Do Politics Pay.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume I, Issue 5, 18 June 1887, Page 3

Do Politics Pay.

The oft pronounded question, “ are politics profitable ?” is being again advanced (says an English paper) apropos of a proposal to grant to Lord Cross, when he retires from the Secretariat of India, a pension of £2OOO per annum. It has been pointed out that, as far as Lord Cress is concerned, politics are unquestionably profitable, for during his political career he has received no less than £35,838, with a prospect of £5OOO per annum as long as the present Ministry remain in office, and a pension of £2OOO for the remainder of his life. . In addition to the monetary rewards, he has a Grand Cross of the Bath and peerage. Mr Childers is cited as another example of a politician who has derived substantial profit from his profession. His Ministerial allowances total up to £52,000, and his political pension of £2OOO £7OO or £BOO of which, by the way, coui. .3 out of the pockets of the Victorian taxpayer —brings his receipts from all political sources c >»e up to £70,000. Mr Shaw Lefevre pocketed altogether £21,000 in Ministerial salaries, and he has a solatium of £l2OO a year until something better turns up. Vis. count Cranbrook has received for fulfilling t.,e duties oi member for various adminjg. wations over £43,000 and a peerage, and jf t Gladstone’s debit is close up to £loo,Oqq, while Lord Salisbury's is about £42,000. of course, there are many of the rank and m e who have not dipped quite so deeply into the public purse, but enough has been written to prove tnat, in some oases at all ev e nts politics pay remarkably well.