OVER GOVERNMENT.

Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 68, 17 September 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

OVER GOVERNMENT.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir— During the prosont election we havo hoard vory much abont our overgrown Civil Sorvioe. In common with every person who has given tho Bubject any thought, I consider that nnder simpler machinery half tho Civil Servants well paid could do the work. • Thero is ono phaso of our Civil Service which has beon overlooked, and that is tho • cu-ioufl amount of bookkeeping required owing to tho complicated system. Take for instanco tho volunteers. A num- 1 bar of Petono volunteors aro brought into Wellington for inspection. Thoy reoeivo tickets from tho officer commanding tho district, tho railway officials forward these tickets to tho Dofenco Departmont, a ohr-quo for tho amount is passed, it is proBontod, with vouohors, to tho Treasury, and forwarded to tho Railway Department, paid , into their credit and at tho ond of the . quartor transferred back again to the Troasury. Any pthor department forwards a ' numbor of letters through tho post with i 0.P.5.0. on tho top and franked. Theso addresses are copied into a book, with tho name of tho frankist and weight. At tho end of tho month an account is again passed as beforo, Ac. Now, here is a largo amount of useless work, which entails r cansidorablo oxpenHO and sorvos no useful purpose. Ido not know how far this system may have boon modified of late years, but I baliovo it is still in forco. In tho samo way if a notice from ono department is inserted in the Gazette, and a number of theso Gazottes has to be distributed, tho cost is charged to tho department sending them out. With rospect to tho printing dopartmont, allow mo to make ono suggestion. Tbo department has to publish tho Gazette, Hansard, Statistics, Acts, Bills, Parliamentary jiapors, Ac. These have beon ordered by Piirlmraont, and aro nocessary evils. Mombars receive copies free, and 50 extra copies o? Hansard for distribution among their constituents. With regard to these publications having boon doomed necessary and ordered, the initial cost of preparing thorn aid setting up tho type is the same whether the numbor of copies printed be ono or ten thousand. Evory copy aftor the first costs only tho prioe of the papor, tho ink, labour, and wear and tear of maohinory. Then it is this lattor cost whioh should be charged to the public. Tako Hansard for inatanoo. It has to be published, and the public pays for it. Every copy should be ¦aid for the cost of producing it, less the initial exponse. Hansard is cheap now, bat it might be mado much cheaper still. The Aots, too, should cost only a few shillings, so also the appendices to tho journals, &a. If theso were cheap they would bo moro widely reau, and people would bo batter informed on evory subject relating to tho government of tho country. As it is, this flpecies of literature is confined to a few instead of being goneral. Another ¦ource of waste and oxtravaganoe is tho amount of roturns required by the Government from the local bodies. Aftor the 31st Maroh annually tho Auditor sonds out copy of returns required in form for purpose of audit. With this is sent lotter of instruction, printod at tho Government Printing Offioe that year. This lotter of instruction should be gonoral, and not altered or reprinted yoar aftor year, if it is at all necessary, whioh Ido not think it is. Next gome in duplicate forms for tho same return in a. slightly modified form, with a full page of instructions olosely printod as boforo, but this time from the Publio Works Dopartmont. Lator on comes another form , with tho same round of instructions, but in a still differont guiso, this time from the Troaßtiry. Again comes the demand for the samo information, but with a fresh shake of the dico; this time, howevor, with additional information as to population, inhabited houses, &0., but this time from tho Registrar - General. I forget whether the Colonial Soorotary sonds round for anothor return. A few months lator, when the local socrotary has congratulated himsolf on having got through his returns all right, he receives another missive, with directions from tho Speaker of tho Houso endorsed, authorising another olabqrato return giving tho samo information in a more mixed form. " Motion made and returns orderod on the motion of the Hon. Noodlo, member for Blank." N.B. — Intelligent members never ask for those returns. They look thorn up for themselves. Here is waste and extravaganco if you will. It would form a curious return to know the post of all these returns. Horo tho remody is simple. Let the different departments roquiring returns deoido .upon the information whioh they require, and rcceivo it through the Anditor. Whon the accounts are audited the return could be forwarded to the other offices and copied, if required. Most people have implicit faith iv the utility of an audit ; but, from experience, I must say it is one of tho most useless things in existence. It may be very useful in putting some honest, simple-minded official who takes an informal receipt to a great deal of trouble and anxiety ; but a olever swindler is never found out until he dears out and leaves his Board in a mess. It is just the same with iegard to publio companies. The only remedy is a pre-audit, and that no moneys should bo paid without the auditor's signature to the cheques. Another plan is to post up the aocounts as passed in some conspicuous placo or places. With the multigraph this is now easy, and a, far more efficient chock on illegal expenditure than any form of audit could be. I dare say there are many other sources of weakness and expense apparent to others. Take tho finanoial and publio works statements : they are printed in Hansard and the appendices in different types. If this should find a placo in your paper I will further show how we may save money in our local government.- 1 am, &c, Oscar Finn.