The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, MAY 31, 1886. A SAMPLE OF RETRENCHMENT.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2308, 31 May 1886, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, MAY 31, 1886. A SAMPLE OF RETRENCHMENT.

A return just presented to Parliament giving the date of appointment .of . Land Boards, the number of attendances of each member, the honorarium and the travelling expenses of each member from the Ist of January, 1882, to tho 31st March, 1886, gives the following particulars for the Wellington District: Honorarium oxidises Total. £ 3 d £ s, d £ s. d T. Mason 98 0 0 34 2 0 132 2 0 H. Bunny 103 0 0 203 5 2 306 5 2 0. Beetham 57 0 0 57 0 0 W,W.Taylor46 0 0 40 0 0 W. W. MoCardle... 37 0 0 166 16 8 203 16 8 W. A. Fitzherbert... 30 0 0 34 17 6 64 17 (i A.Reese... 4 0 0 24 18 8 28 18 8 The number of attendances were Mason 98, Bunny 103, Beetham 57, Taylor 46, MoCardle37, Fitzherbert 30, Reese 4. It will be seen by the above figures that of late tho expenses of Waste Lund Boards have materially increased. It is a matter of notoriety that the Stout Ministry have incurred increased administrative expenditure, i more especially in the matter of Waßte Land Boards, but wo were hardly prepared to find that these Boards cost four or five timns as much under the present Ministry as they did in the days when Major Atkinson was Premier. As a matter of fact, a single Wairarapa member now draws more money for his fortnightly attendance than was drawn in former times by all the members of the Board. It will not, of cource, ruin the country to pay Mr Beese or Mr McCardle something like £2OO a year to,attend Board meetings, but there are scores of similarly expensive appointments made in all parte of the colony, and the aggregate charge is one that the country cannot afford, and which in a time of depression is most censurable. It would take n great maHy thousands of pounds to cover the cost of new appointments made by the present Ministry. . From the first the Stout cabinet has been prodigal of public money, and whatever distress might* prevail in the colony, the public

pm'fit' has been wiili: opi'll In the iVicmts of the [itii'ty in power. We have litt.lo faith in any promises of retrenchment made by. the present Ministry, their policy having been ono of reckless extragance, and the return which we give above is simply a sample which indicates the general coarse of the present administration, We do not blame Mr McUardle or Mr Kbesr for drawing so much money for their attendances at the Lund Board. On the contrary, we congratulate them on hflyins; " struck oil" so pleasantly, In old days when there were no liberal Waste Lund Boards, it was said that it was sweet to die for one's country, but now-a-days it is evidently far sweeter to live for it, We are glad to see the Wairarapa getting so good a slice of the Government cake, but we regret that the Colony has drifted into a condition in which such lavish extravagance can be openly indulged in, If we felt that the extravagance was i/onfined to one department and to one' district we would think but little of it, but we fancy that the trail of the serpent extends over all departments and all districts, and that the public will some day wake up to find that a Stout-Vogel combination is a very castly luxury.