The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. TUESDAY, JUN a 26, 1858.

Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2490, 26 June 1888, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

TUESDAY, JUN a 26, 1858.

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

Continuing our review of th< Estimates find arguments as t< the reduction that it is plainb possible to make in the cos of public administration, wo wil now proceed to particularise nion succinctly many of the inclividua offices where the need for economj 2an be located, We have alread] indicated the saving that can b< nade in tho Governor's salary anc jstablishment, and we have showi he amount absorbed by Minister: 'or salaries and allowances. VV< lave also placed before our reader: n as clear a light as possible, whai i fearful tax is the interest on th< iolonial debt requiring, as it does learly one half of our total revenue )ur purpose to-day is to dissect sere. iiii the departments, and spread t( ■iew the costly excrescences whicl sover the whole machinery of the niblie services. We first come tc ,he Legislative departments, anc vu find that for performing wrtair unctions, not of a very onerous laturc for tliree or four mouths ol he year, there is a Clerk of thf Jpper [lou.se in receipt of £100, •;, iuin verv much in excess of thai )aid in ordinary business establish nents to bookkeejiers, accountants be, and equal to the salary paid tc iank agents in important country listricts, any one of whom have greater responsibilities, longer hours, m<l heavy work to engage then iine and thoughts. There are beside? i Cleric - assistant at £300 anc t, second assistant at £200 pet mnum, though it is not by any neans clear, what is the nature oi lie laborious duties for which this Lssistance is required. It is, how sver patent to practical malter-of act taxpayers, that, reasoning by inalogy, the two first of these •fticials would be sufficiently re nunerated for their short-term services at half the present scale, and ,hat the other is a luxury that could >e dispensed with, because we find .hat a sum of £150 is provided fot jxtiM clerical assistance, and £2;>o or extra messengers, where if careful examination were made by comineriial men, neither of the extras vould be considered necessary, \n the House of Ttepresentalive,"., there is a Clerk of .Par iarmnts with £000, a Clerk-assis ,ant with iUOO, a second Clerk-as iistant with £-150, and ttergeant-at-irmn with £-00, whose period oi service extends for the portion oi ,he year covered by the session, thf •eniaiiuler of the year being confinec ,o such light duties as to be in al 1 •espectsa long holiday in which thes< servants of the people can indulge ,heir dolce-far-idenlc to the full o; iheir bent. There are besides those, f iiecord clerk at £225, interpreter a' £225, Committee reporters at £300 md during the session extra clerks γ-porters and messengers at a cos )f £1,700. Although the salaries )f the principal Clerks of botl: [louses are fixed by Acts, is it nol perfectly unreasonable to force tin ;ountry, or expect the people t< niklly acquiesce, in making pay nents to sinecure offices at a ran ;hat no commercial or monetarj L'Stablishment considers itself justi L icd in giving their responsible em nloyees '!■ Is it not an outragt 3ii commercial morality for tin jountry, when in a position equiva ent to that of a merchant pressec jy difficulties, to continue to main tain its establishment on such ai extravagant scale? These sularie: should be reduced 25 per cent., anc less expenditure for extras indulgec in. In the Crown, colony of Wes tern A ustralia, the Clerk of tlx Executive Council receives £100 :he Speaker of the Legislative Coun ;il £150, the Clerk £100, assistant 31erk £25, and the Sergeant-at Arms £50. Therefore, even in th< ibused system of Crown administra Aon there is greater virtue than ir nir own. There arc other official: n thi' Department whose salariei ivould bear reduction without inflict mg hardship. Our eye next reachei ihe Colonial Secretary, whose salary :ias been mounting up by judici Dusly arranged stages of annua idditions until it now stands a £750, a sum nearly equal to that o! 1 Cabinet Minister at the presen iiine. There is room here for con iklerable reduction, which shoulc ■m firmly insisted upon in the exist ng circumstances of the colony The maximum pay for t-Iri offxcei should not exceed £000 per annum "Jther salaries in the Coloni.il Sec ■etary's Department can be very nuch lowered. The Estimates dc lot show the total cost of the Audit Dfh'ce, inasmuch as the salaries Iriwn by the Commissioners and JontrollerCieneral are not given; ,hev are in receipt, if we mistake wt, of about £800 per annum ■aoli. The expense of the office sxelusive of these two high officials, a put down at £7,475, the chief i.-rk ivceiving i.;4ooayear. As each )f the other departments has its own

inspector and system of audit, this office is a superfluity and could be abolished. A separate Treasury vote provides for the auditing of the accounts of local bodies. The Wellington Post says of the Audit Department: "We are not aware of a single instance in Avliich it has effectually interposed to prevent Ministers finding whatever money they were determined to spend. A striking instance of its inefficiency is self-recorded in the statement of unauthorised expenditure just laid before Parliament. As to its audit functions, we doubt whether the Department has ever saved or recovered to the revenue a sum at all equal to the cost of the stationery it has used. No financial or mercantile firm could afford to keep such an expensive audit staff; yet they maintain checks on peculation or error far mere effectual than our costly department is able to do. It should be reformed out of existence, and each department be held responsible for the clerical and technical accuracy of its own accounts."

