| | | The Chancellor of the Exchequer remarked, not long ago, | that the Administration and the House of Commons | seemed to have changed places. Formerly it was | considered to be the constitutional duty of Parliament to | scrutinize every vote, to cut down excessive expenditure, | and to restrain the tendency which was assumed to be | inherent in all Governments to squander the national | resources. of late, however, we have seen repeated | instances of the House of Commons urging upon Ministers | a greater measure of liberality in the conduct of | Government than the advisers of the Crown have thought | expedient. There is certainly something rather anomalous | in the spectacle of the guardians of the public purse | pressing upon a reluctant Administration votes of money in | excess of their demands. But there is a reason for this as | for most other anomalies, which the Chancellor of the | Exchequer might, without any great stretch of sagacity, | have divined. The change which causes him so much | astonishment has been on the side of the Government, | and not of the House. We are, with the return of peace, | passing from a period of extravagance to one of economy; | and to do them justice, Ministers seem to have sufficiently | appreciated the duty of retrenchment. The idea has, in fact, | become an absolute mania with them. Not content with | legitimate reductions, they have shown a disposition to a | petty and ungenerous parsimony, which has in many | instances inflicted grievous hardships on faithful public | servants, and which has, not unnaturally, excited | considerable indignation in the House of Commons. | Parliament is not enamoured of excessive taxes, and we | have no fear that it will forget the duty of judicious | economy; but we are happy to see that it has the wisdom | to disapprove of the false economy which would impair the | efficiency of the public service by paltry savings at the | expense of Government employes. | There is no doubt that liberality to public servants is the | truest economy. Ministers seem to have lost sight of this | principle, and to be possessed by the single idea that | extravagant government in time of war must be balanced | by shabby government in time of peace. While our troops | remained in the face of the enemy, no expense was | thought too great which could in any way contribute to their | comfort. After the first dreadful winter, money was lavished | with ungrudging hands. Some of it really increased the | efficiency of the army, and mitigated the hardships of war, | and so far it was an expenditure of which | everyone must approve. But if the matter | were thoroughly investigated, we should probably find that | a considerable portion of the expense during the latter part | of the campaign was of the most reckless and | unproductive kind. Even of this, however, we are not | disposed to make much complaint, for, apart from any | material benefit conferred, the open-handed liberality of the | country had its value as an expression of the feeling which | was universally entertained for our gallant soldiers. But | their efforts had no sooner been crowned by victory and | peace, than the whole system was suddenly and harshly | changed. The field allowance of the men was stopped | before they had left the enemy’s country; and in the | necessary reduction of the number of officers on active | service, not the slightest consideration was shown for the | loss and disappointment of men who had faced the | dangers and privations of an unexampled campaign. | Those who had been compelled by official regulations to | furnish themselves with horses for the public service, were | now forced to dispose of them at such ridiculous prices as | could be got at the camp, without either the offer of | compensation or the opportunity of transporting the | animals to England. In every petty detail, to save a few | pounds seems to have been thought of more importance | than to act with justice and liberality to the army which, a | short time before, had been loaded with favours. | The unfortunate affray at Nenagh appears to have resulted | from the same parsimonious spirit in the Government. We | are promised an inquiry into the circumstances which led to | the mutiny, and it is of course possible that the result may | in some degree alter the complexion of the affair. There is, | however, no doubt that the men were under the impression | that a considerable balance of their bounty was | immediately payable to them, and that they were in strict | right entitle to retain the clothing which had been issued in | the course of the present year. Probably they were wrong, | and we dare say it will be triumphantly proved that the | Government fulfilled the letter of their contract by offering | instalments of 5 s. a quarter, and dismissing the men in | their last year’s rags. But, assuming all this in favour of the | authorities, could anything be more inconceivably shabby | than to scatter the troops whom we had collected with so | much effort in our time of difficulty, without decent clothing | on their backs, or the means of supporting themselves until | they could return to the employments which they had left at | the call of the recruiting sergeant? | We do not wish to press lower considerations, but it is | obvious that there can be no more ruinous policy than to | excite disgust at military service, for the sake of saving a | few suits of regimentals, and a few pounds of bounty. War | may return any day, and we shall then have to pay ten | times over for the savings which have been effected by our | present meanness. Recruits, if they join at all, will | remember Nenagh, and will demand a proportionate | increase of bounty. Meanwhile, the patriotism which the | war had fostered is chilled and dissipated by the ingratitude | of our retrenchment policy. This is the economy of shabby | government. Setting aside for the moment all thought of | generosity, and looking only to the L. s. d. aspect of the | matter, we believe that the House of Commons never did | its duty more faithfully to the tax-paying public than in the | protests which it has uttered from time to time against the | costly stinginess of the Administration since the signature | of the treaty of peace. It would have been well if Ministers | had paid more heed to the remonstrances with which they | have been assailed. | Before we quit the subject, we must advert to another | specimen of illiberality which reached its climax in the | present week. We refer to the long-standing grievance of | the civil servants of the Crown. For more than twenty years, | they have been subjected to a superannuation tax which is | at length admitted on all hands to be impolitic, if not unjust. | Early in the Session, the Chancellor of the Exchequer | introduced a Bill to improve the scale of pensions of | Government Clerks, without, however, remitting the tax. | Even on the increased scale, the calculated value of a | pension was not nearly equal to the tax imposed; and, to | the extent of the difference, the clerks, who had entered | the service with the idea that they were to get back in | another shape the amount of the deductions from their pay, | were the victims of a cheat. So strongly was this felt, that | the Bill was sent to a Select Committee for revision in this | sense. The result was to make the measure worse than | before. By the Bill, as amended, the scale of | superannuation is reduced, and though it is proposed to | discontinue the reductions in future, the boon is to be | neutralized by a corresponding revision of salaries. The | effect will be best understood by an example. Under the | present law, a clerk with a salary of 200 l. is compelled to | submit to an annual deduction of 10 l. in return for which he | gets the chance of a pension which might be bought in an | assurance office for some two or three pounds a-year. He | has been entreating the authorities for the last ten years to | redress this injustice. He has appealed to their liberality to | grant the pension as a fair reward for service, without | continuing to tax him for the purpose. Should that be | refused, he has a right to demand, as a matter of strict | justice, that the deduction from his salary should not | exceed in value the pension to which he may become | entitle. But the Bill now before Parliament offers the veriest | mockery of relief. Pensions are to be granted on a scale | which is not materially different from that now in force. The | 10 l. deduction is to cease, but the 200 l. salary is to be | revised with due regard to the deduction remitted. In other | words, instead of a salary of 200 l. subject to a tax of 10 l. | the lucky clerk is in future to have a salary of 190 l. | absolutely free from all deduction whatsoever. We hope | the 10,000 servants of the Government who have | petitioned for relief will appreciate the generosity with | which it has been proposed to meet their claims. | We might multiply examples of official parsimony to any | extent. One uniform system prevails in every department. | The military and the civil service, the line and the militia, | officers and men, and, to a still greater extent, the | contractors who have executed the works which the war | rendered necessary, have one and all been made the | victims of a shabby system of government, which is as | injurious to the public interests as it is unfair to the | individual sufferers.