The Lyttelton Times. WEDNESDAY. JUNE 3, 1891.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXV, Issue 9430, 3 June 1891, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. WEDNESDAY. JUNE 3, 1891.

The speech, delivered by the Hon J, M‘Eenzie at Palmerston on Monday evening, and which we published yesterday morning, is of exceptional interest. Coming, as it does, on the eve of the session, it may be regarded as a declaration of some of the chief features of the Ministerial programme. But there are circumstances which at present give especial interest to Mr M'Kenzie’s utterances. When in opposition the present Ministerial party persistently declared that a large measure of retrenchment in departmental expenditure was not only desirable in the present state of the finances of the Colony, but was also necessary and possible. Acting on these principles, the party now in power coalesced with the Skinflints, and insisted upon reductions in the estimates to the extent of J 659,000. When placed in office. Ministers at once set about giving effect to the views they had expressed. First of all, they carefully inquired into the wants of the service, and having ascertained these, they began the work of removing the excrescences, by dispensing with those officers who were not required. It was not expected that the general scheme of retrenchment inaugurated by the Q-ovemment would be allowed to pass unchallenged by its opponents, who saw, in the unpopularity engendered amongst the civil servants and their friends, an opportunity to the Ministry. Much less was it expected that Mr M'Eenzie, who is the bite noir of the Conservative party, on account of his hostility to dummy ism, and his Liberal ideas on land tenure, would be allowed to escape the keenest criticism. This more particularly because he is now in a position to give effect to his principles. It may, indeed, be said that Mr M'Eenzie is one of the best-abused public men New Zealand has had for some years. Not only have misrepresentations of a more or less mendacious character been published regarding appointments he has made in his Department, but recently Mr Spence, when about to leave the Colony, allowed himself to be used as a stalking horse for the Conservatives, by making at a farewell banquet at Invercargill a number of assertions as to Mr M'Eenzie’s administration of his Department which certainly called for a reply. Our Invercargill correspondent at the time threw some light on the Spence banquet, from which it appeared that the demonstration was merely a party one, organised and. carried out for no other purpose than to discredit the Ministry in general, and Mr M’Eenzie in particular. But the “shepherd from the hillside,”—a title which Mr M'Eenzie accepts with pride and satisfaction from the ex-Commissioner of Lands—-is not a man of faltering character. Like his countryman, the Highland piper who told the great Napoleon he had not learned to play a retreat, he is ready to face his opponents. Conscious of the purity of his motives and the rectitude of his actions, he has at once accepted the challenge of bis accusers, and answered Mr Spence’s indictment with an array of facts which to every unbiassed mind must appear convincing. Recognising that Mr M'Eonzio was the special target of the Conservative Press, Ministers have allowed that gentlemen to occupy the post of honour in meeting the attack.

So far as the personal element of the charges against Mr M'Keuzie was concerned, he met his accusers at every point. Standing amongst men who had known him for a quarter of a century, be appealed with confidence to their knowledge of his character. They had watched his entire public

career, and hie appeal to them was a fair one. A defence of hie political honesty and the singleness of his purpose was, as he could proudly say. “quite unnecessary in Palmerston.” Judging him by their past experience of his actions, and strengthened in that j udgment by the clear and convincing explanation ho gave of every charge levelled at him as a Minister, the meeting was ableu to record a verdict of which Mr M’Kenzie may well feel proud. It is not necessary for us to enter into the details of the charges preferred against Mr M'Kenzie, and so completely answered on Monday evening. The charges themselves are so fully stated by Mr M'Eenzie, and the facte relating to them so lucidly explained and so well marshalled, that the conviction of the justice and wisdom, and we will say generosity, of his actions is irresistible. After reading the Minister’s address everyone must feel that Mr Spence's removal was desirable in the interests of the Colony; that reductions in the Lands Office at Invercargill were necessary ; that the appointments of Mr Campbell as ranger in the Southland district, and of Mr Ritchie as Chief Inspector of Stock, were wise and judicious; and that the comments which so incensed the Wellington Land Board, and so alarmed the Conservatives of the Colony, were a much-needed stimulus applied to a body which had been discharging a most important duty in a very perfunctory manner. These matters are examined with a thoroughness which augurs well for Mr M'Eenzie’s abilities as an administrator, and stamps the Minister as a man who carefully masters the details of every subject he touches. With regard to Mr Spence, that gentleman will probably find the Minister's answer an unpleasant commentary on his public services. But the man who puts on his armour and weakly allows himself to be sent out on the quixotic task of tilting at windmills should not complain of his overthrow. Perhaps, the castigation administered to Mr Spence may do good, by inducing the Conservatives to exercise more caution in assailing the political reputations of Ministers, who, in carrying out their duty to the country, undertake fearlessly the unpleasant task of dispensing with public servants who are not required. Painful as that duty is, it must be performed if the Colony is to be placed in a sound financial position. In 1887 Mr Scobie Mackenzie, speaking in the House of Representatives, said, “ I have no hesitation in saying that the real, satisfactory and honest cure is a system of retrenchment so radical that it will shake the whole Government fabric to its foundations—a system of retrenchment so radical that, when the upheaval subsides and the movement is over, it will leave us on a permanently lower financial basis of expenditure.” That,we believe, is what Ministers are now effecting. In four months they have reduced the public expenditure by from to <£60,000. They have done this after careful and systematic inquiry, and as the united decision of the Cabinet in each case. They have also done it without in any way impairing the real efficiency of the service: and, further, they have, by these reductions, assured and strengthened the positions o£ the officers retained. These are results which the Colony will regard with complacency, and which Ministers can confidently point to as justification of the policy they have pursued.