The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. SATURDAY, MARCH 80, 1889.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 2608, 30 March 1889, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

SATURDAY, MARCH 80, 1889.

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

» . In our issue of January the eighth last, we published a leading article protesting against a very great abuse, namely the ceaseless trottings of Ministers, Secretaries and U nder-secretaries all over the country upon all maniuT of plausible pretexes. We. objected on public grounds to the Ministry eternally absenting themselves, individually and collectively, from the seat of Government, and running about in the wake of their uucler-strappers on self imposed missions to " settle " some imaginary difficulty of the existence of which the people knew little or nothing. We then hoped public opinion would be aroused to put a stop to this pernicious practice. It is a consolation to find we did not hope in vain, for we now find that our contemporary, the New Zealand Herald, has had its just ire stirred by the latest examples of this abuse, and in its issue of Wednesday last, has lifted up its powerful voice against it. We only refer to our former article to show that we have already called attention to this evil, and now that our able contemporary, the Herald, has taken it up, wo may again vigorously return to the subject. Yes ; it is full time that public opinion was brought to bear on this matter. It is growing beyond the bounds of toleration. It is time to bring to some degree of finality the farcical exhibitions into which our so-called system of Government has been allowed to degenerate. If the popular democratic idea is to exist and we are to be ruled by a government elected of the people, let us insist upon the plan being honestly carried out and not reduced to a mockery, a mere intangible shadow. Ministers should govern from the seat of Government. If we are to submit to a form of bureaucracy hostile to the popular will, then we should at once put aside the Ministry, abolish party government and place the administration of affairs entirely in the hands of the Civil "Service. In reality that is a very near approach to the position just now, and if we are content to submit to it, the sooner we confess our contentment the better it will be. But, it is not possible the country will submit to such abuses without a protest. In all probability Parliament will not meet early this year, because Ministers will not be ready with their measures and returns. Nor is their backwardness surprising. Ministers are seldom at their posts for any lengthy definite period. They are for ever on the move. It is true we may infer from this that they possess consciences, like the restless spirits of the damned in Dante's Inferno. Ministers, Under-secretaries and Secretaries without number, are always treading on each other's heels over tho country, intent, as the public are serenely assured, upon u settling" some mysterious business or other; and the "settling" process goes on for ever, like Tennyson's brook. Thus, to give the latest examples of this unique form of official circumlocution, Mr Under-secretary O'Connor goes off with a fanfaro of trumpets somewhere up north to " settle" something in connection with the Kaihu railway, we believe. But, it was not " settled," for later on the Minister of Public Works took a journey to the same place for the same identical object of effecting a " settlement" of it, though whether he succeeded or not we cannot tell. Probably we shall hear at some future time that, some other mighty official has gone to " settle" the thing. Mr Under - secretary O'Connor also skipped over to the Thames to " settle " some matter in connection with the tin-pot railway there that has been ten years under construction, and not the sign of a locomotive yet on it. Now the Minister of Public Works is stated to be at the. Thames also " settling" the same difficulty. Mr Under-secretary Lewis, of the- Native Office (both of whom, by tho way, ought themselves to have been " settled " long ago), paid an official visit to the Thames lately to " settle" some matter with the natives relative to the Piako Block. But he did not " settlo " it; for the Native Minister is actually visiting the Thames himself to "settle" the matter, though it will be bequeathed, no doubt, in the same " unsettled" manner to his succes-

sor. Mr IJnder-secrefcary Lewis is now announced to proced to the King Country to " settle" the Mar-aeroa-Humkia grievance. This is about the third time this official has gone forth to " settle" this question, exclusive of Ministerial visits for the same purpose. It will, however, not be " settled" by Mr Lewis, as he knows. The natives attach very little importance to his presence, they do not regard him as a rannatira, and know him to be an official humbug. He draws his pay of £(JOO a year, and ten shillings per diem travelling allowance, with itil expenses " settled" by a not very grateful country. Ministers meet together in Wellington very rarely, but when they do, they appear to be an unhappy family. They have had a tiff, and have run up, helter-skelter, to Auckland to their •• Ma ;" they have unburdened their souls on the broad and sympathetic bosom of Sir 1 ,, . Whitaker, whilst the taxpayer looks on and "settles" the travelling accounts. Seriously, tho whole thing is a pitiful spectacle, a parody on our administrative institutions. Ministers evidently think their chief duty lies in perpetually parading themselves through the colony, leaving tho virtual acluiiwstratiou of tho

country to the permanent Heads of the Civil Service ; or they are the pliable tools of those officers, who lead them to imagine it is necessary for them to give their personal attention to matters of detail, which could be left to the experienced departmental officers appointed for the work. Ministers are simply clerks of their subordinates. The general public have no knowledge ot the mysterious inner circle of the Civil Service, and cannot determine the exact seat and centre of the administrative abuses that need severe remedies. This system of official and ministerial gadding about is a mere disguise to hide the evil growth and power of the Service, in order to blind the people to the full necessity that exists for retrenchment and economy in the whole of the government machinery.