The New Zealand Herald. AUCKLAND, SATURDAY, SEP. 29, 1866.

New Zealand Herald, Volume III, Issue 898, 29 September 1866, Page 4

The New Zealand Herald.

AUCKLAND, SATURDAY, SEP. 29, 1866.

SPECTKMDB AGENDO. " Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice : Take each man's consare, bat reserve thy judgment. This above all,—To thine own self be true And it must follow, aa the night the day. Thou canst not then be false to any man.*''

We have already referred to the second reporb of the Civil Service Commissioners, and considered it so far as regards the persons to be employed by the Government, i Inere are ™ anY other P 0 ™* 8 connection with that report which deserve attenuori. Government officers have a traditionary system of doing business at least a century behind the age. That system carefully eschews all modern arrangements for saving labour, and invariably travels the farthest way round, instead of going direct to the point. Were mercantile firms to carry on their I'uaine-:': in the same roundabout fashion, they would require about double the expenditure on clerks which they now have. Thus, take the correspondence of a lar<*e firm. The head of it will write more letters-every day alter banking hours than would afford a day's work for two persons in a Government office and tho§£ letters willbe written, copied, and desp.atcb.Ba.

in a couple of hours ; the merchant writing the office boy coping them. And why is this ? Simply because the man of business plunges into his subject at once, refers directly to the letter he is answering, and "ives his answer in plain straight forward language. He does not consume a sheet of foolscap, and a good deal of valuable time in copying out almost verbatum the letter to which he ia replying, and then give his answer, as is the mode in fashion in Government offices. We all know how three lines in answer to a letter are smothered in a mass."of verbiage about having the honor to acknowledge receipt of it. and recapitulating its contents. The formula is, of course, stereotyped, and in the mind of the thorough going official the state would fall to pieces and anarchy ensue if the official letter gave a distinct and clear answer in as lew words as possible. The roundabout formula jealously preserved is the salvation of the department, and through the department of the nation.

And this eternal jargon entails a very large amount of expense upon the country. Each letter takes nearly twice as long to •write as it need do, and we observe from the report referring to various offices, " a clerk " copies letters." So that there is one who writes the letter to be sent, and then another person is copying all this in a book. 1-Vmi this it would seem that the light of the 19th century has not yet penetrated General Government offices. In what merchant's office, we should like to know, is this middle age system pursued ? By means of a copying press, a youth would copy all the letters sent daily out of any Government ollice iu half-au-hour. This "should be the work of the messenger, and letter-copying, which now must cost a very lartre amouut annu-

ally, ought not to cost us one penny. Were waste aud extravagance confined to one or two such matters as this the thing would not be so bad, but the same want of economy aud management of course runs through every branch of the public service, aud hence the aggregate loss from the absence of an intelligent business-like system is very great indeed. In fact the whole system requires a thoroughly active, energetic. business-like man to be constantly supervising every department of the Government, checking waste and extravagance, and introducing gradually new aud better systems of management and practice, euttiug the traditionary bands of red-tape and routine, and daring to keep pace with the advancement made in the world outside a Government office.

Of the general disorganization of G-o----vernment there can be no better proof than the fact that the law as regards the public money of the colony is systematically set at nought by ministers. The Governor's warrant' ought to be had for the expenditure of money, so says the law, but it is not sought or had. He has by law power, by practice he has no more power over the public funds than an infant. By law certain other cheeks are provided, by custom these checks are never attended to, the Treasurer doing just exactly what seems right in his own eyes as to the colonial income. There is no proper system attended to which ecsures tho taxes being spent for the purposes for which they are voted by parliament, and if they are not spent, they are quietly put to a special account, aud treated as expended, instead of bciug brought into the accounts and dealt with as revenue or money in hand by the parliament. Seeing, then, that disorder _ and illegal practices are prevalent at the fountain, it is no wonder that the stream partakes of the same character. If those who ought to sot an example of rigid adherence to faw and order set that on one side, it is yery likely those under them will follow thiir example. We had intended referring to several other poiuts of the report, but must eoiillne ourselves to one. The Commissioners point out that the cost of the post from" AYelliug- " ton to AYauganui cost £34:0 in ISO'S, ana "ii IS6G £1,357. Christ church to AYaitaki, " and Christchurch to Ifokitiki cost rcspee- " tively £3,000 and £l .-100 for ISO 6 ; whilst " the revenues were, for ISGS, £998 2s and " £278 respectively (the latter for six " months only). The very short service of ' ; eight miles between Christchurch and " Lyttleroa costs £1,200 per aunum." Tho Commissioners, then, justly think the cost ought not to be half so much. Again, Northern Dunediu and AYaitaki postal service costs £1,000; tbe reveaue, £698 13s. 2d. AVaitaki, Oamaru to iEalvern Hills coats £100 for oue service a week on horseback ; the reveaue is £19 os. lid.! JTone of the cases of ]jostal extravagance are in this province. The}' are either at Wellington or the Southern Island. Surely the pruning-knife is required with a vengeance. Charity evidently begins at homo with these Southern, politicians and cabinets, and it is to be hoped that justice will at least be heard of among them, and such extravagances partially paid for by our taxes be curtailed. The cost of telegraphs, also, for the South is out of all proportion to what it ought to be, and what it would bo, were each post-office made the telegraph station. The telegraph ought to be so arranged that it should be no real expense to the colony, but defray its own working expenses.