The Westport Times. FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 1874.

Westport Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1156, 6 March 1874, Page 2

The Westport Times. FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 1874.

recent case of peculation by a post-office official at Kelson lias called attention to the system whereby cadets and junior officers in the public service generally, are expected to maintain a position totally beyond tho purchasing power of ' the salaries' paid themParents too often imagine that having secured for their'sons an entrance in the public service, no ma';ter how low the grade and insufficient the pay, they have done tho very best possible thing in securing for their boys what bears the promise iof permanent employment. Forgetful of the sacrifice of time and energy requisite to obtain—except r.n ler remotely contingent circumstances —a position commanding the pay of an ordinary artificer, and forgetful also that employment in tho public service means relinquishment of all independency of thought or action, and the stifling of self-reliance. And more tlian this, for the earlier years of a c idet's experience is a time of temptartion and continual struggling with insufficient, means. lie dare not, ii he would, clothe himself in honest moleskin, nor; -live, as his: means would warrant, upon frugal fare, and in humble lodgment. Neither hss lie,: except | in;. Tare ;--instances, the privilege of still being a member of Ins family circle, but is sent hither and thither as the exigencies of the service niay require.; The Nelson Colonist has some pertinent remarks on this subject, and we quote therefrom : • " There is no doubt that a young man appointed to a Government clerkship in the saine town in which his parents and other relations live, can live very comfortably upon ninety pounds a year. But it is very different when he comes to be removed to another office, at a distance from his home. It is not every young pair of shoulders that is crowned with a wise head; and wheu a: young man is first set free from the restraints of home, and loses the moral support of friends within, his house, he is, if his salary be small, brought within the 'reach of temptations, and made liable to mistakes, the origin of which he ought never to have it in his power to trace back to the Government. If the Government sees fit to recruit its official ranks, by means of tho cadet system on small salaries, it ought, at any rate, to provide that young Government servants, should, for the first three or four years of their probation, be employed in the town or place where their parents or guardians reside. It does not seem too much to ask, that the heads of departments in the various localities, should be allowed, on the occasion of a vacancy, to appoint to it, a young fellow whom they know—subject of course to the approval of the General Government—and who would have the inestimable benefit of spending the first few years of his service under the control of his father and mother. It were better to trust the heads of departments to make a wise local choice; than to trust the young official to act a wise part in a town far removed from his home."