MEMBERS' PERQUISITES.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 9836, 20 September 1897, Page 4

MEMBERS' PERQUISITES.

Ix is related of an American Senator that he once said, " Do not speak to mo of the salary a Senator gets, what are the perks ?" And though we have payment of members there are outside allowances that members of the " right colour" at all events receive. Wβ have before alluded to the fact that members, when they need a holiday, are appointed to a Koy&i Commission and peregrinate through the colony at tbo Treasury's expense. Others are rewarded by being appointed to Land Boards and to other petty appointments which give these recipients of Government patronage some small fees. There ia a goodly number of members of the Legislature that get perquisites. Nor are these rewards confined to the member himself. His family comes in for favours graciously dispensed by a " Spoils to Viotors " Ministry. We should like to see a list of the relatives of members who have been appointed to positions in the Civil Service. Ministers, we know, have appointed their relatives. The Hon. John M'Kenzie and Mr. Seddon have both been forward in dispensing to their relatives offices at a good rate of pay. And what they have lavishly bestowed on their own relatives they havo given to their servile followers. Wβ do not know all who have received such favours, but we believe the following are a few among many who have been thus honoured : — Messre Tanner, FrSHEB, PINKERTOiV, &C, &O. The list is a long one. We do not object to the relatives of Ministers or members being appointed to the Civil Service. It should be no disability to a candidate that he has a relative whom the people have delighted to honour, but it should, on the other hand, be no qualification. All citizens should be equal in the eye of the law. That is true equality. Afc present, however, there is great inequality. Candidates are selected not on their own merits, bub because iheii: father, brother or uncle is prepared to vote for the Ministry. Is this right or just ? Persons have been appointed to the Civil Service to the exclusion of those who had won a position by competition simply because their relatives were of the right colour. This is where the injustice comes in. We hear a good deal about." equality " and about Socialism. What kind of " equality " is there when it has become the perquisite of a member of the right colour to get his relations placed in Government offices over the heads o£ candidates who are by law entitled to the position ? If our members are insufficiently paid by giving them £20 a month and a free railway pass and travelling expenses to and from Parliament, it would be better to increase their allowances than to allow this illegal kind of perquisite that is now being conferred on members of the " right colour." Wo need not point out that it is a so-called " liberal " administration that has been guilty of this political corruption, It remains to be seen what, those who prated so much about equality and equal rights have to say to this perquisite system.