The Evening Star MONDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1887.

Evening Star, Issue 7344, 17 October 1887, Page 2

The Evening Star MONDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1887.

An angry man is seldom reasonable, and the very natural chagrin of Sir Julius Voc.ei. at the turn things have taken found vent in the carping objections which he raised on Friday afternoon to the motion for adjournment until the 2Sth inst. The House has been elected on the issue of economic reform, and the Ministry have been called to ojlicc for the distinct purpose of effecting it in a thoroughly comprehensive manner. _ Under these circumstances, being vested with the particular function of retrenching expenditure in every branch of the public service, Ministers have a task which requires the exercise, not only of collective, but individual energy ; and it ia clear that every department and every channel through which the taxpayers' money out-goes must be investigated even to minuteness. The case is quite different from the ordinary preparation of the Financial Statement, with regard to which, except as to leading principles, a Treasurer need not consult his colleagues. Every member of the Cabinet, especially those holding portfolios, has his work cut out, to which be must apply himself without distraction in order that the Financial Statement may be indraft by the date indicated. The proceedings in ISB+ were not very edifying, when nearly six weeks elapsed from the clay of the meeting of Parliament to the delivery of the Statement a period absolutely wore than wasted in trumpery debates on trivial questions brought forward by Ministerial henchmen just to keep the House amused. The Premier has taken a course which commends itself to common sense in adjourning the House instead of handing business over, as Sir Julius no doubt would desire, to the tender mercies of the Opposition and the legislative pranks of private members. Sir JuLirs talks utter uonsenso, and must be aware of it, when he assumes that it would have been a proper thing for the House to sit and proceed with the Bills on the Order Paper in the absence of the First Minister, who is primarily responsible to the country for what might be done. Many of these Bills involve very important poiuts of policy, and, with others, are of such a character that no Government could allow them to progress beyond the formal introduction. It was preposterous to expect that Ministers, deeply absorbed in the specific labor imposed on them, could have attended in their places in Parliament day after day and night after night, even if any good purpose could have been served thereby, which was quite unlikely. The adjournment, however, was granted, the brief discussion thereon demonstrating that the Opposition, when they get the chance, will not confine themselves to showing their teeth. Some of the young Canterbury bloods were much in evidence, and manifestly Sir Julius has among his following from that district a good deal of talking power of a sort. We wjsh him joy of some of these honorable gentlemen endued with "the gift of the gab" and an extra amount of the self-sufficiency not usually to be observed in the political tyro. Mitters are so far settled by this very

jmJio.ous adjournment that the Opposition! and theirorgans are left without any resource pave drawing on their imagination for tha anticipation of the Ministerial proposals in which they would so much delight. Ther is not a feather for a single canard to fly with nor any means of extracting, forcing, or pump inf information from any accredited source. While the House was sitting the Premier resolutely declined to be drawn, and was deaf alike to cajolery, threats, and indignant remonstrance. We do not blame the Opposition for trying their level best to force the Ministerial hand so that the incomplete designs might unfavorably prejudice the goijntry. Mors sensible conduct, however, might haye been expected of members, who presumably, if not pledged to active support, are in sympathy with Ministers, than to have raised embarrassing questions, and sought to forestall the retrenchment proposals by suggestions more or less crude as to details. Great anxiety is very necessarily felt as to the scheme of policy which, already no doubt, settled in the leading principles, will be submitted to the House ; but even laudable curiosity should not have been permitted to override judgment; and declarations that this or that particular economy should be effected were altogether out of [dace on the part of honorable gentlemen, who have formally confided the work as a whole to hands, it may be presumed, they considered competent. The Premier, in the L-ourae of the recent election campaign, disposed the general lines on which economic reform, in his opinion, should proceed ; and over and again declared that such reform should commence at the very top of the tree and extend through every branch. It is hardly a. matter questionable that at and towards* the top of the tree then; foliage, ivhieh ahows its superabundance conspicuously ; and the lopping here would be at ance demonstrable. The effect, however, would lv.inily ba very material as compared with the result of thinning out on a systematic plan the exuberant growth of the brandies below, spreading further and further as these do in exact analogy. The salarv and allowances of the Governor ; the remuneration of Ministerial office, direct or indirect; the so-designated honorarium of members of Parliament, and the costly expenses connected with the meetings thereof and the sittings of both Housea of the Legislature, stand prominently forward as needing the pruning knife; but the amount to be saved must be insignificant sompared with the aggregate capable of being retrenched on the whole ordinary and loan expenditure of the Colony. To make up a really great saving the State must, like i private individual, practice small economies. The principle must be applied throughout even to such apparent trifles as railway free passes, which by-the-way a . re > is a rule, most grossly abused. Nothing ivould, indeed, be easier than just to reduce ;be pay of high officials, cut down the lllowances of members, mulct the Civil Service all round by a fixed percentage, and withdraw the subsidies to local )odies. It would not have been worth while to put a reforming Ministry in >ffice to do this, which even Sir Juxiub liuiself, under pressure, would have been

ready, in great part at least to propose. In ( fact, lie ilicl talk a good deal about ' i " savings " in his la3t Financial Statement, ■ : and was prepared, metaphorically, to " shed ' the last drop of his brother's blood," by ' cutting down the subsidies, and making what he called " large reductions " in classes of expenditure where politics had not to be considered. A vtry different kind of reform to this is required by the circumstances in which New Zealand is placed. There must be a readjustment of the whole machinery of government, or rather the existing machinery, being condemned as too cumbrous and costly for the work, must be superseded, and a new design adopted simpler in form, and which can be kept going at far less expense. What the design may be which the Financial Statement will disclose we do not pretend to be able to foreshadow, but there is every reason to believe that it will be no hasty conception, evolved on the spur of the moment from the mind of the Premier, but the outcomiug of his deliberate consideration, extending over perhaps a period of years. It is hardly a secret that in 1884, when the unscrupulous Coalition, now notorious, literally se'zed the reins of power, the honorable gentleman was prepared with a scheme of reform which would have revolutionised the Civil Service. The country was hardly ripe then for more comprehensive measures of retrenchment, extending as these must now do to cverydaj conveniences to which people are accustomed. Thrift and frugality are not the plcasantest of virtues in the practice, but must be accepted as necessary wheu straitened means force curtailment of expenditure.