MEMBERS' SALARIES

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 117, 13 November 1929, Page 6

MEMBERS' SALARIES

. A correspondent (J. B. Kogers) writes in defence of the £100 allowance to mem- *? °f,,l arliament- The correspondent states: Surely there must be something wrong with the intelligence of the electors of New Zealand if they have chosen 80 men, to manage a business, with a turnover of scores of millions of pounds if they are not capable of earning £11 per week._ Quite a large number of business men m Wellington of no very extraordinary intelligence are earning sums very much in excess of this amount, and here :Wif-v* , men' chosen for their executive ability, clarity of vision, and eloquence. We now discover a small minority squealing because these men have taken the munificent sum of £11 per week, and quite a large proportion of them have two homes to keep during the sessions of the ■Uouse The correspondent criticises :~ie action of those members who opposed the allowance.

Another correspondent, "£3 19s 6d per Weeb, takes an opposite view The writer says: "The persistent support given to the United Party by the members of the Labour Party has at last met with its reward v the shape of a salary increase," says the writer "As a Labour supporter J. have watched the manner in which the Labour members have supported the Government (especially during the primage duty increase), and wondered how these representatives allowed these hardships to be imposed, on the working classes. Mr. Holland took no pains to ascertain how the extra money wan to be obtained to meet this increase, and his capital levy was not so prominent as it was during his appeal for the Civil Service increase. Had that gentleman's method (in that case) of getting the extra money taken the form ot an extra duty on American cars or a tax on luxuries, there is little doubt but what he would have obtained the full support of the Reform Party, in which ?ase the Government would have been defeated, and Mr. Holland's position as 'ung Maker would have been lost, to the •treat consternation of the Labour Party. flowever, these members will now have 'o manage on a paltry ten guineas a week, •nd their side lines. But what of ths C 3 19s 6d per week casual Government mployee "