Correspondance. SAVINGS IN PUBLIC EXPENDITURE.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XXVIII, Issue 49, 19 June 1869, Page 3

Correspondance. SAVINGS IN PUBLIC EXPENDITURE.

To the Editor of the 'Nelson Examiner.' Sir — A number of letters having, since my departure from Nelson, appeared in the columns of tho Colonist^ commenting upon my speech to the electors of tho province at the public meeting on the 28th of last month, some reply may probably be considered to be due from me to those of them which bear the signatures of the Speaker and other members of the Provincial Council. Mr. Barnicoat and others question my right to comment to my constituents assembled in public meeting upon tho matters in which they elected me to act for them. I maintain that it is by universal consent a right inherent in representative institutions, and it is one which I shall exercise whenever I think it desirable to do so, however inconvenient it may prove to Mr. Barnicoat and the Editor of the Colonint. Mr. Barnicoat charges me with the use of " abusive language." I challenge Mr. Barnicoat to point out a single sentence or a single word in my speech, even as reported in the Colonist, to which that expression can in the slightest degree apply. If Mr. Barnicoat wants specimens of abusive language, I refer him to his own letter. Let him r»nul his description of my speech to my constituents as a " degrading exhibition," an expression which I think he would more fitly have applied to the proceedings of the Council of which he is the Speaker. Mr. Barnicoat charges mo with having imputed " discreditable motives" to members of the Provincial Council. I challenge Mr. Barnicoat to show, from the same or any other report, that I imputed any motive whatever, creditable or discreditable, to any member or members of the Provincial Council. And I further challenge him to show that I ever once, during the many years in which I have taken a part in public affairs, imputed an unworthy motive to a political opponent, notwithstanding the imputations of that character to which I am myself constantly subjected, both in tho Provincial Council and the Colonist newspaper. Mr. Baruicoat's elaborate defence of his own salary as Speaker seems somewhat superfluous, as I expressly euid that I considered it to bo fair and reasonable. In Mr. Donne's letter I see nothing to call for reply from me — the same remark applies to that of Mr. Siinmonds. Mr. Gibbs, however, produces some figures, but as I do not recognise them in connection with the subjects in discussion, I conclude they must refer to some transaction which took placo "in the year 1848." Mr. Gibbs states that, " out of £41,176 voted (for departmental salaries, &c.,) he spent £40,527. * * It was at this great saving of £648 we were to express our unqualified satisfaction." The " Comparative Statements of Votes and Expenditure," with which members of the Council ought to bo familiar, Bhews that the amount voted for departmental salaries, &c, was £48,332, and that the amount expended was £42,740, leaving a balance unexpended of £5,591, instead of £648, as Mr. Gibbs affirms. I have never hitherto referred to this matter, either to the Council or to the electors, because, as regards the greater part of the amount, there was no real saving effected. The chief part of the balance arose from recent regulations of the Colonial Treasury, which compelled us to close our accounts on 1 lie 31st of March; so that the departmental salaries, &c, of tho West Coast for that month were not paid, and could not bo brought to account. That is to say, only eleven months of tho West Coast salaries were included in the yearly account, and so far there was of course no saving. But there was an actual saving to tho extent of some £1,000 or £2,000, owing to some of tho officers to whom notice of dischargo was given shortly after my return from Wellington, in October last, having been off pay some time before the close of the financial year. I did not, however, as I have already said, think the comparatively small amount of reduction in departmental expenditure which I was able to make last year of sufficient importance to mention either to the Council or the meeting. To anticipate the possible criticism, that as only eleven months' payments on the West Coast are included in the Treasurer's account, the true financial stnte of the Province at the end of the year was not exhibited, I should state that the receipts of consolidated revenue are, from the same cause, also for eleven months only, and that the amount due by us and the amount due to us at that date substantially balanced each other. I now come to the actual reductions in departmental expenditure which I effected during the recess, the full operation of which commenced with the present financial year, and which amount to £8,000 in salaries and £4,000 in con tingencies— together £12,000. I see I am called upon to publish the figures in detail, notwithstanding that the Estimates, which contain every item in full, were placed in the hands of every member of the Council within a day or two of its meeting, and were, if I am not mistaken, published botli in the Examiner and the Colonist newspapers. I stated, in my opening address to the'Counci], deliberately and explicitly, that I had effected a saving in salaries and departmental contingencies of from £12,000 to £13,000. That statement was either true or it was not true. If it was not true it was tho clear duty of the Council to say so, not by evasive denials and insinuations in speeches of which I could take no official notice, but by distinct and formal resolution. Does any one doubt that this would have been done by the Council if there was a possibility of giving even a colour or the faintest appearance of truth to their assertions ? Mr. Barnicoat says, in roferenco to my prorogation speech, that I should have commented upon the action of the Council upon the Estimates while that body had the opportunity of official reply. Mr. Barnicoat knows perfectly well that I asked the Council to reconsider the votes which I looked upon as unjust and impolitic ; that I did not, and could not, know what their ultimate decision might bo until a few hours before the closing of the Council, and that I took the earliest possible opportunity of expressing my opinion upon that decision ; that the very next day I gave them tho fullest scope to make the most ample explanations they could, of which I presume they availed themselves to the best of their ability. I see that an attempt will now be made to compare my estimates of expenditure for tho present year, with the actual expenditure of the last. As I have already shown, tho actual expenditure, as regards tho greater part of the amount, was for eleven months only, and the remainder of the difference between the sum voted and the sum expended, consists of the savings resulting from the early period at which my reductions commenced. Any such comparison would be simply an attempt to deceive the public, upon which the Council, as a body, did not venture. For the satisfaction of the public, I append a statement of the exact reductions in each department (making, in round figures, £8,000 in salaries, and £4,000 iv departmental contingencies), which I effected, before the Council met, from the votes of the year 1868, which formed the actual expenditure during tho first six months— that is, until after my return from Wellington, in October last. I also give the reductions effected by the Council, amounting to £456 in salaries, and £265 in departmental contingencies, or £731 in all. I find 1 did them more than justice in stating the amount to be £791. Before I conclude, I will advert once more to Mr. Gibbs' s letter. A practice prevails in the Council of voting sums for public works far beyond the amount of tho estimated available revenue — a cheap way of gaining credit with unthinking constituents, and a ready method afforded to Mr. Gibbs and his coadujtors of throwing odium on the Superintendent when public works are not executed with money which only exists in the imagination of the Provincial Council. Last year nearly £20,000 of imaginary money was so voted j this year public works are to be executed without money to the more moderate extent of £13,000, subject to the eerere censure oi

