ECONOMY OR FAVORITISM?

The Marlborou«h press comments very severely upon the Government for its conduct in peusioniDg off Dr. Muller, who has for many years filled the office of Resident Magistrate at Blenheim, in order to make room for Mr. Eyes. The Press very clearly puts the case as follows : —

Dr. Muller has been a public servant for seventeen yeare, during a great part of which time he has held the responsible position of a Resident Magistrate; and in that office, wherein he has been necessarily so much exposed to public criticism, his integrity and ability have alike been conspicuously noticed. But it appears to have been suggested to the Genera! Government that some amalgamation of offices at Blenheim was desirable ; and Mr. Moorhouse has been deputed to make the necessary arrangements. This he has done by recommending that Dr. Muller should be superannuated ; that his offices of Resident Magistrate and Registrar of Marriages Bbould be given to Mr. Eyes, the new Commissioner of Crown Lands and Provincial Secretary ; and that those of Sheriff and Deputy-Registrar of the Supreme Court should be held by one of the lawyers who are to come to hold office under the Laud Transfer Act. The whole affair is disgraceful. If the same man can efficiently fill the offices of Commissioner of Crown Lands and Resident Magistrate (to say nothing of the office of Provincial Secretary), it is

obvious that the combination should have been mado when the first-Darned office was vacated by Mr. Wemyss only a few weeks ago, and that it should have been given to Dr. Muller. No one can blame Mr. Eyes for taking all that he can get; but to compare him as Resident Magistrate with a gentleman of Dr. Muller's character and ability is simply ridiculous. To superannuate Dr. Muller, is an insult to him and to the country alike : to him as assuming that he, in the prime of life, as regards his intellect, and very little senior to his successor, is no longer able to perform those duties which he has hitherto discharged to the satisfaction of all; and to the country, in requiring them to pay him a pension (we hope for many years) for doing nothing;, while he is still able and willing to give us effectual service. The poor plea of economy will not serve the perpetrator of this discreditable job; for the amount of Dr. Muller's pension will certainly equal, and will probably exceed, any saving that may be made in the salaries of the offices which are to be united.