The Dominion. SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 1909. THE PREMIER'S SPEECH.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 473, 3 April 1909, Page 4

The Dominion. SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 1909. THE PREMIER'S SPEECH.

The speech which the Priiie Minister delivered at the Upper Hutt last evening has been awaited with the keenest interest and with some concern. The rumours of extensive retrenchment in the public service had naturally given rise to speculation as to the reason for the sudden decision of the Government to take the extreme steps suggested, and the results of the year's financial workings were therefore looked forward to with more than ordinary attention. Silt Joseph Ward has loft no room for doubt as to the sweeping nature of the cutting down proposed. Hardly a branch of the Civil Service will escape the pruning knife, and the saving to the country as a whole is estimated to total the substantial sum of £250,000. The country will reecho the, regrets expressed by the Prime Minister at the hardships it has become necessary to impose; they will fully endorse his eulogies of the admirable service rendered the country by many of the retiring officers; but no unbiassed person can for a moment pretend to agree with him that the shameful stuffing of the Civil Service for party purposes which has taken placo for so many years past was unavoidable. No one will dispute, and no one would cavilat the legitimate growth of the public service, due to the development of the. Dominion and the growth of its trade and industries; but he placcs very little value on the intelligence of the' public when he puts forward the plea that the growth which has taken place in the Civil Servicc is legitimate, while at the same time he tells them that the service can bo carried on satisfactorily despite the extensive reductions in its numbers now proposed. If the service is not greatly overstaffed, what justification has he for the long list of dismissals already published, and for the further list foreshadowed. But we do not propose to press this point just now. It is something to find that the Government, despite its denials for years past as to the state of the Civil Service, has at last recognised the truth, and has taken steps to relieve the public of some part of the burden which has been unjustly placed on their shoulders in order to serve the ends of party politicians. In an article yesterday we urged that the Government, while it should neglect no reasonable opportunity to retrench in the matter of the cost of government, should also act with care in order to minimise the hardship necessarily entailed, and that it should proceed with caution so as not to run any risk of destroying the efficiency of the public service. We cannot pretend to say at the moment how well or how ill Ministers have behaved in this respect. Looking through the proposed readjustment of the various Departments, it would seem at first sight that the changes made are to be commended. In a measure, some of them must of necessity be of an experimental nature, and can only be tested by time. On tho whole, however, the rearrangements made appear to be very satis-1 factory, and it is with some pleasure that we compliment Sir Joseph Ward on this fact. It is far too seldom that we can find cause to congratulate the Prime Minister on his conduct of public affairs, and the pleasure on the present occasion is the greater on that account. So far, however, he has merely outlined the rearrangements proposed, and much of the success of these will depend on the manner in which the retrenchment is carried out. , It is no time for the bestowal of party favours—the country wants the best men. Turning to the financial position of the country, Sir Joseph Ward now admits a shrinking revenue and an increasing expenditure. When we urged upon the Government in October last the necessity for care and economy, because of these very things, we wero met with a wild outcry from Ministers and the Ministerial press, and wero violently assailed as prophets of evil, and so forth. The truth of our contention is now practically admitted, and, what is still more important, the advice we then tendered is being followed., Had it been adopted oarlicr the position of the country would have been better than it is to-day. The Prime Minister anticipates that the surplus which ho forecasted in his last Budget will be realised. This surplus, according to his own showing at Palmerston North, should be £49,503—a small sum compared with the surpluses of previous years, but a surplus nevertheless. We venture to think that the Government, as the result of the strenuous efforts at economy practised during the last quarter of tho year—and for which we can claim some credit—will be able to show an even better result than that anticipated. Had Ministers shown the Bame desire to economise before the elections as they have since displayed, the drastic retrenchments so suddenly sprung on the Civil Service could have been carried out gradually, with less hardship to those who lose their positions, and with less chance of disturbing the machinery of the State and interfering with its standard of efficiency.