THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 1891.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8582, 2 June 1891, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 1891.

It is fortunate that in public affairs when/there is any dirty linen to be washed, the process of purification must go on corarp populo, if it be meant to be thorough, j Were it otherwise, we should have one Scandal the less, but in return for such suppression a large crop of evil practices would spring up, fostered by the hope of uninterrupted fruition. It is impossible to doubt that tho revelations j already made of disorders prevailing in the Public Trust Office will have ja most injurious effect upon tho reputation of public institutions under Government control, hot alone on the spot where the evil has been experienced, but abroad also, ( where opinion has already been unfavourably influenced by the numerous instances of fraud committed by the responsible agehts of public corporations, of private companies, and of trading firms, which come "weekly'to light, and afford evidence, not only of a very loose morality, but of a most imperfect system of supervision in the management of monetary affairs. So far as is yet j known, the charges brought against the officers of the department, with perhaps one or two exceptions, are rather of incompetence and carelessness than wilful malversation. But to whatever cause the loss may bo due, iti is stated that thirty thousand pounds will be required to make up deficiencies, also that many estates have dwindled almost to nothing under the fostering care of an avuncular Government.

:.'■ Pending : the report of the commissioners appointed , to inquire into those irregularities, it is ■ impossible to treat the subject judicially, but as it is beyond question, that the scandal is due to mistakes committed by ; the officers in charge of the Trust Department, . it i is pertinent to in* quire/where the responsibility for defalcations and ; ; losses arising v from carelessness and mismanagement finally rests. Rumour has it that the Commission t recommends *- immediate recognition of the liability of the colony in all such cases, but before this guarantee has become formal, and while as yet the Department remains nominally ; responsible, • would not the' State still bo bound to make restitution in the' last resort? Supposing, for example, an action against the department for loss of property to be success-.! fully sustained, - wiiere is the fund out of which the verdict should be satisfied 1 Are the Civil servants concerned bound to find security for the due discharge of. their duties, involving the safety of so much property and so many interests? Further, supposing that in the course of the trial gross carelessness, or even dishonesty, should be proved against one or moreoorf r the parties in charge,could those securities- be made available, and if so, should they fall short of the amount required, how is the deficiency to be made good 1 There can be but one answer to this question, the onus would undoubtedly fall upon the State, that is to say, upon that enduring pack donkey, the New Zealand taxpayer. In the meantime and until such questions shall receive their solution, it is not very likely that, much new - business will be done by that Office, and a long time must elapse before confidence in the institution will revive. It is quite natural 'that such should be the else, when it is seen, that estates upon, which tho full legacy duty had been paid, and upon the returns from which many families are dependent, are gradually melting away under the influence of the Government stroke. People will certainly cease to entrust their estates to tho maladministration" of the Government Trust .Office, until. it shall 'become evident that a . better system :is< in force, which can only be ensured by a thoroughly radical mode of treatment. Unhappily, this is :. not ,the, first occasion upon which it lias been found requisite to issue a commission for a like X. purpose, and such investigations have not always resulted in curing the evils which they were meant to remove. In all Governments there is a natural dislike to-be; caught tripping, with a consequent tendency to belittle departmental faults. Moreover, under the system of patronage by which the civil service of tho colony has been heretofore recruited, offenders have been often shielded by their patrons from consequences of short-comings. Acid to these causes; for the miscarriage of justice, tho fear of offending a body politically powerful, and there is no difficulty in comprehending how tho report of a ; com mission, painfully arrived at, may have .>•■ had no ; useful result for the country and no result whatever, s except the discouragement of reformers and the addition of one stone more to the cairn of extravagance and ruin raised to the memory of Vogel and Atkinson. In regard to the present Commission, whose report wo have so far anticipated, it may be hoped that the general , ' importance of jtlio subject with which it deals, the publicity which its action alreucly commands, and the want of complicity on tlto part of the present Government with ; tho alleged misdemeanours, will preserve the report from tho fate of so many of its predecessors, by which .'in! opportunity may ;bo afforded of remedying abuses, find finally making a disgraceful scandal fcho means of rehabilitating public credit in a matter very essential to the public interest.