The Star. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1922. MAKING THE CUT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16635, 18 January 1922, Page 6

The Star. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1922. MAKING THE CUT.

+ The proposals which Mr Massey ruado to the House last night are not particularly drastic, but if they achieve a saving of £2,*200,000 they will accomplish something worth while. It mav be explained that Public: Servants received two distinct increases, the first of £45, and the second (in 1920) of £SO. making a total of £95 in all. The retrenchment proposal in the meantime is confined to the second which is to be the subject of three cuts spread over a period of six months. The first bonus of £45 is to bo left intact, but the Government reserves the right to reduce it if the exigencies of the financial situation demand such action. While the reduction will not be welcomed in the Public. Service—and not many people care to part with sums approximating £1 per week out of their salaries—there will be a feeling that gome such action was inevitable. The 1 cost of the Public Service, according to Mr Massey, has risen to the enormous aura of £28.000,000, and the country simply cannot stand that strain on its resources. Tho only alternative to a general and more or less pro rata reduction was wholesale dismissals, which would cause hardship and cause disorganisation and inefficiency. Mr Massey’s estimates of his savings may bo rather roseate. Ho claims that with the savings already made tho cut will bring the amount to more than four millions. That is a start, certainly. but it is a long way from the end if anything like normal expenditure on public services is to he reached It is evident that the time has arrived when the Departments should he critically overhauled, with a view of placing them on a proper footing in regard to staffing. It will be a big and difficult undertaking, but it cannot bo avoided if tangible and substantial reforms and economies are to bo effected. It is perhaps only a coincidence that along with the introduction of tho Retrenchment Bill in the House there was an announcement that the railways are losing £4OOO per day, -and that the Government is taking another “ cut ” into serious consideration. Tho position of the railways is not at all flatter, ing to the Government, which has shown itself quite incapable of dealing properly with this Department. There is something fundamentally wrong when a railway syetem which has a monopoly of business cannot pay expenses, and it is the duty of tho Government to find out what that is. The Government has tried two schemes in order to put the balance on the right side—it increased feres and freights and reduced the number of trains. These have failed, not at all to the surprise of people who know the Department’s methods. What is wanted is a fundamental change in the system of management. The railways should bo used to the fullest of their capacity, and their officials should both seek and create business There should be a recognition that the motor car and motor lorry are powerful competitors with the railways, and that passengers and isroduce which should bo carried on the country’s railways aro being brought into the city hv the new method of transportation. The Government will find poor satisfaction in taking two millions from the salaries of the Public Servants if it is going to lose nearly on© and a halfetmillion on the railways. #