RETRENCH v. EXTEND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume IV, Issue 1123, 20 June 1867, Page 7

RETRENCH v. EXTEND.

To tho Editor of the New Zeaianb Her aid. Sin, —What is the meaning of retrenchment P I am beginning to get quite confounded ; there is so much written now-a-daya under this head, that I fear the writers themselves are beginning to get confused and stupid, and forget what they are writing on, or else Johnson, Walker, and the rest are old fools, and I am blinded through their foolishness, and consequently am unable to comprehend the beauties and powers of these would-" ; l egislators when they talk about *eiiCnchment 'with such an eiU~o. linary tail to it. Sir, the limited knowledge I posaesj tells me that the meaning of retrench or retrenchment is to cut off, rcduce, a reduction of expenses, to lire moro sparingly, * .•hile t 1 ■> meaning of extens'on is tho act cf extendirto _.vetch 01 t, to enlarge. Now, what do thcso sreat penmen r cm when they advocate retrenchment by extension ? I cannot see it in any other light. They te M us wa pay for police, education, harbour in provements, publio wo. ':s, cS-c., out of our general _. jiiuo, yot they talk about retrenching by creating a lot of extra r ; 3 and taxes. 'J hoj have begun their -work, and I suppose our taxing fraternity will give us our fill if they are not stepped. By the bye, I should -ink that a few years spent in London under the taxes of the old country would do a few of these writers good, as they seem so fearful of losing their share. I ToVeve I know what necessary rates are, and shall j eve.- scruplo or heßitato to pay my Bharo, but the extravaj, .nt waste of the last few years ought to check and gr : de us for the future. I admiro his Honor's speech whevo he says that the gentlemen who represent us in the Provincial Council are not lo tc permittee 1 . to £0 on baying for ft child five years old a Buit of clothes which will anß'.rer when he is thirty years of age. They must look at things a 3 they aTe, and prov:do that which is suitablo for the times, charging us only now what we are in a position. as struggling p : oneerß, to pay, and not as those who eu . us two or three generations hence. It nu rf - 13 y la'J. » !-/ .ur representatives to proride that which is on'y necessary for present circumstances. Gentlemen, bear that in mind, and it w' ll . save you a vast amount of grumbling, a vast amount of diss- tisfaction against the head rulers of the province, eid which, if trrrad to their beginning, it would be found might have been avoided by »>i-':3ent " ;ution on your own part. Such were the wo. Is of his Honor on the 16th April last, and their truth is undeniable. Those who suffer and who agitate these extra rates and taxes may rue their conduct when it is too lato. Once get them passed, and you will find it will take a considerable deal more ink and papor to get them repealed. Prudent caution might have s wed us a deal of these e-.cesscs under which, we nre now suffering. Are these writers I refer to exhibiting much prudence or are they using any degree of caution, when they are trying to fill the heads of our legislators with tho supposed neccnity of this rate and the other tax ? vhen they are as it were goin™ mad and writing 10-3 on taxation, fortification, dry docks, &c. This letter has not occupied the least space in tho public journals of lato, although I think it ought to occupy the smallest amount of our legislators' time and attention just now. I would ask what amount of shipping do we have, or are likely to have tho next ten or twenty years patronising our port, to warrant such aD outlay of public money. This undertaking will do -very well by and bye. Our honorable members will do well to consider " Northern's" letter on this subject before they come to a hasty conclusion. I don't think it would be retrenchment to enlarge our liabilities, to run us further into debt, and increase our expensep, much less do I think it would be prudent just now. seoing tLat the Province is so hard up for cash to meet its present calls. If the countty settlers are willing to contribute a little more towards the general expenses, it does not follow that they are to be overburdened with extra taxes. The city of Auckland has received the benefits of the greater part of these misspent monies, and therefore I consider it honorable and praiseworthy on the part of our country settlers to suffer themselves to he taxed in any manner, however small, towards overcoming this evil which others have brought about; it is quite galling enough to see so many thousands of our publio revenue laying about idle and useless, without being threatened with a whole host of unnecessary taxes ; these things might be prevented by a little prudent caution. B : s Honor has began to retrench, according to my way of understanding tho term, not by - extension, hut by cutting off the outgoings in a vory wise and sensible manner j it is a small beginning, but no house was erected all at once, one brick at a time, and as pence makes pounds, so small savings will make large totals. There is one thing I should like to call to mind jußt here, that is, in reference to the speech of one of our honourable members at the time he was coming forwerd for a seat in the Council; after -telling us that tho new G-overnment would shackle us if we did not look after them, he said, the system of government was far different in the British Colonies, every little parish in Canada got its own " whajk," the bridges, roads, or other publio improvements were carried cut by the people themselves, and it was not necessary to have a Civ:' l . Engineer-in-Chief or a staff of officials to dictate to them how to carry ont their public works in tho Province of Auckland ; they were likely to have separation and a new. Government. If so, let us have one without salaries at a ll . Now, I am not not a man that lik;3 working for noth'ng, but when I see o poor working man taken from a daily labour, end t impelled to serve in a ijublio capacity and receive nothing for it, I think it 13 quite f'rre these honourable members should call to remembrance their expressions when ontering office; and if the laboui'ug man who is depending on his labour for his daily bread, is to give his time ond service for nothing, then I say, let the gentleman and merchant do the same, and retrench in the full meaning of the word.—l ptu, &c., June 19, 1867. R. O. 0. P.S.—lf any gentleman has discovered a new definition to the term " retrench," perhaps he will be kind enough to give it, that we may all be as wise as one another.