TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8,1892.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4264, 8 November 1892, Page 2

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8,1892.

1 Ose extravagant appendage of the public eervioe in this Colony is the Government Printing Office. This establishment has become almost a colossal institution and is out of all proportion to tbo real needs and requirements of the Colony, It employs a hundred and thirty regular bands, and if to this bo added the occasional workers, the strength of the establishment means an industrial ; army of two hundred persons, engai ged more or less constantly in performing the printing whioh is eon. sujered necessary for oarrying on the Government of the country. "The , total vote for the currentyoar required to carry on this great undertaking amounted to £36,215, and this sum does not include interest on the large capital invested in maohinery, stock and buildings. A Committee of the House during the late session presented a report on the Office, which calls attention to some of tlio weak points of the instii tution but passes lightly over others ' of greater consequence because the establishment is a great labour centre, and from this point of view'must

be handled tenderly by the party in power. Do not John Bigg's and other influential personages work within its vails and is it possible to critioise them ? The offioa is fairly well stuffed with men who haye been placed there by the influence of ministers.and members of the right colour, and under tbese circumstances Mr Didsbury, the able head of it, produces admirable results, All that can be done, under conditions for which be is not responsible, it accomplished, the only wonder is that be lias been able to produce the results which ho lias obtained. No private establishment worked on the same lines oould be made profitable, and for this reason we have never regarded the Government printing office as sn economical establishment, Enormous and preposterous batches of printing are turned out there, which never would be'ordered if tlwy had to be paid for in an ordinary way; but in the public printing office a couple of hundred workmen demand employment, and it iB given them with an unsparing hand. Were three-fourths of the work put up to publio tender, it would undoubtedly be executed at a less expense and with greater promptitude; but members have not the courage to face an alternative of this kind, one which would meau giving offence to that mysterious party—the labour party, The Committee to which we have referred, commenting upon the finan* oial aspect of the office, said

' The expenditure of the Printing Office is wry largo, The sum on the estimates for the year ll)!)2-93 is i'3G,24(i, and this amount arises not from any oxcessjvo payments made to the employes of the establishment, but from the mass of papers and documents of no practjoal uso which are printed and then thrown aside. Tho members of theUovernment, and the members of the Legislature, are alike to blame in moving that returns be ptinied in large numbers whioh nobody ever reads. As a proof of the waste in this way, it maybe mentioned that last yw the ftwtej «old fifty-three tons of

waste paper—that is, paper which had beon printed .upon and never left the office-(or which lie obtained i!llil9« 6d, On a moderate calculation, it must havo taken £250 a ton to convert that paper into tho condition of waste,

This is a fairly outspoken review of the condition under which tho establishment is worked and it is oreditablo to the Committee; tiiut .it reported so plainly upon what is after all a robbery of the taxpayers of New Zealand, The present Ministry is probably no worse than its predecessors in keeping up an undue expenditure in this department, it simply has not the courage to protect the public purse, just the same as previous Ministers lacked it. The final recommendation of the Committee is eminently suggestive of the times in which we live and needs no comment. Some friction having arisen between Ihe Printer and the employes on piecework, the question came before the Committee, by request of the Minister in chargo, and they have taken a large amount uf evidence on tlw nature of the work and the prices paid for it; and in roforence thereto the Oominiltee have to recommend, in regard to the compoaition of" The Transactions and Proceedings of the flew Zealand Institute," the "Law Reports," and similar technical work, that mi increase of 2d per thousand be paid for the same, or, as an alternative, that the work bo executed on timo at the usual rate of wages.