The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. FEEDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1884.

Thames Star, Issue 4939, 7 November 1884, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. FEEDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1884.

It is a matter of extreme regret that a necessity of displaying the poverty of a number of the community should arise at the present or any other moment in this colony of oars, and that such a thing should be trumpeted abroad will not redound to the colony's credit, nor will it aid its prosperity. Any reading reaßoner will ascertain for himself the fact that the revenue from all sources should proride ample employment for its people, yet we see that there are hardships—aye, even distress, according to Auckland and other city papers —existent in various portions of the colony. We can but point oat the fact that the expenditure of a colony shonld he regulated by its income, and from following out that axiom we cannot diverge. There are a number of. public works to be carried out in various; parts of the colony, which have not) 'yet been commenced, principally

owing to the difficulty experienced in providing funds for their execution ; there is an amount of taxation levied in the colony which should amply provide for all goveramental requirements, and why this dis- i tress exists, is an enigma to many, batone which can be partially solved by the fact that colonial revenue is almost entirely swallowed up by what is called the "Civil List." That dreadful cormorant, the Civil Service, promises to most effectually " do " for the colony in the course of time. Its draught upc:; our life's blood now is telling with effect, and the sooner some check'is placed upon the enormous annual expenditure devoted to it the better. The amount of money paid for the article supplied to the populace in the name of Government is in an extreme degree alarming ; the value of it being nothing approaching a comparison with its cost. It is time

that the people took steps in the direction of reducing the width and depth of this large drain upon their prosperity. The

cost of administering the Civil Service in this colony is a shame and'a disgrace to its legislators, and with a mingling of hope—perhaps almost forlorn —we have an expectation that this wrong will be righted, and" that the machinery of the State will yet be worked more carefully

and with a due regard to its staying

powers. Much may be put upon this camel's back, but one straw too many will break it.