The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 1888. RETRENCHMENT EXTRAORDINARY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1690, 26 January 1888, Page 2

The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 1888. RETRENCHMENT EXTRAORDINARY.

Fob several years past a rumor has been afloat to the effect that:it was contemplated to' remove the Hesident Magistrate’s Courts at Teinuklarid Geraldine to 'Winchester, and establish there a central Court for both places. Few have ever paid much attention to it—not' because people were careless as to whether the proposal would or would not be carried out, hut because few could believe it possible that any Government would be gtiilty of jsuch a foolish, action/ We have, however, the best reason for believing that the subject was under consideration by the Government previous to the election of 1884, and that only for the Stout-Vogel Governmagt coming into power the Courts would have' been removed. There is one thing to which we can point: in . support of this. For years the people of Geraldine were crying out for the erection ; of a Courthouse in the town, and they were always promised that it would be done—but it was put off time after time,, and this was the cause of it. It ; was merely delayed as it was contemplated to build the new Courthouse at Winchester. The Stout-Vogel Government, however, came into power; like sensible men, they scouted the idea of removing the Courts, and they built the Geraldine Courthouse where it ought to have been built. Major Atkinson has come back again with a Ministry that suffers from the retrenchment mania badly, and the old proposal has been resuscitated. We wish it to be understood that we hare it from the most reliable source that the matter is at present under the consideration of the Minister of Justice. It is no hearsay now—it is no rumor. We have it on an authority, which no one could doubt, and in all probability, unless some steps are taken to prevent it, the whole thing will be settled before anything more is publicly know» t it. We know for a positive fact that the Minister is at present seeking information on the subject and that the object he has fa view is retrenchment. How he .can effect retrenchment by the aefop.tion of this course is » mptey which officialism alone could explain.; A jjftw Courthouse has recently been built in It is a very mean

affair certainly, but it will do for many a year. There is also a Courthouse in Temuka which is sufficient for the requirements of the place. There is no Courthouse, nor any building that could be converted into a Courthouse at Winchester, and so the first step towards retrenchment would be to spend about £IOOO on a building there, '! he cost of erecting the Courthouse would defray the ■fcjtra expense of keeping on two Courts for at least the next five years, and there .cannot be the least doubt but that before that time both Temuka and Geraldine would have got their Courts back again and the Winchester building would remain a monument of Ministerial foolishness — a rival to the Oxford bridge. Now, what could be saved by this ? Merely the salary of either the Clerk at Temuka, or at Geraldine, as one Clerk would do instead ’of having a cletk at each place. That, together with some trifling saving in stationery, and fuel, is all that could possibly be effected, with the exception that it would be made easier for the Resident Magistrate, and to effect this paltry saving the people of these two towns are to be put to the greatest inconvenience. Temuka has a population of over 1500,1 Geyaldine; is/not' faf behind, and Winchester is only a rural district. Fancy the .idea of people living in a town having to go five or six miles out in the country to attend Court! The idea is, so absurd., so silly, and so monstrous that we cannot but doubt the sanity of the Minister who has even thought it worth while to entertain it for one moment. It would be retrenchment with a vengeance; it would mean the imposition of a very heavy tax on the people of this district. But this is consistent; with the character of retrenchment proposals of the present Government, which merely consist in robbing Peter to pay Paul.