The Northern Advocate. RECKLESS EXPENDITURE.

Northern Advocate, 9 July 1887, Page 2

The Northern Advocate. RECKLESS EXPENDITURE.

Notwithstanding the cry for retrench-! ment which has gone through the land from the common voice of the heavily taxed people of New Zealand, the Government, reckless as ever, stilly continue to needlessly fritter away the hard earnings of the people. One of the latest examples of this is the extravagant sums paid to the Boundary Commissioners, £200 to non«official and £100 to official, Commissioners, as remuneration for a few days' work. And who,, it will be asked, are these official Commissioners? They are servants of the people, the Surveyor General and the Property Tax Com- ■ missioner. $trange that, in a country burdened with debt, with the cry of the unemployed heard throughout the land, and commerce and agriculture languishing ,'even '-to death, that these/ gentlemen— the one at a salary of £900 and the other of £700. per annum, should be paid £100 each for rendering services and giving informationj^rfw|ted,with their own defVNjgS^S^P ad y^t straugqr gtill, tbat the, people-^ who, after all are J*^Government, ancl'iioWis tlitf time to use fheir po\ er— stand tamely by and quietly subnc it to so great a misappropriation of p* Jblic money. Can it be a fact that yKese gentlemen- have- so little to do for their money that, when information from their department is required, a bribe of £100 is necessary to stimulate them to exertion, and urge them to duty ? When such things are done in the light, to what extent, we would ask, is money squandered in secret. . ; . • , . t Nor is it on others alone that Ministers lavish money. SIR Robert Stout — the democrat who so far forgets his principles as to accept an empty title — tlje "liberal" on whose tongue is ever the much hackneyed words, "The rights of the people," " The liberties of the people," and " Government by the people/Vis the while drawing two salaries from the people's money box, as well as incidental and travelling allowances. As Premier he pockets £1500 and as Attorney General £1000 per annum. Very apt is the present Government' at this kind of thing. Not only do they pay Civil Servants extra loir supplying information connected with their respective departments, but the Premier himself fills two offices and draws two salaries. What Belf-sacrifiee ! What exhalted pariotism! No man who ever entered public life has b6en more disappointing than Sir Robert Stout. People looked up to him as an embodiment of honour, as the ballast which was to steady the ship of state with the dangerous Yogel aboard ; but, once within the fascinating circle of political gambling and fraud, he went astray, and men turn their heads from him for shame. .... ;