The Wairarapa Daily. FRIDAY, JULY 9, 1880.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 511, 9 July 1880, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. FRIDAY, JULY 9, 1880.

The Civil Service Commissioners' report, when it first appeared,: was well received by the press of the colony, now it is condemned! Some of our contemporaries have gone round from oue side to the other with the most marvellous celerity, and why ? Simply because. tho Ministry, which had morally promised to endorse the report, wavered in it» duty and practically threw it overboard, The Ministry meant well, but it saw that it would lose some of its supportera if it carried out its good intentions, and so it jibbed. There was the Minister of Public Works! he had been travelling about the railways putting things right himself, and thought he had done a good stroke, when lo! The Commissioners trumped his best trick, and made him their bitter enemy. When the Commissioners trod on the toes of the Minister for Public Works they might naturally have looked forward to a " Roland for an Oliver," and they have got it in the shape of what is termed, "Mr Conyers' letter on the Civil Service Commissioners' report" laid upon the table by the Hon Mr Oliver, with the leave of the House, The Ministry have consented to the death of its new offspring, the Civil Service Commission baby. Mr Conyers is entrusted with the bowstring, the •xecution being supervised by Pacha Oliver. Mr Conyers' letter, to which we have 'referred, is too long for our space, but we shall briefly refer to several points in it, In the first instance Mr Conyers claims that his railway system is that adopted by other countries, which the Commission in its ignorance condemn. The Commissioners' report, however, proves that the results are bad. and it follows that either the system is wrong or Mr Conyers _ himself, is incapable. Mr Conyers is very sore on the question of unnecessary officers. The Commissioners found, we believe, a man, a carpenter by trade, Conyeredj or rather conjjired, into a Locomotive Engineer. Mr_ Conyers very boldly claims that he himself is the best judge of this man s fitness for his work, Mr Conyers Makes a.very lame defence for other unnecessary officers. Did our space permit we would point out numerous instances in which Mr Conyers, in order to make his rejoinder more forcible, actually misquotes the text of the Commissioners' report. This practice will hardly tend to enhance his reputation for fair dealing, however much it may for cleverness. The principal charge against Mr Conyers is that his receipts from his capital invested with Davidson & Co, depend upon, the success of that firm. This fact Mr Conyers does not deny, but pleads extenuating circumstances. He says he left his money in the business at a "promised" interest of 8 per cent. We would like to know if the promised interest has been paid, because if it has not Mr Conyers' arrangement with Mr Davidson has fallen through, and he is still virtually a partner in the concern. Mr Conyers in his turn attacks the Commissioners, and would lead the, public to believe that they were (adjective) fools, and that he, Mr Conyers, is a sort of special providence to the colony, protecting it from them and from numberless railway collisions. Were the Ministry loyal to the Commission Mr Conyers would probably have adopted a different tone, but his own chief, the Minister for ■ Public Works, is with him and against the Commissioners. There are railway rings down south, ..and if 1 not in the present-Mr' Oliver has in" the ; past made one in them. It is now the ring v. the 'Commissioners. The Minister for.Pubiic Works is certainly on the side of the former, and for the time being we may expect it to. triumph. TheMmistarforPubHc .Works diigs a,' possibly, smiling., Cabinet"' after lumj^andiothii'iturrigi-thai'Mjcal#; Tiie •nly cktnM ii thit int«llig«tit Meiers

itlpughguUhe colony an ! b'elm jft?ade 5 toj' cli&nse&M purifyjtlie &vil ftWw oft \ tso| |hat jthey willftootj: listen to the roico', of; jtfhahnei;, or-believe?the iijisrejjrese'fita-'' : tiona of our railway ring dores. If such settlers. would ,only organise to been pi'oved To exist the well-meaning 'buj; va'oillajiiijj Milistry piwdr MulipmblyJiaye tiie ..courage to do. ' itf diily'to"'tHe' publicf' In the House of Repr AjEaiiiyesJ nesday, Sir -Wjlliam ask if Mr Oony^h^Mm r raceivihg.;an ! annual bonus addition to his silary ,of £I2OO. ( Dr .Wallis,moved,—, That'this; Ho,i|se is 'of; opinion thai; the' Government '/should l - cease 1 ''to' borrow further, either for the purpose of carrying" 'on! the Public Wo'rki policy, or for the purpose of defraying a portion; of the brdinary"expensesi of! the/ ;Goyernment.| The aiderable length, and showed whait-Wri-the debts in various parts oL.the...world,. The people, of New Zealand were the most 'heavily taied'pf a'ny people cm the'face of ..the glebe.; , child, had a debt of £6O upon them. And what had they to show for the twenty, millions—what was not now absolutely five millioni. The ; time had'now come" when we should stop borrowing, and he : hoped the House '.Would decide upoii it at once, 'Tlife 'Biigli«h money lenders were l surely >a" nib>t' 'erediilou'a' people. The result must midoubtedly be that if we did not stop. borrowing, we must become nationally insolvent. J There was intern-! perance '• in borrowing as there was in drinking, and we had got to the drunken stage. In England the national debt was due to the country itself, and the interest was spent in it—2? millions being yearly divided among the bondholders. But in New Zealand it was very different, for no less than £3 a-head, man, woman, and child, went out of the country, but never came back again, Such a state of things could not last, and must inevitably lead to bankruptcy unless put a stop to. Mr Seddon moved his payment of Members Bipenses Bill. The Hon. the Premier, while approving the measure, thought that the present time was inopportune for settling the question. Mr Moss claimed that the Legislatures in New Zealand wero underpaid. Dr Wallis supported payment of members, so that the working classes might be represented in the House. After some discussion, the motion for the second reading was agreed to.