MANY PARLIAMENTS

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 91, 19 April 1933, Page 9

MANY PARLIAMENTS

AUSTRALIA'S BILL

NEW ZEALAND COMPARISON.

ANNUAL LOAD or £1,158,689.

'(By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.)

WELLINGTON, this day,

Australia, with its six State Parliaments and State Governors, and the Federal Parliament and civil list at the top of theedifice, is carrying an annual load of £1,158,689 as the cost of its Parliamentary Government. To legislate for a total population of six and a half millions, the Commonwealth Parliamentary machinery requires 246 members in its Upper Legislative Houses, and 410 in the lower, a total of 065 members, while New Zealand with its population of one and a half 'millions manages with 102 members of Parliament and secures,, in the opinion of most people, more thaienough legislation for current needs. The cost of government in the Commonwealth is very closcly detailed in the official Year Book of the Commonwealth just published. The items cover the equivalent of the New Zealand civil list, the expenses of the legislative branches and 6taffs, and electoral expenditure. These can be fairly contrasted with the New Zealand situation, for they exclude the expenditure on the public services, which differ so much in the various countries because of the varying demands for State activities.

Cost per Head. On a cost per head basis the Commonwealth official survey produces the following interesting results: — 6 Commonwealth .......... 1 •> New South Wales ........ 2 0 Victoria.... 1 4 Queensland ~ » South Australia 2 10 West Australia J - Tasmania 4 0 An average over the whole group gives an expenditure for Parliamentary government (excluding cost of public services) equal to 3/7 per head of population. This large figure has been appreciably reduced of recent years, for the total was 4/5 per head in 1920, coming down to 4/4 the following year, and then dropping heavily to the point above quoted. New Zealand Figures. New Zealand's cost of government, assessed on the same basis, shows a fairly modest figure, the total being just over 2/3 per head of population. But the Dominion is satisfied with 10 Ministers, while the highly duplicated Commonwealth system requires a total of 69 Ministers whose salaries and expenses amount to £87,000 per annum. The principal features of New Zealand's cost of government bill are as follow: — Civil list £ 26,821 Parliament .' £113,420 Electoral £20,000 Total £169,241 The expenditure for electoral purposes has been averaged, so as to produce a fair comparison. It amounted to £66,000 in 1932, but in the years when there is no direct expenditure on general elections the cost comes down to approximately £10,000 per annum. The Queensland total of 2/3 per head comes nearest to that of New Zealand, but the comparison in our favour is heightened by the respective population figures, Queensland's cost being based on a total of under one million people, while the New Zealand figures are based on a population of one and a half millions.