THE SHERIFF'S SALARY.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume X, Issue 674, 13 December 1853, Page 3

THE SHERIFF'S SALARY.

It is extremely unpleasant when, in our capacity of public journalists, we find ourselves compelled to link the office-bearer with his office, and to comment as well upon his personal as his public conduct in the discharge of important public duties: but, however invidious the task, we, too, have a public duty to perform, and, in discharge of that dut}', we feel bound to offer some remarks, arising from the recent debate, when the reduction of the Sheriff's salary was proposed. It is not necessary to discuss the question whether or not a meritorious officer, after having served the public zealously and faithfully for a period of years, shall obtain leave of absence for a reasonable time, and be also permitted to draw a moiety of his salary; but it is important, not only to public officers, but to the public at large, that all public servants shall have earned such an indulgence by the integrity, fidelity, and zeal with which their duties have been discharged, and not as a mere matter of official routine, and in utter defiance of the gravest personal improprieties, and the grossest public neglect. Whilst Governor Grey held unlimited authority, the system that could not be cured had perforce to be endured. In defiance of public opinion, His Excellency could maintain in office any individuals he pleased, no matter what their character; pregnant illustrations of his supremacy Laving been afforded in the instances of Sir Godfrey Thomas and Mr. Domett, who were retained in places of the highest trust, notwithstanding the loud and indignant censures of the Southern Press against the outrages inflicted by these persons upon public morality. The people, bowever, have now got the reins in their own hands; so that it becomes the bounden duty of their Eepresenlatives, as the guardians of the public weal, firmly and uncompromisingly to set their faces against public servants being tolerated in the occupation of places— particularly promilent ones, in the public service, and to set, with mpunity, every law of morality, honour, and jonesty, at open defiance. The duties of Sheriff have long been known, n our orderly community, to le very closely akin ;o a sinecure. And, as if to confirm the fact, it .3 sufficient to point to the Resident Magistrate, laid to be already overbui thened with work, pcr"orming in addition the easy duties of Sheriff", [f, therefore, the Council deemed it necessary to rote £300 a year for a Sheriff, they were bound ,o have ascertained what otber public duty that ifficer could discharge in consideration of tho itipend he reeehes Independently, however, of the sinecure cha■acter of the office of Sheriff, there are grave and ibundant reasons why that office should not be leld by Mr. Berrey. It is notorious that Mr. Berrey was personally •bnoxious to the most serious objections — objecions which, when hi& salary and his retention of iffice were brought under public discussion, it pas the duty of the Council to have investigated ,t full, — not forcing the notice upon the conducors of tho public press. What eneouragernent, ?e would fain inquire, is held out to public seranta to conduct themselves so as to command

public respect and esteem, if men like Mr Borrey, so notorious for conduct the very reverse of all this, is to have his salary vototl, and hi?, conduct passed unchallenged,— nay almost with approbation? We can hare neither respect nor sympathy for the feeling that stifles inquiry, and presses a vote for the stipend upon the allegation that to withhold it would be to violate the public faith ! What claim has Mr. Berrey upon the faith of the Provincial Council of Auckland? The Auckland public have heard many obscure insinuations respecting Mr. Berrey and his doings; but they do not yet know how much there is behind. Do they know all about the mortgages? Do they know all about the doings of other parties — high in colonial position, who have implicated themselves by compounding what we are slow to name ? But though they may not know all, they know enough to cause them to cspect that the People's Council should have probed the matter to the very bottom. It was to the honour of the Province that this should have been done. Its representatives owed quite as much faith to the people as to Mr. Berrey, who, it is much more than doubtful, may never venture back. Is not the very salary which the Council has just voted impounded for debt ? f o that the Council are merely paying off his creditors. Could any man in the Australian Colonies hold office under such an extraordinary combination of circumstances, and those too of his own creating? And is there any one more fully conversant of all these facts than Mr. Clarke, the Chairman of Committee ? And yet, with a balanced division of ten on either side, Mr. Clarke did not scruple to give Irs casting vote in favour of mulcting the Provincial Revenue of £300 a year as the stipend of such a man.