ClIAP. IV.] 



THE EXECUTIVE. 



173 



cumscribecl area Avitbin Avhich the experiment was 

 tried. Like the miniature oak which the Chinese can 

 raise in a flower-pot, the dwarfed plant liad every cha- 

 racteristic of the great tree, except its strength and 

 sohdity. 



cies ; but requiring, at tlie present 

 day, fundamental changes to adapt it 

 to the transition through which the 

 colony is passing. 



" The gTand eiTor appears to be 

 this, — that as the business of each 

 department increased beyond its 

 strength, the difficulty was met, not 

 by simplifying the system, but by 

 adding clerk after clerk to the estab- 

 lishment, to try to grapple with the 

 details ; forgetful that tlie same ar- 

 rangement which may have been 

 found effectual at some early period 

 in conti'olling a small annual expen- 

 diture, can only lead to confusion and 

 insecurity, when applied to the 

 disbm-sement of half a million per 

 annum. 



'' Two defects in the present sys- 

 tem are so palpable as to be sufficient 

 in themselves to account in a gi-eat 

 degTee both for its imperfection and 

 expense. In the first place, all the 

 payments in the colony, from the 

 salary of the Governor to the wages 

 of a pioneer, are issued monthly, in- 

 stead of quarterly, from the Treasmy, 

 on monthly applications for the same 

 sums from the various heads of de- 

 partments sustained by monthly 

 vouchers and accounts, and autho- 

 rised by monthly wan-ants elaborately 

 prepared, and signed foniially by the 

 Governor. It is impossible to con- 

 ceive the multiplication of fonns, 

 documents, and securities, to which 

 this monthly excitement gives rise ; 

 and as eveiy instrument has to be 

 prepared in triplicate and sometimes 

 in quadruplicate, as these monthly 

 applications ascend in the same mo- 

 notonous succession to the Audit 

 Office and the Treasury through the 

 local department, the Government 

 Agent, tlie Colonial Secretary, and 

 the Governor, it is easy to imagine 



the multitude of writers and clerks 

 who become indispensable in eveiy 

 department for the mere copj-ing, 

 comparing, and recording these super- 

 fluous documents. On the occasion 

 of a visit which I made to the 

 pro\ince of Oovah, I found all the 

 clerks in the Badulla cutchery en- 

 gaged, without pause, in making 

 ei(/ht thousand copies of pay lists in 

 qiuadruplicate, in order to close the 

 road accoimts of an officer who had 

 just died. 



" As to the contingent expense of 

 the various departments, the system 

 is even more cumbrous and annoying. 

 For every one of these, even the 

 most trivial in amount, the respon- 

 sible officer must apply fonnally for 

 the previous and special authority of 

 the Governor, conveyed through the 

 Colonial Secretary. The practice has 

 now become so oppressive in the 

 quantity of details which are brought 

 under the Secretaiy's notice, tliat it 

 is absurd to require that officer to 

 devote time to such matters to the 

 prejudice of grave and important 

 business. Within the last twelve 

 montlis I have had despatches from 

 the remotest parts of the island, 

 asking pennission to expend 1-s. for a 

 gallon of oil, or 2.s. ChL for the repair 

 of a table. I have had applications, 

 requiring formal and recorded an- 

 swers, for a flat rider for the assistant 

 agent at an out-station, and for two 

 skeins of tliread to sew the records of 

 a district court ; and within the last 

 few montlis I had a correspondence, 

 extending to 1.3 despatches, in regard 

 to a pewter inkstand for a police- 

 office, which coidd not be got at the 

 Commissariat Store, and had to be 

 bought by private contract at tlie 

 bazaar." — Sir J. Emkrsox Texxext's 

 BepoH, 4'-c., p. 80. 



