THE Thames Advertiser FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 1878.

Thames Advertiser, Volume XI, Issue 2906, 19 April 1878, Page 2

THE Thames Advertiser FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 1878.

The policy of retrenchment which the Premier undertook to carry out to the tune of £100,000 a year when the reins of Government were entrusted to his care is progressing very slowly. It is true some changes have taken place in the civil service, but we have yet to learn that they come under the category of reforms in the widest sense of the term. The latest economy we have heard of as the act of the Premier has been that of reducing tho salary of a very efficient civil servant in Auckland who held a plurality of offices, namely, acting agent of the General Go. vernment, Immigration Officer, Cha.

ritablc Aid Commissioner, with other duties attached to his office " too numerous to particularise." It appears that in pursuance of the policy of retrenchment the Premier ordered that the remuneration for all these offices combined should be reduced to the munificent sum of one pound a week! Of course it could never have been intended that a retired Major in Her Majesty's Army should be so reduced as to accept such a paltry salary for his services. We have reason to believe that it was only another means of giving him the "dirty kick out," to an expressive colonial phrase. Major Green had made himself obnoxious to the present head of the Government, and the retrenchment cry was taken advantage of as an ouster from office. But this is not all. 1/Ve believe that certain reports derogatory to the character of the officer were traced to the Premier himself, and these matters ai\j now being inquired into by the legal advisers of the insulted officer, and more will be heard of them anon. In the meantime we perceive that Major Green has been unanimously appointed by the Board of Education to the office of Treasurer to the Board at a salary of £350 per annum, so that he will not be dependent upon the Premier's munificent offer of £1 a week for a multiplicity of offices. There are other instances of the way the retrenchment policy is being carried out, but this -will suffice for the .present. In a few weeks we shall no doubt be informed that the various offices held by Major Green have been distributed to various friends and adherents, 'and nothing more "will be heard of retrenchment, so far as this, particular instance is concerned. And yet the Premier undertook to ,work a reform, at all hazards, in the civil service. A few ill-paid clerks, and some men of the A.C. force have been sent to the right about; but many fat billets have been apportioned to others, a horde of hungry hangers-on have. been satisfied by some metamorphosis of offices, or the creation of new ones. The Engineer-in-Ohief of the colony has been superseded by two appointments, and one secretary and two under secretaries were recently gazetted in connection with the Lands and -Goldfields Departments. It is scarcely in pursuance of the threatened policy of retrenchment that : two gentlemen should be appointed where one previously sufficed. Of course it is a pardonable weakness for .Ministers to look after their friends and supporters when they attain power, but this should not be carried too far, or it 'will raise a feeling of opposition which may militate against their tenure of office. Besides,'the reckoning day is approaching, and there will be sure to be found some philanthropic M.H.B. who will insist upon knowing the why and wherefore of eveiy change made. The whole army of civil servants have their friends at Court, and these include also the dismissed servants, whose friends will want to know the reason why. But 'the policy s of retrenchment must soon be introduced in earnest, if the pledge of reduction is to be redeemed. At present attention has mainly ' been di. rected to.a! political campaign round the colony in the once-despised and condemned Government '. toy, . the 'Hinemoa,'—in making provision for ■ the'number of friends- who insisted upon something more substantialthan the mere lavish promises which-have maintained them so long—and some attention has, we fear, likewise been .paid to wiping off old scores in the few changes that have been, effected. We have no doubt that some departments can be dispensed with altogether, and if the promised saving is to be carried out a clean sweep will have to be.made somewhere.. Can it be that the Premier intends to commence cleansing the Augean stables at Auckland first, by dispensing with the various offices held by Major Green. Government, perhaps, intend to be represented in propria persona'in future—or, perhaps, that old civil service barnacle, yclept ".Soapy Dan," is to be re-instated, to save him from the "drudgery of Press work- once more.. But the Immigration, Department will still require, looking after, and so will the. other offices' filed by the gallant major now deposed.' -We shall see how the policy of retrenchment is carried .out now that the major has retired and left the course clear" to others seeking rewards for services rendered to the party.