A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 153, 25 March 1937, Page 9

A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Cabinet Salaries It is understood that a Bill will be introduced in the House of Commons providing that the Prime Minister's salary be increased to £lO,OOO a. year and those of other members of Cabinet to £5OOO, with retiring pensions after a specified term. An innovation will be a salary of £2OOO for the Leader of the Opposition. The Prime Minister, as such, gets no salary. But he always takes some other office, usually First Lord of the Treasury, for which the salary Is £5OOO. This sum has been paid since 1600. It is recorded that William Pitt drew £10,532 —£5000 as First Lord of the Treasury, £2452 as Chancellor of the Exchequer, ami £3OBO as Warden of the Cinque Ports.

A report presented to the House of Commons in December, 1920, recommended that the Prime Minister’s salary be increased from £5OOO to £BOOO a year; that all members of the Cabinet should be paid £5OOO a year; and that, the various offices should be graded in four classes, with salaries ranging from £5OOO to £l5OO. Lord Oxford and Asquith (then Mr. H. H. Asquith) giving evidence before the Select Committee of the House, said : “The Lord Chancellor is the only Minister —and people do not realise this — who gets a pension. There are special eases for others, but no Minister has any title to a pension except the Lord Chancellor. I confess I think the Prime Minister is underpaid. I was in office continuously for eleven years—nearly nine years as Prime Minister—but I was much poorer when I left office than when I entered.” “The office of Prime Minister, if it is to be properly discharged cannot, I think, be discharged, unless a man has private means of his own, on a salary of £5OOO. I think his salary ought to be raised. . . . As to the rest, I see no reason why, in regard to those who are considered to be entitled by public services, or on whatever other ground, to sit in the inner circle of the Cabinet, there should be any discrimination whatsoever in point of salary.” Mr. Asquith expressed himself as opposed to 'pensions for ex-Ministers. Cabinet Offices.

In his evidence before the Select Committee, Lord Oxford and Asquith said he would make the Cabinet smaller. “There are one or two offices, even among the old offices—and I am not now speaking of any of these new creations —which I think might very easily be omitted normally from what is called Cabinet status. In order to make my meaning clear, I ought to say that certain offices have always had the status of Cabinet offices which are really sinecures. The Office of Lord President of the Council is very nearly, though not quite, a sinecure. The Lord Privy Seal is an absolute sinecure. The Chancellorship of the Duchy of Lancaster is to all intents and purposes a sinecure; you could perform all the duties attaching to the Chancellorship of the Duchy in three hours a week—he used to be called the maid-of-all-work in the Cabinet; he has no departmental or administrative duties of his own which take up any time. In my time —and it was a growing practice—the offices both of the Lord President of the Council and Lord Privy Seal were commonly held with another Cabinet office, with the result that their salaries were saved.

“The Lord Privy -Seal I do not think has been paid a salary within my reeoh lection, but perhaps he has a salary now. [He now gets £2000.] It was an office always held with some other office, or held gratuitously. The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster undoubtedly was paid a salary of £2OOO a year, but I see no reason w'hy he should be a member of the Cabinet at all. I think anybody who is a member of the Cabinet ought to receive the same remuneration as any other member of the Cabinet so long as he is one of them; that is my view.” In Lord Oxford and Asquith’s opinion the differences in salary of Cabinet Ministers tended to create in the minds of people and of Ministers themselves, differences in grade and estimation of those holding the offices. The Blue Riband.

After a two months’ overhaul the Normandie has done the passage of the Atlantic from Ambrose Light to Bishop Rock in the Scilly Isles, off the coast of Cornwall, the official course for the Atlantic Blue Riband of 2978 miles, in 4 days 6 minutes 23 seconds, averaging 30.99 knots. On her maiden run from Southampton to New York, the Normandie set a then new record for the westward crossing of 4 days 11 hours 22 minutes, easily beating the Bremen’s best time of 4 days 16 hours 43 minutes made in November, 1932. On her return trip she made the run from Ambrose Light to Bishop Rock in 4 days 3 hours 2S seconds, at an average of 30.31 knots. She was the first ship to average over 30 knots across the Atlantic. There is a trophy for the Blue Riband of the Atlantic. It was presented by Mr. *H. K. Hales, M.P., of England. It is of sterling silver, heavily gilt, and weighs between 400 oz. and 500 oz. The total height, including an onyx plinth, is 3Jft. It has two figures surmounting a globe, the uppermost figure being symbolic of speed overcoming the force of the Atlantic and urging forward a modern liner. The Atlantic ocean is shown in pale-blue enamel and the liner-route is indicated by a red line, also in enamel. The four winds arc symbolised by four sailing ships. An international committee has been formed to act as trustees for the trophy. It is to be held by the steamship holding the highest average speed across the Atlantic. Making the World Safe.

It is understood that Herr Hitler proposes to substitute a FrancoGerman non-aggression pact for the League of Nations principle of mutual assistance. The French Press unanimously condemn the proposals. Out of the welter of the Great War, in the feverish desire of the nations for peace, came a number of important treaties. They emerged after June 28,1919, wheu the Treaty of Versailles was signed by the Allied Powers and Germany. Since then all those treaties have been broken with no more opposition than “diplomatic Notes.” In the last five years the following major treaties originally signed with solemnity and in good faith by the nations concerned, have been broken. The Kellogg Pact, by Japan in 1931, and by Italy in 1935; the Nine-Power China Treaty, by Japan in 1931; the League of Nations Covenant, by Japan in 1931 and by Italy in 1935; the Versailles Treaty, by all the signatories; the Washington and London Naval Treaties, by Japan in 1935; the Locarno Pact, by Germany in 1936. Breaking their word is in fashion among the world’s great nations.