The Waikato Times..

Waikato Times, Volume XIV, Issue 1198, 2 March 1880, Page 2

The Waikato Times..

Lqiici! Jiid exact justice to j.ll men, Of whatcser s>t.itu or persuasion, religious or political. Here shall the Press the People's right nj.iiutain, Un.iwcd by influence .md unbribed by jjaiii.

TUESDAY, MARCH ;?.

From time to time in New Zealand, various Ministries have attained office on the promise of extensive retrenchment in the public expenditure of the colony. The two most notable instances, perhaps, are those of Mr Stafford and Sir George Grey, each of whom distinctly asserted his desire, and what is more important, his capacity, to reduce the expenditure of the country to somewhat the same proportion as its income. Neither, however, carried out the promised reform. It is probably news to most of our readers that a system has prevailed among Colonial Trea-

surers for the last ten year.s, o£ meeting an almost rogularly recurring annual deficiency by the issue of Treasury Bills. Generally, the deficit has been something within reasonable bounds, not exceeding in any one year more than £150,000. The climax, however, was reached during the Grey administration, when fully £600,000 of a deficiency remained to be met in that undesirable manner. These Treasury Bills simply, in our opinion, represent the inability of successive Treasurers to grapple witli the question of retrenchment. There are so many vested interests injured, so many hostilities evoked, so many bitter feuds created by the dismissal of surplus employes, and the abolition of unnecessary offices, that the attempt to retrench has invariably hitherto ended in the makeshift resource of the inevitable Treasury Bill. It is so easy to give a bill ; it is so hard to dismiss a friend : and thus it had come to be admitted on all hands that no Government but one exceptionally strong had any chance of success in the desired direction of a retrenchment budget. But from the moment that the present Treasurer assumed the control of the finances, he has not hesitated to put into practice the theories which others have only preached. He left the Treasury in 1878 with a credit of over £130,000 ; he returns and finds it minus over £600,000. With a majority numerically weak he has braved adverse prognostications and hostile critics, and has demonstrated the possibility of making sweeping reductions in the overgrown Civil Service of New Zealand. We are confident that the close of the financial year will see our annual expenditure decreased by the respectable sum of £300,000, at least. The figures furnished from Wellington are not as accurate as they might be, and therefore we are not able to accurately criticise the comparative statements. For instance, the saving stated by the figures before us to have been made in the item t% postal and telegraphic" on the estimates for the nine months would seem to be about £130,000, which can hardly be the case ; but enough at all events has transpired to show conclusively that the promises made by the present Ministry to their supporters, and the country in reference to retrenchment are being boldly and faithfully carried out. With the rise in wool and the rapidly increasing importation of capital intended for bonajide investment and improvement of the country, the revenue will, we feel sure, rapidly increase ; and we cannot but congratulate the country that we have gone half way to welcome returning prosperity by the sweeping reductions whicli we ai'e now effecting in our expenses. We hail the figures before us as the harbingers of an era of retrenchment and economy, which will ultimately regenerate the shattered finances of New Zealand.

In answer to a letter from the Secretary of the Cambridge Farmers Club, forwarding the resolutions passed at the late meeting of the Club on the subject of pleuropneumonia, and urging the Government to take immediate action thereon, the following extraordinary note has been received from the private secretary to the AttorneyGeneral, and handed to us for publication :—: —

Auckland, 2oth February. Sir, — I am directed by the AttorneyGeneral to acknowledge the receipt of your letter in reference to the existence of pleuro-pneumonia. The subject is receiving the careful consideration of the Government, of the Cattle Board, and the Agricultural Association, and you may rest assured that the most stringent steps will be taken as soon as the existence of the disease is authenticated. As to the weight of authority on the subject, at present it is against its existence : Mr Kinloch affirms that it does not exist ; but the cattle inspector, Mr Rust, and the two veterinary surgeons, Naden and Halstead, all declare that another disease is mistaken for pleuro-pneumonia, and that the latter does not exist here at present. — I have, &c, il. Jackson, "Private Secretary. While it will afford the greatest satisfaction to the members of the Club and the settlers generally to know the Government, the Cattle Board, and the Agricultural Society are giving the matter their " careful consideration," it will surprise them not a little to find that Mr Naden, who of all men was so positive that the disease had broken out in this Provincial District, had changed his views, and is now found declaring that he lias all along been mistaken in supposing it to be pleuro, and that it is something else. Fortunately, we have later information on t\w subject, which goes to prow that Mr Naden is more convinced than over that pleuro has broken out, for reasons with which our readers are by this time well acquainted. Surely the Hon. the Attorney-General is better informed than the letter of his private secretary would lead us to believe, and the only charitable conclusion to arrive at is that it was written in the Minister's absence, by somaone who was entirely ignorant of the matter, and who failed to catch the instructions of his auperior. Believing this we shall refrain from being unduly severe, though we would recommend the Cambridge Club to remonstrate with the Government upon the cavalier manner in which its representations have been treated.

Chaos reigns supreme in the Hamilton Borough Council, and what will be the upshot of the extraordinary

step taken by Captain Dawson, the late Mayor, and Councillors dimming, McDonald, ami Knox, we should be soriy to attempt to predict. Public opinion is decidedly against them in the matter of their resignations, and we cannot help thinking that these gentlemen must themselves see now, that their conduct has, to say the least, been characterised by undue haste, It is difficult to see how East Hamilton is to be benen'tted ', it is surely better to have four councillors on that side than only one, as is now the case. Moreover, it is not for any councillor, to set himself against the decision of the burgesses; the burgesses exercised their rights at the late election, and their choice fell on Mr Price. Mr Price may be a good man or a bad man —it matters not —he is the people's choice, and as such he should be welcomed by the members of the Council. Looked at from every point of view, the action of the late Mayor and Messrs. Cumming, McDonald, and Knox, is to c regretted,