The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 1887. SIR JULIUS VOGEL.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2568, 9 April 1887, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 1887. SIR JULIUS VOGEL.

Sir- Julius Vogel lias addressed' bis constituents, and as: lie controls the finances of the colony, bis opinion on things''in'general at-the;'present time is of spocial interest, fie has to meet the House with a considerable deficit, and he exonerates himself from blame on this head by pleatling that he lias doneliisbest. The Goyernmentindeebd he- affirmed, had dorio everything to make the depression felt as lightly: as possible, and of course they are not to. blame, They bad bad, he said, "an anxious timo." This will.be news- to many, because during ..the recess a popular opinion has prevailed that Ministers have had a really " good' time," running about all'over the colony at the public expense, and shirking their offices as if all play and no work was tho backbone of'their policy. What they havo done to make the depression felt lightly, we do not know, unless it has been their Mic-' •auber like capacity for enjoying themselves under adverse circumstances. Sir Julius Vogel, however, does at last admit the depression which exists,, and proposes to remedy it by consolidating the Treasury, Customs, Marine, Post, and Telegraph, Stamp, .Property Tax,' and Land Transfer Offices into .one' department. The consolidation,' ho assures us, will have an enormouseffect, but he does not indicate the particular number of thousands of pounds per annum, which it, may be expected to save. While it is satisfactory to Beo the Colonial Treasurer engaged in a project for reducing the cost of tho Civil Service there is a vagueness about his scheme, as shadowed forth in his ' recent speech which prevents anyone from estimating its value.. This consolidation is virtually the only substantial romedy suggested for producing a financial equilibrium, and wo fear that it will scarcely Berve its purpose. " Borrowing is not altogether to ceaf/'and We presume this announcement is the key with which existing financial difficulties are.-to bo.unlocked. ' Sir Julius : is averse to-reduc-ingl the .existing number .of .members in the Houso, or of clipping the present honorarium, and in this he will have the' sympathy.-of legislators, ■ A strong measure of retrenchment, is needed with legislators as well as with the. Civil Service, and there is but little hope of obtaining it from Sir Julius Vogol, Our impression is 1 that the Colonial Treasurer is paying out..a littleiretrenchment rope just tomeet the popular demand for economy, but that he.is playing a part in doing this. He has always maintained his prestige in this colony by spending and is as unlikely as the proverbial leopard to diange his spots.