Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878] THURSDAY,FEBRUARY 22, 1894. OUR CIVIL SERVICE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4655, 22 February 1894, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878] THURSDAY,FEBRUARY 22, 1894. OUR CIVIL SERVICE.

The deputation from tbe Oounoi ot tbe Public Service A«eociatiui: con.-isting rf Messrs J. E. Filzgura'c J. H. Baker, E-'Tregear, H. Pollen F, Wuldejrave, F. W, Flanagan, Si E. 0. Gibbrg, and Bev W. J. HubeiiE wbich waited on the Premier on Tuis day last must luue regretted thei attempt to obtain some consideratim at tlie hands of one who is noioiiousl, hostile to (be Civil Se> vice. Asking (or classification, and a Dill to fix al Salaries and increases by pevmanen law, Mr Seddon replies, " UlansificaHon ? Certainly. Take ibo salarie of tbe Pcsc and Telegraph Degiart ruent and compare them with thi salaries of other departments; the; are fully 25 per cont lower, let ut bring everything down to that level then we have classification." I would have been interesting to havi aepn the faces of the deputation us tin Premier delivered the above. Mi Tregear then ventured to remark tba nil through the commercial prolusion the salaries were much kighei than in the Civil Service. The best men would not enter the Servici unless there was some assurance thai their pay and position* woiil.l bi secured to them. But the Premier a one met him with the fact (hit Minister' lives were made miserable bj people who wanted to enter the service and do one, he added, knew that betiei than Mr Tregear. The great bulk 01 the clerks ip the service he said we paid considerably moe than (boat outside, If they hid clarification and fixed the salariej, they must lis the maximum, bi)t no ciyil servant ever thought he had arrived at the maximum; In the intetc-ts of tlie general public and the country settlers of New Zealand we rejoice to learn that no considerations were obtained or prpmjseij, It is a pibnstrpus anonio)y that a thinly populated country like New Zealand should support such an army of useless workers, who, in the words of Mr Seddon, "absorb half a million of money a year, which is the whole of the direct taxation, and £150,000 besides." That plenty-of pork is dope by our civil servants it would he unfair to deny, hut flio work , is for the most part useless, since their labours do not add one p/rmy to the national wealth, and they are supby the }nbour of the people, It is time that New Zealand realised the fact that the settlers on the land are those who should receive much con* sideiation at tbe hands of the Government, and up till ..tbe pwsjjnt they have received least. Even our manufacturers are for the most part bolstered up by protective tariffs, for which tbe unfortunate public have to pay, and a rumour is circulated in a trustworthy quarter that a further increase of tariff duly is shortly to be imposed. Sir Bobt. Stout made an eloquent appeal in the House last session on behalf pi (be Civil Servants. "I go further, and J especially appeal to the members pf this House that (hey wiil have to pay their Civil siryarifs better—to give them a good tenure of office. We must attract to our civil service our best men j and you .will have to look upon them not as men to be abused;' or to have accusations continually made against them, butaa men to be respected ; ... I say that the spirit of fhe age is such that you must increase. your';Bttite funcDions. I say _ that we have not - yet got to the limit of the State's functions, I suy that the State-has '- ■'■■'■'-."■ ■ : : ■■'•/';

to do a great deal more than it has done in the past; It has got to give t more education, to look, more .'after public health, to look more after bocUI ' rpforms. And if this -'beso,'wo must ■ m, that we have the best available servants for our purpose, and treat \ them well. If we are going to extend ! our Stato functions we must have the highest talent we call get to carry i on the funotions- of the State. : ?ouwill bavolo'|)ot men in the Civil Service tLo best, all round, that this colony can produce, .to pay them well, and also to do yoiir best tocreate a healthy publio opinion in their favour." The ' a'ove in other words means that this, colony 9hall make provisions' for black coatid highly fakied officials, who in any case will he supercilious and uncivil to the general public by whose work they live, and whose servants they are, and . if efficient will establish a bureaucracy whose tyranny will bo as crushing as any on the continent oi Europe. It is notorious that every youth who has passed ihesixth standard pines for a Government appointment as tin height of his ambition, and considers the calling of his father, be he a car-' . ponte.r, settler, farmer, or. honest labouring man as beneath the dignity of an •' educated youth." Our i " glorious" system of free, secular and compiil-ory eduoation has indeed , miiob to answer for. J Important letters are published in another column in which the Premier . and Mr Hog«, M.H.R., condemn that abortiveliberal measure—the Hospital ? and Charitable Aid Act.' It is BalisJ factory to find Mr Seddon declaring . that there are defects " which must t be rectified." -.-We heartily endorst the senti'uemts expressed by the member for Mosterton with repaid to local benevolei.t institutions. These, • of course, do not punt to or include hospitals which are on a different' footii g. Wo would' like to see every charitable aid institution in thecolony, other time those of a voluntary charactor, abolished altogether.

All over the colony people will he phased to, leani that in the Stout petition case, law is on the sidn of equity, and that»trumpery and nonsensical attempt to reverse thedecisiunand frustrate the wishes of the electors of Wellington has come, to grief. We are no', by any ; means an enthusiastic admirer of Sir Robert, but he fights his elections fairlv; he won the election fairly and had he been displaced there would have no guarantee that any honest man could fairly win a seat and keep it. The Licensed Victuallers, if they instigated the prosecution, made a blunder for which they will have to pay a heavy penalty,