THE RETRENCHMENT SCHEME.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 6964, 13 March 1884, Page 5

THE RETRENCHMENT SCHEME.

f. [BY TELEQBAPH.—OWN CORBESPOVDENT.] Wellington, Wednesday. I: incline to antioipate that .the . vacancy created by the resignation oEMr. : Godfrey. Knight, Actuary to the Government Insurance Department, will not be .filled .up, but that Mr.-F. W. Frankland.'the very able actuary for Friendly.'Societies, who. is attached to the Registrar-General's office, will probably., perform thej.dutiea of Consulting" Actuary, holding that '• appointment as well as the other one. In this way a considerable oaving;wUl:beeffected, "and. it is believed" that ; all ' necessaryprovisions for actuarial work would thus be made. Mr. Frankland has attracted ' much; notice by" .'the i ability . he:, :i has ; displayed, in.i' the" reports on friendly societies, ; in hia'calculations for the national insurance scheme,'and in his illnstrative report on the Hare Bystem of representation. I still oxpect to see the Registrar-General's Department done away' with or absorbed. I mentioned long ago that this was likely, to be among the .coming reforms in the service. From what -I can gather on pretty good authority, I fear the. first effeot.of the. pending changes will be: to throwa large number of people out of employment all over the colony. Most sweep-: ing reductions are under, consideration, some of them of a much more sweeping; charaoter than anybody yet guesses., ;1 believe ,the nambsr of heads of departments is to be diminished by just one-half, and amal-. gamation- right and left, will . be , the rule. Concentration is.. being . aimed at- so. far as possible and the extravagance of having . several quasi independent . local departments will be curtailed to a minimum: Some further extensive changes in: the Kailway. Department are in contemplation, in the-North and. South; some.of'a highly.important character This will, I hear; bo particularly the case .in Auckland and Dunedin; The . Public Works Department generally is also to. be cat down much , more yet, as it is thought there are many more officers than are. really , needed now that public works proceed at so much slower a rate than formerly. - It is said that: Mr. Mitchelson took office under the condition that he was to control his depart-.: ment according..to his own judgment and that his fixed intention is to " run " it on strict commercial principles as he did, his own busines, and that he .entertains a firm conviction that if ho -is not unduly hampered, he can do the one <as successfully as the other. He is certainly going to work with -immense vigour and plti'ck.. I cannot help fancying he has almost taken his colleagues' breath away already by i his :boldness and, determination. You will hear, of some more prominent changes [shortly; A vacancy has just been created in the higher ranks of the Civil Service by the resignation (on the score of urgent private affairs) ot Mr. D. C. Maunsell, who was well up iri the 'seryice, and has acted as private secretary to the last two Premiers. I understand his place will not be filled up, but that one of the Treasury clerks will act .as Premier's secretary. As various imaginary, sums have been named, as the probable savings to be effected by the present process of retrenchment I may as ■. well say that at present it is not * now expected there will be any material saving on the neit years' total expenditure, because the amount of compensation will: ..necessarily be extremely large; and probably swallow up the first year's savings. The! ■ difference onsubsequent.years; will, however, :be very considerable. It' is rumoured that there are various schemes in the direction of diminishing the present heavy cost of education before the Cabinet. The necessity 'of something, being done toward more"; economical work has been strongly pressed on the mind of the Government through the fact that nearly half a million extra would be required next year to satisfy the aggro- ; gate claims of the Education: Boards for what they all declare to be urgently necessary; , workß.