Retrenchment.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 5267, 10 July 1888, Page 3

Retrenchment.

: SV"KLlJNOToif||ihßt'fight. t - There is still a great deal &i talk in tho lobbies relative to Mr Wilhy's resolution affirming the desirability>of further retrenchment to the extotitrof £JOO,OOO. There is still sOnic doubt resolution will be carried, but if fit- is negatived, the reason will be Obvious. The objection of many members is not to the resolution itself, for they not only concur in the desirability of the outlook for future retrenchment, but in the view tho Premier has taken of it. Some uncertainty appears to exist regarding tho actual intention of the committee, and the mover of the resolution. They assure me that their own object, and what they believe to bo the intention of the Premier, is this : To revise and classify tho whole service, and pay each person in tho public employ a fair amount for tho service ho renders. They don't proposo to be parties to the singling out of any one class, but by a further genoral reduction of expenditure in all departments and services, to secure that retrenchment whioh the country demands. . MR WITHY'S VIEWS. I hat) a chat with Mr Withy on the sub-ject'to-day.' His views wero to the samo effect aa the foregoing, but he went oven further. He said he had practically dealt with, tho salaries over £150, amounting iv the aggregate to £366,000, and he looked to the wages and salaries below £150, the aggregate of whioh were £639,000. -This is where many oppononts of the resolution consider Mr Withy and the Premior are of the same mind, and this is tho point on Which they claim to differ.- They say that to make the main savings from salaries and wages under £150 is practically throwing tibe burden of retrenchment ou the poorer olfcssee, and those least able to bear it, and that the retrenchment of salaries over £100 has been incomplete.and rtfarce. I apprehend quite a warm the subject. A MECH ANIC'S &FINION. A mechanic write* to tho Post to-night on this subject, arictsftya, in tho courso of Z W*f i- •*>»' to mako a motion for the parpoee of taking a percentage off the bread eaten in every working man's family, fur reducing the number, of boots worthy the little ones, and geneSuViealdS, W the object of bringing tho wOTkiotfWs noso to the gnuds one. I■ of Mr Withy or his antecedents. Perhaps it is as well, lor I could soothing offensive, but he appears to to beonTof thoso men who would see New Zealand populated by Chinese rather .than Enrf4men. His statistics with regard to, wafes I entirely dispute. The railway wofkingmen's wages have already been retoSto the extent of on* shilling, and one and sixpence a day, thus reducing their pay below that of outsiders doing the same ■■*' GOVERNMENT INTENTIONS. It is now understood that the Premior will take an opportunity before the vote is riven* to indicate what tho Government -understand the motion to mean, and how ; they intend to give effect to it. This exexpWtion will largely affect the voting ; one .way 6r the other. The Post says:----"It as understood that if Mr Withy's 'motion is carried, Minwtoro will act, on it by radtHfthff-the -wages of laborers mitsem- ■ ploylo a maximum of 6s per day, those : now-receiving kw than ,s suffering a corresponding reduction. Tlio pay of the police will also be reduced.

This day,

NOT SO MYTHICAL,

The savings in salaries by the retrenchment scheme of the Government is.not so mythical as would seem from the hrst Xco at tho return laid on tho table of the Souse on Thursday to the order of Mr W l>. Kcevcs. Though a saving of only £30 000 out of the total retrenchment of £233,000, it ia there shown the return to merely made ud tm the ovo of Parliament meeting, and Krefore practically useta. Tho ac ua amount save** from wages, and salaries as borne out by the estimates is £60,207, while latterly Mr'Mitobeleon has managed to save an additional £10,500 on railways. Out of the from four to five thousand persons employed in the railway service only fortyloven get over £200 per annum. MB WITHY , S MOTIOX.

Tho Cabinet are divided ns to tho manner in which Mr Withy's resolution should be treated, and are now considering the matter. X effect is to bo given to tho motion, those who will bo affected includo railway cmrfSieurf.oon.ffl., police constables and Keanto, and postal and telegraph oihcia s It ia assorted that if every/inker in tho Government employ who receives ?™fuo? a year had his salary struck off altogether a Bsvrinff of .£IOO,OOO would not be made. It will thus he soen that the great bulk of the appropriations for wages and salaries goes to tho men in receipt of comparatively email p*y-' _____