The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. THURSDAY,JULY 26, 1888.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2503, 26 July 1888, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

THURSDAY,JULY 26, 1888.

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

There is as yet no appearance of the Bill, promised by the Govern went in the early part of the session, providing for a reorganisation and classification of the Civil Service. It is highly probable that the present session will terminate without any practical steps being taken towards placing the public administration on a footing more in keeping with thu wish of the country. So much valuable time has been wasted without making any near approach to a genuine grappling with the question of retrenchment that we despair of seeing the country relieved of its heavy burden of expenditure to any furthrr appreciable extent. Thero can be no excuse for evading the issue before them ; Parliament and Government are fully aware not only of the demands made by the colony, from one end to the other, but also that the cost of the public servico can and ought to be substantially curtailed. The Civil Service can be shaped down to proportions more compatible with the means and position of the colony. The number of the departments should be reduced to four or five. There

would thus be a disbanding of numbers of employees who arc at present unnecessary. Thorn would be no need for the In force of heads of dopiii'tniMits, chief clerks, and other highly paid ollicials who are now draining tin; milch cow. It can only be apparent to one who has been within the inner circle how ingeniously work is manufactured in order to give a plausible colouring for the maintenance of a multitude of departments with large stall's of clerks and other accessories. Thus reports and returns from one branch to another or from a provincial station to a uentral office, are furnished in triplicate, and repeated in weekly, monthly or quarterly summaries and abstracts. Thus a number of clerks must be employed to check, revise, ro-euter, report, or whatever other name the mysterious method may possess of passing the work on from hand to hand. We can imagine the useless expenditure for stationery and the waste incurred by this system of multiplying labour. Ordinary business men or mercantile companies would avoid all this unwarrantable superfluity, which could only have been invented by the genius of the circumlocution office dominated over by tlieTite Barnacle family. "Whilst there are hundreds in the country absolutely unable to tind honest employment, and are at their wit's end how to procure subsistence for themselves and families ; whilst the population is leaving us bv scores every week, and the pressure of the destitute is becoming greater on the Boards of Charitable Aid, there arc the servants of the people, numerous and powerful enough to resist the Legislature and country still continuing in the fortunate and privileged enjoyment of permanent employment with fat pay and wages. There are ample opportunities for the Government to render signal service to the country. With one stroke they could reduce the Civil Service, cutting away all its glaring inconsistencies, and at the same time advance the settlement of the land. Otlicers, whom it would be found necessary to dispense with, in place of receiving money compensations for loss of office or pensions, neither of which the state of the finances any longer iustify, could be given in lieu thereof equivalents in the form of tracts of land, varying in area according to the length and value of their previous services. Special settlements, under exception conditions and inalienable rights, could be created for the exclusive use of public servants retiring from the service. Exemption from taxation for five or ten years could be extended to them as a. privilege. It is very certain that such ,i method would meet with the approval of the country, and would lie more satisfactory to the employees themselves than being turned adrift into the world ; and it would have this economic merit that we would be keeping them in the country aud extending the occupation of the Crown lands at the same time. The House, however, does not appear to have become impressed with the earnestness or the meaning of the cry from the country for the. exercise of strict economy. If members do realise it they treat it with neglect or deliance. Mr Withy's motion was rejected by a large majority ; tho estimates are being passed as they stand ; no effort to cut down educational expenditure was made ; the estimates for the Legislative Departments are brought forward as they were last year ; and members look with pious horror on the mere suggestion to reduce the cost of railway maintenance because it would lie sacrilege to lay a finger on the workmen's wages. According to the creed of our sapient Legislators the working man who happens to be in the Government service must not be asked to share in the exigencies of the country. It mny be asked whether the country can much longer bear with patient and equanimity the continual acts of folly, md the travesting of representative institutions, that appear inseparable from the periodical gathering of members in Wellington.