AGENT GENERAL'S DEPARTMENT.

Marlborough Express, Volume XVI, Issue 179, 3 August 1881, Page 2

AGENT GENERAL'S DEPARTMENT.

(N. Z. Times.) The chief points iv the correspondence laid upon the table of the House m reference to proposed alterations and reductions m the Agent-General's office are these : — ln a letter under date 6th October, 1880, from the Agent-Gene-ral to the Colonial Secretary, the AgentGeneral observes: — You will permit me to add that the offices of this Department have enjoyed very rare increases of salary, that they have longer hours ( 10 to nearly . 6 o'clock on ordinary days, and 10 to 2 on Saturdays) than the other officers m the Civil Service, and that they are subjected to the exceptional hardship of an income-tax, which the other colonies do not allow their officers to lose. I must not, however, be supposed by this comparison to imply that I regard with favor the reduction other officers m the service have suffered. Knowing so many of them as I do, their devoted service, and, as a rule, their small means, it is to me a matter of keen regret that a wealthy colony like New Zealand has found it necessary to make them suffer for the policy of opening tip the country which has of late ye../.* been pursued. On the 4th December the Premier replys :— " The Government regret that should, out of your pocket, have paid to the several officers named m your letter, the amounts by which their salaries for six months were respectively reduced by your compliance with the instructions m my telegram. Such an act by an officer holding the position of Agent-General was calculated, whatever may have been intended, to suggest to his subordinates that he believed they had been unjustly treated The Government recognise and regret that hardship has, m many caser, been cansedby compliance with the instructions of Parliament as to salaries ; but they are satisfied that that direction was a necessity iv view of the condition of the colonial finances, and was not unjust. They think, therefore, that the Agent-General should, supposing him to be personally unable to agree with the view.-; of Parliament and of the Govji-.imeut, have confined himself m officially dealing with the question, to informing his subordinate officers what those views were." On the 7th February, the Agent-General acknowledges the receipt of the foregoing communication, aud says that as the course taken exception to was dictated by considerations which, to do himself justice, he must set out at considerable length, and, as he was about handing over his charge to his successor, he would, with that gentleman's consent, retain a copy of the letter, and reply to it when more at leisure, and when more free to express himself unreservedly on the whole question. This reply would appear to be the suppressed despatch, and this point may, perhaps be elicited when the following notice of motion, as tabled by the junior member for Waitaki comes on for discussion:— " That there be laid before this House the last communication which was forwarded to the Government by Sir Julius Yogel, or any other correspondence from lr'in which may not yet have been laid o<i the table of this House ; and that, m case any such correspondence should not be presently available to the Government, they take the necessary steps to obtain the same, by cablegram oir otherwise"" In the correspondence between the Government and SirF. D. Bell, the newly-appointed Agent-Gene-ral, a suggestion is made by the Colonial Secretary that, as immigration has been discontinued, the number of cash transactions passing through the '

office mustbe very limited, and it is suggested that the office of accountant and auditor might be amalgamated. Referring to the vote of £3000 for the expenses of the office, the Agent-General writes, under date May 19, 1881, that he could not possibly cany on the office for the sum, and he enumerates, apart from his own salary, the following items : — Clerks, £350 ; rent, £400 ; contingencies, £350 ; and requests that £3,500 might be put on the Estimates for the year iBBI-82. Under date July 15th, 1881, the Colonial Secretary informs the Agent-General that the amount on the Estimates has been increased as requested, the Government having full reliance that the Agent-General will act with a due regard to the economy of the public funds.