REDUCING EXPENDITURE.

Otago Witness, Issue 1901, 10 July 1890, Page 16

REDUCING EXPENDITURE.

GOVERNMENT AGREE TO CUT DOWN THE ESTIMATES. (Fbom Oub Own Cobbebpondent.) Wellington, July 7. The retrenchment movement has suddenly sprung up into most serious prominence and significance, and it is by no means impossible that a political crisis may be precipitated at a very early date. The retrenchment party appear resolved to push their demands to the utmost extremity, regardless of consequences. They hold firmly to the idea that a reduction of £50,000 can be made with ease, and without involving any hardship. An Otago member remarked to me to-day; "We mu6t make a stand or we shall soon be back to the old state of things. The departmental estimates have already increased by £72,000, and salaries are being raised in all directions. What was the use of doing all we did in 1887-8 if it is to be undone now without rhyme or reason ? We have been carefully through the Estimates, and we have satisfied ourselves that they can be cut down, not merely by £50,000, but by double that amount, if the Government choose to undertake the task. It is not a mere reduction of salaries that we want, but a systematic reorganisation and amalgamation, and this the Government appear determined not to touch. They have been promising it for years, and we seem no nearer to it now than ever; therefore, we mean to press our demand by every legitimate means in our power, and if our action should place Ministers in any difficulty, they will have only themselves to thank for it." An Auckland member also said : " They must do something. The people up North are in a terrible way through the property tax, which many of them are paying out of principal, instead of out of profit. We don't think this is a time to start increasing big salaries. Commercial people have had to submit to great reductions, and a man in the civil service who gets the same salary now as he did some years ago has practically got a rise." The 11 members who (as I telegraphed last night) interviewed the Premier on Saturday met again to-day, and discussed the position at considerable length, the result being that, in accordance with instructions from the meeting, Messrs Allen, Saunders, Withy, and R. Thomson waited on the Premier, and informed him that they and the other seven economists were determined to press their demands, even at the cost of bringing about a Ministerial crisis. They maintain that the item " contingencies " alone would bear cutting down by one-half— i.e., from £100,000 to £50,000.

Various rumours were afloat to-day as to the probable action of Government in view of the pressure put upon them by the retrenchment section of their party, but as I am able to give you the decision itself I need not detail these. The leaders of the agitation in which Auckland members have been particularly earnest, and have been warmly seconded by several Otago members, lay great stress upon the attitude of the Government in 1880 when they were called on to take £200,000 off the Estimates, and did so. They contend that there would be nothing derogatory to the Government in acceding to the demands of their supporters now as they did then, and they ccc no reason why the present supporters of the Government should be more diffident in urging what they deem a proper demand than were those of 10 years back. They point to the "Hansard" reports of the discussion on the subject, For instance Sir Jobs Hall said;-.

"Some discretiotf .should be left to the Government as to whereT reductions should be made. They would accept the decision of the House upon aresolntion of t,hat kind, and he hoped the hon. gentleman would admit tnat ifc waa a more convenient way of tesv'ing the opinion of the House." And Sir Harry Atkinson said :— " The question between them v»as not whether their estimates were to be reduced, but the way in whioh they were to reduce t&em. Whether it was more convenient to direct the Government to take a lump sum off the eti arieß » or ioT tlie committee to pretend that if; I'-ould apportion the salaries of the public servants Those who fenew anything about it were .aware that the House was quite iacompb^ 6ll^ *° perform euoh a task, and the proposal of the Government was that its hands shov lld ba tried quite as effectively as the hon. gentle*™ ll proposed to them." Thus, say the retrenu'h" ists, the Government cannot consistently dech'ntC to do now what they so readily did in 1880 V Several members have assured me to-night that, they will not budge an inch from the position* they have taken up, but will maintain it at' whatever cost or risk to the Ministry and their; party. On the other hand, when Mr Swanson moved' in 1883 a reduotion of the Estimates by £50,000,, the Government refused to accept it, and made it a Ministerial question. This, however, was. understood to be mainly because they believed Mr Swanson had been instigated by the Opposition party, and was playing into their hands. A meeting of the Cabinet was held to-night, at the Premier's residence to consider the: demands of the retrenchists. The matter' was discussed at considerable length, the meeting occupying an hour and a half, and not break- ■ ing up till past 10 o'clock.. The Government^ thought it would be altogether unsatisfactory to ■ undertake merely to propose reductions on. separate items in committee, because if they were to say, for instance, that £10,000' might be taken off justice, by doing away with a number of resident magistrates, or that so much might he taken off education by various economies, there would inevitably be an outcry on the part of the members representing the places affected and the reduotion would probably be thrown out, with the result that the Government might be accused of tricking the retrenchists by delusive pretences at detailed economies which they knew would not be agreed to by the House. The Government therefore decided to adopt the following attitude :— They; will say to the retrenchists, "it you insist om a reduction of £50,000 in the aggregate amount of expenditure and the House agrees to it, we: will accept that decision and will carry it out.. We will nob pretend that it can be done without, material inconvenience to the public, because: we know that it cannot be, but on the distinct, understanding that the House fully comprehends this and is willing to bear the responsibility, we will undertake to carry out its' wishes." The House will therefore be invited to< pass the Estimates substantially as they stand,, with a resolution that the total appropriationshall be reduced by £50,000. The Government • will also promise to effect this reduction with the smallest practical inconvenienoe to the public or to individuals; but they will not disguise the certainty that inconvenience must inevitably be caused, seeing that they have already effected economies to the extent of some £300,000, and have gone as far in that direction as they deem wise or just and fair. They recognise, however, that it would be placing their supporters in a very invidious position to compel them to vote against a motion that would certainly be moved either by Sir Gr. Grey or by Mr Ballance in favour of the proposed reduction, (by meeting it as a no-con-fidence motion), as this would necessarily compromise those members with their constituents by making them appear as if voting against retrenchment. Consequently Ministers intend to meet their supporters partly and agree to the course indicated, with the clear | understanding that the Government accept no responsibility for the inconvenience that they believe will necessarily be caused to the public. Ministers are quite willing to accept the same position that they did in 1880, subject to the distinction that they then saw their way to make the reduction without damage to the public service, whereas now they hold that the desired savings cannot be effected without causing the public interests to suffer. They hold, however, that this is a consideration for the House, and that if the House deliberately resolves on suoh a course, then the Government will undertake the task, and will do their best to minimise the evil. The deoision of the Cabinet will be announced to the retrenchment party to-morrow morning. As matters stand, there now seems every likelihood that the crisis whioh this morning seemed imminent will pass harmlessly away.

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At & meeting of the Green Island Literary Sooiety last week Mr Lee Smith presiding, Mr D'Oyley read a paper on " Bee Culture." It was illustrated by diagrams, and proved very interesting.