The Registrar-General with .£SOO a yoiir, and others in his Department, could bear a percentage reduction. Tho Inspector of Lunatic Asylums with Ms £1,200 per annum is one of those oxpensive importations of whom we have had enough. In his Department there are Resident Superintendents in receipt of £GOO and .4500 a year, with allowances, which are far too high for the present circumstances of the colony, Considerable reductions can be effected in this quarter. The same is the case witli the Printingoffice to the extent we previously pointed out. The Treasury is one of our most costly departments. The Secretary enjoys an annual salary of £750, which, under the most favourable circumstances, should not exceed a maximum of =£000. This official is one of those who resist retrenchment by donning the armour provided by special Acts of the Legislature. Then; are many officers in receipt of salaries of .£SOO, £450, £375, £300 and so on, who could stand a percentage reduction. The Commissioner of Stamps is another highly paid public servant at .i'b'OO a year, whom a 25 per cent, reduction would not injure alarmingly. In the Department of Justice there is .scope for considerable reduction, from the Solicitor-General at £1,000, Law Officer at £550, Draftsman at £500, Undersecretary at £125, Registrars at £400 each, Official Assignees at £475, Resident Magistrates at £550, £500, £475, £450 and under, down to clerks at over £150 each, The Inspector of Prisons is another imported officer at £700. In this Department well-paid gaolers and warders could bear reduction, as their pay, with cheapened cost of living is largely in excess of outside rates of wages. The General Post Office and Telegraph Department possess several officials who have had an eye to the main chance. There is a Superintendent very dearly paid at £700, and a Secretary at £600, whose salaries have been self-added to, from year to year, until they have increased 100 per cent. A reduction of 50 per cent, could be very properly applied to them , notwithstanding the Acts under

which they slielter themselves. Besides these there arc numerous salaries ranging from £500, which ire now incommensurate with the political stress and financial exigencies of the colony, in the Customs we have a Secretary lit ,tli<H) a year, with Collectors and others in the receipt of incomes of £550 and under A large saving can bo made in this quarter. The salaries paid in the Stamps, Land and Dt;eds Departments are capable of a per centage reduction. The large sums that can be saved in the cost of education, and by the abolition of the Native Office have been previously shown. The Native Land Court could lie merged into the Supreme Court, with a judge having native jurisdiction and acting under the control of the Chief Judge of the Supreme Court in each circuit. Retrenchment in salaries in the Mining and Meteorological Departments can be made, whilst in the Stock Department, with its Superintending Inspector at £500 a year, four Chief Inspectors at a total of £1,300, and 32 Inspectors at £(5,290, a large saving &m be effected by dispensing with the four Chief and reducing the 32 Inspectors. Such a number of Inspectors seems a costly absurdity. In the Crown Lands Department, there is

an Under Secretary in the enjoy-

ment of .£6OO a year, and Commissioners and clerks with £500 per annum and under, all of whom could bear a proportionate reduction ; and in the Survey Department with its Surveyor-General at £700, Assistant Survey-General at £650, and finny of Chief Surveyors, District Surveyors, Draughtsmen and clerks from £550 downwards, there must, surely, be opportunities for the exercise of economy. The remaining departments are the Railways and Defence; in these, as we demonstrated in our last leading article, the public expenditure can be relieved by very large sums. If we make our calculations on the lines educed above, we shall find that the aggregate saving that is possible to be made on the Estimates will approach nearer the £180,000 arrived at by those members of the House who are seeking further retrenchment. The present Parliament should not be deterred from its duty to the country by the unwise legislation of its predecessors, which hedges in highly-paid officials from the operation of economy. So far as those civil servants are concerned who have been in receipt of large salaries for many years, and which have also been swelling whilst the cost of living has been going down, none of them, as far as we know, have failed to amass private fortunes in real or personal property, providing thomselvos with

ample competence, independent of pensions or other emoluments from the State. Hence it is that for them to refuse to meet the necessities of the country in a grateful and patriotic spirit is abhorent to the people, whose money they have been enjoying and done well with.