Mr. G-ibbs and his allies if they remain, like the money, visible only upon the paper on which the Appropriation Act is printed. I am, &c, Oswald Curtis. House of Representatives, Wellington, June 14, 1869. > P.S.— Writing from memory, I have mentioned j a letter from Mr, Donne, but I have misgivings r. whether the letter I refer to was written by Mr. Donne or some other member of the Council. How- ' ever, as I have made no comment on the letter, it is s unimportant. Reductions made by the Superintendent. , Salaries. Contingencies. Nelson — £ £ Land Office ... 50 25 I Survey Office . . 500 985 Engineer's Office . . 725 25 Gaol .... 332 9 Police . . . .398 200 Hospital . . .125 38 ; Harbour . .' . 195 290 Scab Act . 290 — South-West Gold Fields— Magistrates, Wardens, Bailiffs, and Clerks . 1,550 518 Police .... 3,804 500 Gaols .... 276 1,118 Engineers and Surveyors 290 — Harbours ... 132 — Hospitals ... — 761 8,467 4,469 Less the following additions to Contingencies — £ Lunatic Asylum 165") Scab Act . . 100 f Survey Office f (Gold-fields) . 150 ) 8,467 4,054 Deduct corrections and additions made by the Superintendent after the Estimates weresent down . . .681 . £7,786 £4,054 The reductions in Contingencies arise partly from 1 tho reduced number of officers employed, and partly from more economical arrangements for the management of Gaols, Hospitals, &c. Reductions made by the Provincial Council. Salaries. Contingencies. Nelson — £ £ Engineer . . • 150 — Police .... 195 70 Harbour ... 37 — Scab Act ... 87 — South-West Gold Fields— Police .... — 270 Orersecr of Roads . . 37 — 506 340 Less the following additions :—: — Engineer ... — 75 Hospital ... 50 — £456 £265