The Lyttelton Times. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 1880.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LIII, Issue 5952, 24 March 1880, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 1880.

The unhappy Commissions ■ that' have been called upon to set the Colony on its legs in -most of the things pertaining to good Government have, not very many fiTefids., ; ;A remark of. the Premier’s which we referred to a few days ago, is not calculated to makb peojple exaOtly enthusiastic about these bodies. Now loyalty to the Premier on the part of the Government organs is in no' degree surprising, but loyalty even tc the Hon John Hall has its limits., We were hot prepared to see the Government organs following upon the publication of Ms opinion regarding'Royal •Commissions quite so promptly, or; with, such thorough . goodwill as ’they- have, done. But to' the doings iof the mushroom orolp that has lately, risen up to relieye -tHe -Government" of its duties, it, free to be muddled and diddled by Te Whiti and his friends, the sions are in a very bad way indeed.' To begin with, the Public Works Oommission has fared poorly, beoattsd ff6h4 df the Government organs have ever, said, much, in its praise. One of them has taken the ’Commissioners very severely to task for .flyings like meteors over the country,’taking no count whatever of things which they are supposed to diligently enquire into, with a view to .making a report. Another admits that the Oomtinssion wfil yery pjrobably mate a complete muddle of . its - work, bub kindly adds that the gentlemen Oommi esioners are: perfectly content to' do so without salary, which certainly is considerate of them. Perhaps a -third of the organs may take it into ita head to suggest that when Commissioners fail to ’ accomplish useful results they shall be made to pay all expenses out of their pwn pbckets, and a heavy fine besides. Bat we are anticipating- the further, loyalty of the Ministerial "Press to the Hon. John Hall.' Ohe Commission there is which they, .have nut yet criticised. T!he Local Industries Qommission, which, after sending‘a l circular to all the Chambers of Commerce, beggirig them for Heaven’s sake to help .them to do something, has returned to' its. homes, must reflect tbal its turn has not yet ‘ come; The Ministerial Press, though very earnest, is often slow .to perceive things as /they really are, , and, not ‘quick at noticing passing events.; . But the nnhindeslb cut of all those which any Government oVgan has administered has been received !by the Civil Service Commission, over jwhich the formidable genius of Mr [Alfred Saunders has the, honour to preside. Not content with decrying this Commission for moving “ in a mysterious way,”, or .witji expfesing “ a very Blender hope of any practical results attending the labours of the Commission,” or with the statement that they “ are going to work the wrong way,” and “ that they lyouid not, if they went to work the right way) he able to do any good worth speaking of,” the local Government organ tells; a delicious Story of' the manner in which the Commission has. been doing its business. Various Civil Servants are, it seems, ordered in for examination and duly; presence of the reporters and the Secretary. The examination over, the reports having been 1 written, and the Secretary’s p6n having travelled through the official record, the Secretary and the. reporters are turned out, and the real work, The Chairman—nothing is said by the narrator of the Chairman; but we can easily imagine the scene—inia voice.of intense respectability proposes —only an intensely respectable person cain make Such a proposition—to the -witness to consider all his evidence as nothing, with a view to some quiet confidential conversation about matters as they really are. It is not recorded ‘that the Chairman puts* his finger to his nose and shuts one eye as 5 he goes through this little formality.. Nor r has any chuckle been ascribed to him. . All trifling details of . this kind have been left outi and very properly so, by the .astonished,chronicler. It is satisfactory to observe that he has not omitted to note that the officers treated in this way were very angry indeed; It is lefas pleasing to see that he has forgotten to be properly angry at the story which he “■can hardly believe,”, and that the little ebullition of- virtue which he Ims permitted himself is at the expense of the wrong person—of a person, we should say, who does hot exist—a very safe course indeed for a leader Of public opinion to pursue when inclined to be angry, “ When angry, blaze at mental creations which are incapable of setting the law of libel in motion.”

But it ie necessary that the right horee should carry the saddle in this matter. It maybe all very.well for the Government orghti to 5 plead that ‘it exhausted all its power of angry virtue in Sir George, Grey’s!,time,: hut scandals ought to find the source of castigation perennial. What are we to think of this precious story P If the story is true, then a Commission presided ovpr by Mr Saunders Saunders, as his party called him during ■ the session, when he was the gun that kept firing at Sir George Grey—has been caught in a most disgraceful ■ transaction. 1 We have ho opinion of the truth of the story or otherwise; we merely' quote the Government, organ of Christchurch as out authority. 1 That authority has reason to believe that this Commission has deliberately made up its mind to draw uj) a report for the information of the public, not upon the evidence to be appended to that report, but upon evidence given secretly to the Commission, in direct contradiction of the evidence taken down. The Government organ can only say that any official giving double evidence in this way ought to be dismissed,': What right has any one to assume thjit any official' would be capable of , such hideous conduct P It is the Commission which may have devised the

abominable attempt which ought to-be denounced. If the story ia trule; thO’ Clivil Service Commission ought to be immediately diasol ved. If the story is true, the Commission has attempted a crooked, dishonest course, it is convicted of trying to draw up a report not in accordance with published evidence, it has sought to establish a precedent absolutely destructive; of the good name of all Commissions and Commissioners present and future. In the army we hear, of men drummed out of the service, with every mark of disgrace, for bad conduct. What shall bo done with this Commission if found guilty ofthe [horrid crime imputed to it l by the 1 faithful friend of its patron P If the Commiesion had been of Sir George Grey’s appointing we should not have been left long waiting for an answer. The candid story-teller would have left no doubt on that point. Asfthe Commission is Of different' parentage he is wonderfully merciful towards it. He scorns to descend. td the sordid : business level, finding nothing strange in the expensive printing of a“ perfect encyclopedia of bogus’evidence “gravely takenfdoyra,” for the purpose of throwing dust in the public eye. He'is blind to the frightful abyss of inquisitorial irresponsible tyranny to which this kind of conduct must open the door. He "has very little to say about a body of men whom he thinks j capable ,of trying to gain power over the whole service by encouraging ,: its members to wholesale secret lying. On the contrary he thinks that “as a.mere.test of trusiworthihSss or of character such a device’as this might be resorted to,” though he ! freely, admits that in some respects the practice is objectionable. And this kind of [thing appears in the organ of pure political morality ! The “ detective ” Government has found a truly congenial friend.' The queer mixture ol'canddur afid casuistry which characterises his production makes one wonder whaf kind of “ reform ” ;is in store for the unhappy Givih Service. It would be better at once to import a lot ’of niggers to do the work of the departments,, and to send the Civil servants into the ranks of the tinemployed> who, if not extravagantly paid by the are at least free from degrading insults. Let us for the present, . ■ however, hope that: our candid friend is misinformed. i