SHARP DEBATE IN HOUSE

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24744, 8 December 1945, Page 6

SHARP DEBATE IN HOUSE

EXPENSES OF COUNTRY AND TOWN MEMBERS

EFFECTS OF ELECTORAL CHANGES DISCUSSED (Prom Our Parliamentary Reporter.) K u WELLINGTON, December 7. A sharp difference of opinion in the House of Representatives this morning on the payment of the same expense allowance to town and country members was resolved by the promise of the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon P. Fraser) that he would look into the matter. The argument arose early in the morning, when several Opposition members said they would not have agreed to the payment of the allowance if they had known that the size of urban electorates was to be reduced and,that of rural electorates increased.

Mr W. Sullivan (Opposition, Bay of, Plenty) said that under the revision l of electorates rural electorates.would become one-third larger. Urban ones would become smaller, and there was no justification for the maintenance of expenses on the present flat basis. He would vote against the clause. Mr E. B. Corbett (Opposition, Egmont) said that there was no justification under the present set-up for continuing the present basis of allowsnces. It would be absolutely impossible for members in the newly-drawn rural electorates to carry out their duties on the present allowances. Town members received £250 allowance, and that was more than they were entitled to. The alteration of the basis of representation must have been under consideration when the change in remuneration was voted for,, end that was wrong. The Rt. Hon. P. Fraser said that it was a new phenomenon in the House for a member to be objecting to an arrangement which had been agreed upon between both parties. • Such action should be treated with the respect or lack of respect it deserved. The matter htd been the subject of an agreement between both parties, and he had never known the Leader of the Opposition t 0 g 0 Dac k on h {<. Wor( j Mr Fraser said that he had always been one of those who believed that the allowance should vary according to the demands for travel made upon the member within his electorate and he was prepared to look into' that pi oblem. However, an agreement had been made, r-nd it was something outside his expanence for members to go back on such an agreement. Mr W. Sullivan: But you changed the basis of the electorates -' Mr Fraser said that he was quite willing to leave the question of memb«s allowances t0 the open .vote of the House. He was prepared to consider the matter during the coming yf."-. but he was not prepared to* night to vote against what the House had agreed upon. Mr Corbett: You changed the basis ?h 1 agre f? ent when y° u changed

Mr W. Sullivan: You changed the set-up, and you know it The Leader of the Opposition (Mr S. G. Holland) said he had given his pledge in the matter, and he stood by it Members gave their unanimous support at the time, but the electoral law ha"d been changed since, and it was not right for the Prime Minister t°, question Ihe Political integrity of Mr W. Sullivan and Mr Corbett, who had merely said that if the boundaries were changed the basis of the allowances must be revised. Mr Fraser said that the matter could be reviewed if the boundaries were altered.

Mr W. A. Bodkin (Opposition. Centl«al^9iPSo). said that th e honorarium of £SOO. with £250 expenses, was the irreducible minimum for widespread electorates.