The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. THURSDAY, JUNE 38, 1887.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2333, 23 June 1887, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

THURSDAY, JUNE 38, 1887.

Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political.

Whatever may be the differences of opinion amongst individual electors on the rival questions of Free Trade or Protection, of a property tax or a combined land and iiconie tax, of Mr Vaile's system or any other system of railway reform, on one subject all are agreed, namely, the necessity for a thorough and searching retrenchment in every department of the Government expenditure. We therefore hail with, pleasure the establishment in Auckland of a Political Financial Reform Association, created to exercise a power in the coming elections to return members pledged to financial reform, and would urge upon the

electors of our own two districts, Waipa and Waikato, to take similar action. The matter is one which may well emanate from the council of either county, and would, weieel sure, meet with a ready response from the body of the electors. .;■-" Foi , it. is not enough that we should merely enforce upon those seeking our suffrages the need of retrenchment, or be satisfied with a general expression from them that they will enforce every possible retrenchment compatible with the efficient carrying on of the public service,: Thathas been; a common stock phrase and promise since we can remember. Not a party leader buthfts declared, when in opposition, that he could reduce "the expenditure by sums vaiying from a quarter of a 'million upwards (Sir W. Stafford's and Major Atkinson's declarations on this head are vividly in our remembrance), but not one, when he got into power, but--was as extravagant as his predecessor. When the Devil was ill, the Devil ! a monk : would be, But when the Devil got well, the devil a monk was he. ' And so it has been with candidates generally for the Legislature. They have made general promises, and general promises, like general invitations, mean really very little. ,We must change all. tliis. The electors must show them that the constituencies are in earnest in the matter. They must point out where reductions can be mado, and how far they shall go, and give no man their votes wlio will not satisfy them on this head. Our own belief is that a sum of fully three-quarters of a million per annum can bo saved in the cost of governing the colony. Tree education must stop short at the rudiments. Heading, writing and arithmetic are quite as much as any man lias a right to ask from the State for his children. Those who desire more may fairly be called upon to pay for it. It has been said, let free education stop at the fourth standard. If we effect this saving, and if we colonialise secondary education reserves and endowments and apply the proceeds of them to primary education as a whole, and if we add to this the fees received from those who are willing to pay for a higher education to be obtained in the fifth or sixth standard in our primary schools, ©ue-half of the cost of primary education may be cut down without unduly decreasing its efficiency and value. In the matter of secondary education the argument holds with still stronger force that those who require it should themselves pay for it. It is monstrous that struggling settlers and the labouring classes should be called upon to assist in providing a college education for the sons and daughters of their more prosperous fellow-colo-nists.

And so, too, in the Civil Service, the pruning knife must be used unsparingly. We must first removo the dead and rotten wood, and then cut back, the bearing branches to moderate dimensions. If we do this wo shall grow more fruit on the wood that is loft than we did before upon tho whole tree. This reduction must fall on all alike, from the heads of departments to the lowest down emploj'6. Nor will there be the slightest injustice in this. Whilst as a rule, year by year, salaries have been increased, first one then another, the cost of the necessaries of life have been steadily falling. The cost of living, whether we take food or clothing into account, is less now than it has ever been in the colony. If our Government offices were served at the same ratio of cost as our banks and other public institutions, and as well served—that is all the retrenchment we ask, and it is no more than we have a right to expect —the saving in money and the gain in work would be found to be very great. If the railway and Government workshops employes and other Government servants of the same class were paid the current wages earned by the artisans and labourers of the colony, another and a far larger saving than many dream of could be effected.

We have indicated the two chief items of expenditure on which the largest savings can be effected. There are, however, a host of minor ones, the reduction of the number of our representatives, the abolition of the honoraria to the Upper House, and its reduction in the lower ; the doing away with Government steamers, free railway passes, Eansard, Ministerial residences, and last, but not least, Ministerial fads. We shall have more to say on this latter subject by and bye.

The Auckland Association proposes to embrace a variety of questions of a general political rather than of a purely financial character. Whether it would be wise for such local association, as we propose, to go so far is a matter for consideration. It would certainly open up many debateable matters, but as these are secondary only to the great question of retrenchment, it is not probable that they would prove insurmountable obstacles to unity of purpose and effective action. We hold that it is absolutely necessary if Governmental reform is to be accomplished, if the present movement for reform is to end in anything more than talk that the _ electors must be prepared with a well - considered programme, to which all candidates for election must conform. If they will not subscribe to these articles of political faith we will have none of them. Nor should we bo satisfied with a mere assent. There may be some minor points on which individual candidates may not be altogether in accord with the wishes of the electors, but, in essentials, candidates and electors must think alike. In these as in other business arrangements, we may, if differences of opinion be on minor points only, give and take; for qualities of statesmanship in a

must count for something, iind tried integrity., may cour.t for even moro. The man who promises much, but for whose sincerity wo have no guarantee beyond his own own assertion, may prove a less valuable member than the man who promises less, but whoso past caroer oither in public or in private life is a guarantee that all that he promises lie will' fulfill'' to the letter. ..Having outlined,the purpose for which a Financial Political Reform Association in Waikato should be formed, we leave it in the hands of our publje men to take the initiative, looking to one or the other of our county councils to make a speedy move in the matter.