MENT WAY NERS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 907, 19 July 1889, Page 28

MENT WAY NERS

The Gcvcrhmeht has laid oU ihe table of the House the correspondence which had been carried on by mail and cable.be-

tween the Premier genfe-G-enera! relative to the :ui oi a Chief Commiasinner Zealand Railways-. These 1 telegrams-,-as will be seen quel-, entirely bear out the 3 which from time to time sred in our columns on the i ihe authority of the Gorrespondenca tabled is a hi of that presented to s last session, and bethe stage which was lan the Agent General and coadjutors, Sir Edward hair man of the Manchester, ml Lincolnshire, and Southail ways) and Mr George General Manager of the i North-Western Railway) to despair of obtaining any e fur the position at any h the Colony was at all consent to offer. In the ial letter of the series 3? i nays that after consul tar Edward Wat kin and Mr cannot take the respousi?comraending any of the who have applied. Some mpetonfc as managers, but -,ed, in the opinion of himcolleague, the combination .’cally needed for the posi Commissioner. Sir Francis to secure any man in the ,s entirely cut of the quescould obtain a higher me ; a:.d even men in the , from whom at the best vould have to choose, get >2OOO and upward, and 8 tempted out to the -s than £2500 or £3OOO 17 ou cannot get the maD at for £2500, but it is too the only kind of are likely to get.” D. Bell writes that he > all hope of being able alary of £3OOO anyone uis ideal of what a Chief unissioner should be.” 0; Mr Eddy might ponion obtained had the teen offered in time, for red by New South salary. He adds that possible that even a n could be obtained for en proceeds to say that e was the best man ie Government, and Ree’a qualifications ;tb, he being doleputy - manager at. e .London and Northy, in charge of a large h severe competition other lines and of i being next on the >rih-Western. list for g served twenty years r Francis adds that ive the Government v a salary of JL3OOO deputy-manager at; e. A warm recoinMr Findlay is aplently, however, Sir phs and writes that hdrawn his candi- [ having offered for is own. railway. Sir says:—“Mr Ree iion in consequence lotion, and noton acin my being able aether he would i Government.” Mr of the Northwrites (to Sir F. . Mr Ree’s withdone this after l as to his chances and not from any initely from you.” General, acknowlation that Mr a appointed Chief sees “ great safcisNias no hesitation i single exception, chance of getting who could even rrow in the cornlalities, by which sion would now ht to be for the ee thus entirely of the Govern|l . It shows that a most emphatic ration that the tain a first-class ‘ger salary than

Parliament was at all likely to sanction, and that even a man in the second rank was nob likely to come at £3OOO. Subject to this qualification,. and coupled with . the distinct statement that lie had as yet met with no man who came up to the standard of what was. required for the position,Sir Francis Bell recommended Mr Ree p„s the best man available on the terlhafprescribedi But although the recommendation was thus, aa we said before, “ qualified,” we have no doubt at all, afser reading the AgentGeneral’s account of Mr Ree’s experience and training and personal capacity, that, although according to* Sir F. D. Bell he was not in the first rank, if indeed he were in the second', he would have made an excellent Chief Commissioner if only the Coionv could have caught him. But it could not. it has been charged over and ever again against the Government that it was through their delay in deciding that th© Colony lost him We have more than once stated on authority that there was no foundation for such ati allegation. Oar accuracy is now entirely borne out by the Agent-General aud by Mr Ree’s official chief, both of whom assert most emphatically that his with u'rawal was not due to any delay in dealing with his application, but arose through an opening for promotion at Home having occurred-sooner than ha had expected. It will he observed further that Sir Francis Bell, who has conducted all the communications with the English applicants, unhesitatingly expresses his opinion, baaed on his own knowledge of the candidate,; that in choosing Mr McKerrosv the Government have taken the wisest course, and that they have thus secured a better man than was available to them in Bug land. 'Shis may be regarded as a mere individual opinion, but coming from tuich a veteran public officer as Sir Francis Bell, and founded on his direht experience, it can hardly fail to carry some weight. We are sorry that the Colony could not get Mr Use, but it is at least satisfactory to be assured by the Agent-General, from personal knowledge, that; we have secured quite as good a man at little more than one-third of the cost.