THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 1888.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9097, 4 July 1888, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 1888.

From the information furnished in another column by qui* Wellington correspondent, it would seem that the Premier has at last realised the sincerity and the earnestness of the demand for further retrenchment. It was but recently that the Government affirmed that further retrenchment of any appreciable importance was impracticable; and it seemed to us that the greater portion of the Legislature accepted this as sufficient to make them rest and be thankful. Within the past few days the Premier has virtually snubbed the deputations of the Retrenchment Committee, or, as they are known, it appeal's, in the elegant jargon of the self-satisfied elect of the people at the Seat of Government, the "Skinflint" Committee. A change, however, appears to have come suddenly over the spirit of his dreams, and now he parleys, and then he surrenders at discretion. Now we have not any hesitation whatever in asserting that these results have come of the determination of the country, evinced at successive public meetings, and expressed in scores of newspaper articles and columns of correspondence, that the people of New Zealand must and will have cheaper government. The Auckland provincial district has worthily given its quota of assistance to the agitation for cheaper government. Besides two large meetings in the city, the people of Hamilton in the Waikato, at a public meeting on Saturday, those of Cambridge on Monday, and those of Te Awamutu in convening a public meeting for Thursday next, have shown that the people are beginning to realise the true position of affairs, and the necessity that exists for regarding the retrenchment already effected by the Government as but the initiation of reform; and though some of us put away from us the unpleasant thing as a child thrusts away the cup of nauseous medicine that it must be ultimately forced to drink, every one of those meetings has its use in directing the attention of the people to the urgency of the case, and has its effect on both the Legislature and the Ministry.

As will be seen from our Wellington telegrams, the Government have been literally driven to consult in Cabinet as to what is to be done to meet the clamorous demand for further retrenchment, and as a result of their deliberations the Premier has announced that the Ministry are willing to do their best to carry out a resolution of the House, to the effect "That in the opinion of the House, the Government should, if possible, during the recess, further reduce the Civil Service and departmental expenditure by one hundred thousand pounds per annum." This is certainly a great deal gained on the former admission that further retrenchment; was impossible ; and the Government. is perhaps justified in seeking to be fortified by a resolution of the House before engaging in such a further vigorous onslaught on expenditure. But there is scarcely a doubt that it will require all this decrease merely to meet the hiatus that will be found in the ways and means, before the financial year is out; and that such a saving as this will not abate by an iota the severity of the taxaticgi intended to be imposed. The disease in our system is too radical to be met by such lopping off" and trimming of the twigs and branches, and if the people of New Zealand really want the easing or the lifting off of any appreciable amount of taxation, they must never rest their agitation until the fact is realised by both Government and Legislature, that nothing short of a reorganisation and simplification of the whole cumbrous system of Administration will stop the public clamour. The whole thing is out of all proportion to the requirements of the colony, and what is more important still, beyond what it can honestly afford to pay; and systems that have been moulded and formed in the days of the colony's madness, must be wholly recast for our more sober needs. Sir Harry Atkinson has probably himself more clearly realised the necessity ; at all events, he has responded to pressure ; let that pressure be firmly continued, and either his Government or some other one taking its place will give to the colony what was intended in the " roar" for retrenchment which preceded the general election.