THE GOVERNMENT'S LATEST. DEPARTURE.

Otago Witness, Issue 1933, 25 February 1892, Page 18

THE GOVERNMENT'S LATEST. DEPARTURE.

There can be but one opinion as to the action of the Government in appointing Mr James Carroll, M.H.R., a member of the Executive Oouncil at a salary of L4O0 — namely, that it is a piece of wanton extravagance, absolutely unjustifiable, and contrary to the spirit, if not the letter, of the law. As to Mr Carroll himself, we have nothing Bpecial to say, either in praise or in deprecation of his appointment. He is an intelligent, moderate-minded man, and a good speaker when he chooses to exert himself to speak — which, truth to tell, js not often. But the office itself is not required ; and, if it is, it is only by virtue of the recent changes in tho arrangement of portfolios, by which Native affairs are taken out of the hands of Mr Oadman, who thoroughly understood them, and parcelled out between two Ministers — Messrs M'Kenzie and Reeves — who by no stretch of imagination can be said to know anything about them. Why Mr Cadman has been dispossessed of his portfolio we do not pretend to know for certain, though we give a shrewd guess. He stood last year as a sort of bulwark against the meddling with Native affairs of one of the most dangerous of all men desirous of meddling with them — Mr W. L. ltees, of Eist Coast Native Land Settlement Company fame. Mr Rees, in conjunction with Mr Carroll and the late Mr Mackay, had just finished a commission on Native affairs, and Mr Kees attended Parliament full of a special scheme of his own for the settlement of Native land difficulties. The obstruction in the way was Mr Cadman, who displayed a force of character few suspected him of possessing in opposing the crude schemes of Mr Rees. Mr Cadman is now out of the way, so that the public can judge as well as we can what chance there will be for the just and proper solution of the Native difficulty with nothing between Mr Rees and it but Messrs Reeves and M'Kenzie, neither of whom, probably, have the faintest conception of what that difficulty is. Mr Carroll i then may be appointed to keep those two gentlemen decently posted in the alphabet of the Native question, while so long as he is in receipt of a sa'ary he may be trusted nob to niako himself unnecessarily obstructive. We presume that the Government in making Mr Carroll a member of tho Executive Council get over the difficulty of the "Minister. I *' Salaries and Allowances Act ib'S//' by which

the number of paid Ministers was reduced to six. That measure was introduced partly as an act of economy, and partly to re3tore the equilibrium between Ministers and members after the reduction in the number of the latter, enacted in 1887 and given effect to at the last general election. That Act is already deliberately evaded by the inclusion of Mr Ward, who has his salary separately voted as expenses ; and now it is about to be further evaded by the practical inclusion of Mr Carroll. There is of course a theoretical difference between a Minister and a member of the Executive Council, in so far as a Minister is a member of that Council holding a special portfolio ; while a member of the Executive Council may hold none. The Act of 1887 would seem to apply to Ministers properly so called, so that it is just possible the Government may see their way to provide the salary for Mr Carroll without contravening the letter of the Act. Or it may be that they intend him, like Mr Ward, to live a precarious existence, dependent upon the votes of the Mouse. No doubt the prime object is to attach the Maoris permanently to the Government, and thus add to the Ministerial majority in the House. We trust this latest effort of Mr Pallanco to secure his Ministerial seat at the expense of the taxpayer will be frustrated by the determination of the House as soon as Parliament meets to see the spirit of tho Act of 1887 properly carried out. The necessity for some action of the kind is admitted by the mere statement of the fact that that Act limits the number of Ministers, to six, and the Government have already managed to secure eight.