WELLINGTON ITEMS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6795, 15 May 1900, Page 4

WELLINGTON ITEMS.

♦ — . — [From Ottr Cokbkspondent.J WELLINGTON, May 14. The " Post " denies the surplus, declaring it to be only £109,490. It has forgotten that £450,000 has been paid over to the Public Works Fund. 'The Treasurer promised to do that in ibis Financial Statement, and paid the money during tha year as the gazetted accounts showed last week. In announcing his surplus of on Friday night week, he expressly stated, therefore, that he took credit in his revenue, not for' the whole of the previous year's surplus (£495,861), but for that amount, £450,000. The year's revenue, according to the " Gazette," was £5,699,617, which the balance of last year's surplus (or £46,861) swelled to £5,745,479. The year's expenditure, on the other hand, was £5,140,127, and the difference between the two was £605,351, as the Treasurer stated in his announcement. The "Post" has startled its friends with a review of tihe period 1893 to 1900, of which it finds the aggregate surplus to be £437,591, the difference between the aggregate revenue wnd the aggregate expenditure respectively being stated at £39,061,541 and £38,623,9i>0, but it has conveniently omitted to say that, the aggregate expenditure did not go wholly as in past periods in defraying the ordinary expenses of Government. There was in the aggregate of the public accounts a sum of £2,i75,000 (includdng last year's £450,000) paid over to the PubLc Works Fuud, so that during the period selected for review the surplus of the Consolidated Fund was £2,175,000, plus the £437,591 of the "Post's" table, or in all the handsome sum of £2,575,000. .Add to this the £30,000 paid out of consolidated revenue to the Public Works Fund in 1891---92, the year before the period reviewed, and you . have the total liberal surplus oi £2,605,000. It is truly a great record, and it stands unrivalled in Australasia. ' A great plague scare began to-day in death and ended in laughter. A couple of wharf cats died suddenly, whereupon the wharf population proclaimed the arrival of the bubonic plague. The medical faculty and Mr Gilruth were called in, and there Was an autopsy, When it was discovered that the animals had fallen victims to irritant poison. Not being able, for obvious reasons, to satisfy their hunger in the accustomed manner on the much-hunted rats, they had breakfasted on the poisoned fare strewed about, and so it came to pass that they came to a state in which, breakfasts are things of the past. Not satisfied with the result, however, the assembled talent having observed a third cat showing unmistakable signs of seediness, had the poor beast killed. Another autopsy ; verdict bronchitis, and the scare passed away. • In regard to the education reforms, about which there is so much discussion 1 just now, I find, on making further inquiries, that there is in the public mind a certain amount of misconception. It is quite true that, the late Mr Habens left a scale of uniform salaries. It is also true that the Department and the Minister are considering that scale, # but it is. likewise true that they are at the same time considering the practice in ail the other colonies. They are not committed to Mr Habens's plan or to any other. What j they are doing is to study the plan of the late Inspector-General by the light of further experience, and of other systems which have stood the test of time. Mr Habens's plan has, of course, the weight that belongs to its author. The Minister and his, advisers, I learn, expect soon to formulate proposals which will avoid any possible faults of Mr Habens's scale, which was never intended to be more than tentative. Their object is to take what seems best in that scale, and to incorporate all th«y find good elsewhere with it, and so draw up something that will have the good effect which on all hands is expected from the reform of the present system. It will be seen, therefore, that much of the criticism levelled throughout the colony at the coming proposals is premature, and outside the question. As I have said, the Department does not consider itself bound by Mr Habens's scale or any <ther. It is constructing the best it can from .all the materials at is dis- j pcual. . • .