The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1879

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 302, 29 October 1879, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1879

Some dozen years ago a Financial Reform Association was started in New Zealand, but came to nothing, as at the time its affairs were prudently conducted and its financial condition was really a sound one. New Zealand had not then commenced the decensus averni in which it has subsequently taken such delight. New Zealand never dreamt then not only of being the Prodigal Son of the Colonial Office and ratine its substance in riotous living, but also of even forestalling its fatted calf. Nothing less than a Financial Reform Association throughout the land will now bring the colony to its bearings! Where are those patriots who a dozen years ago inaugurated one 1 They have an opportunity now which they were formerly without, and if they still live they should come to the fore. The colonial finance now is loaded with such masses of excresences that though

there is no difficulty in finding work for the pruning knife, it is Lard to say where it should begin and where it should end. Tested interests have spmng up in all directions and will bleed wherever an incision is made nor will any Ministry, have the courage o cut and carve-unless it be we°ll backed up by some strong and general reform organization, Are Legislative Councillors still to be pensioners on the Mate to the extent of £2OO per annum' for each honorable, or is it not ,suflicient, when dignity is conferred upon wealth, that the latter should bear the burden of the former? Have we not patriots enough in the country to All the Lower House at a reasonable sum,' say £IOO per session—£l per diem? Are Postal andTelegraphDepartments to be maintained not so much to serve the public as to enable a hoide of officwls to flash costly telegrams in all directions and fill the mail W* with gigantic packages known as official lettors? Whatever department we turn to we see an outpouring of public »■ improvident and un- 1 justifiable, Even if we take a bird's eye view of such a service as the Survey Office, we find small armies of surveyors taking roads where no roads can be made fov a generation to come, and laymg oft lands which are utterly unsaleable, Education is another of the quarter of a million of a year departments is all very well if we hd the money to pay the piper with. Not ™gitvoarenotj.uMcd in working out the expensive system which prevails or m pampering Universities and Colleges with enormous subsidies Among, too, our smaller useless luxuries we might cite "Hansard" as an excresence which would not be missed if cut away altogether. The Government Printing Office is a costly establishment where public money is lavishly squandered. We saw a return which emanated from it the other day which must have cost the colony about £3OO and which no mortal man would dream of reading. If the colony put its printing out and paid for it the work would be done more cheaply and much less of it would bo executed. Another little outletforready money is architecture. Some thirty or forty thousand pounds fas to go out year by year to build bis buddings in little places and little buildings m big places. A Colonial Architect is now one of our expensive hobbies, Of course, the Native Department is another extravagance and should be cut down. The Agentgenerals wings, too, will bear further dipping, We have too many highlypaid Judges, too many highly-paid Übinet Ministers, too many underpaid and overpaid Government officials New Zealand is a paradise for officeseekers. There is an opening somewhere or other for every adventurer A large proportion of the adult male population of the colony is absorbed in public offices, and maintained out of public revenue and loans. When will a Financil JJeform Association be sfwted, and an axe laid to the root of the Upas tree which is killing the country 1 °