditure in connection with the Civil Service, has been from time to time a subject for serious deprecation at the hands of honest and earnest legislators as~ well as the Press, yst the privilege of patronage-has gradually grown into a recognised element of the system of appointment to it* until good service, faithful labor, and efficiency of officers have become as nothing, where chances of exercisiDg influence, of sustaining a rule of nepotism, or of planting favorites in sinecures, have pre sented themselves. This system, or—as a whole heap of such practices may properly be termed — amalgamation of abuses, has grown to such' aa alarming pitch that it is showing itself as a glaring abuse. We expend per annum in oiling the machinery of the State, such a sum as would " run " three such colonies as ours, were they carried on by private enterprise. • There is not the least reason in (he " imagination of man " why the colonists should not obtain from their employes full value'for the amounts paid them, and were such a measure of supply for payment exacted, the cost of carrying on the business of the country wonld be reduced to such an extent as would agreeably astonish moat of our readers. The service is, very much overmanned, in centres of population particularly, and still,patronage is regularly continued. Whenever an opportunity of creating an office arises, as a rule, some political support in sought in return for the gift of it, and it is forthwith tacked on* the list of the colony's leeches. Condensation of offices and amalgamation of departments are things not only called for, but quite practicable, and the creation of further ••billets" should be put down with a firm hand. The experience in the colony is that the abuse is 'most rampant—geographically and somewhat naturally—at the seat of the evil. Outside of it we frequently see men individually fulfilling the duties of many offices,' and fairly entitling themselves to thp emoluments given them by the State; but there is no great cause of complaint here, it is the heart of the disease we want to get at. The new Administration has an opportunity now given it of showing its zeal for the colony's welfare, and an unequalled chance granted it of applying the pruning knife to the tree in question, and removing from it a great deal of useless overgrowth. -- ''• „,-■.-.