ESTABLISHED 1866. The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 1912. THE HONORARIUM.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVI, Issue 195, 17 August 1912, Page 4

ESTABLISHED 1866. The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 1912. THE HONORARIUM.

Early in the week a Wellington; paper noted the currency of a rumor s that certain Members of Parliament. have been seriously contemplating the project of increasing; the ye?rly i honorarium,,as the salary of a Mem-. ber of Parliament is grandiloquently .; entitled. It is to be hoped that if such a project was ever seriously conceived' it will be dropped once and for all; for we are perfectly certain that the proposal would be received with the utmost disfavor throughout the Dominion. It may be said that £300 a. year is not an extravagant allow- > ance for an actively industrious and intelligent Member of Parliament. That may be, so;1; but it should be amply sufficient to meet all reasonable , demands upon a Member's purse. Par- ; liament rarely sits more than five I months in the year, and excellent j board and lodging can surely be procUred in "Wellington for say two pounds a week; indeed, we believe that a large number of our Parliamentarians do npt pay more than thirty shillings a week for their accommodation.^ Twenty, or say twenty-one weeks at £2 a week comes to but £42,.which leaves the legislator £258. Subtract' the odd £58 for "extras" of one kind or another when, the session is on, and £200 per year is left. A fair allowance for the cost of running an election is £200.. Deduct this sum from the triennial honorarium and £400 is left. Surely out' of this sum of ,£4OO a Member can meet all reasonable local expenses during the triennial term? It may be said that no man can be~expected to live on £400 for the three years. That is all very well; but the country never intended a legislator simply to "live on the game," to! refrain .from all : work save the discharge of his Parliamentary •duties. :The honorarium, or salary, may not be a "living wage" when the necessary outgoings are deducted. But it Was never granted as a "living wage," but merely as an allowance out of which the legislator could defray such expenditure as he is compelled to incur by his enforced absences from* his home. ; If the principle is to be laid down that the legis-: lator is to bepaid a salary upon which he can live in decency and comfort without working at any trade or profession in Which ihemayhave been engaged prior to his entering politics, then £300 is, we may say at once, quite Inadequate. We do not admit, however, that such a principle should be accepted ias properly applying to the members of our Legislature, for jri this country at least the professional politician is not wanted. The laborer is worthy of his hire; buti the Parliamentary laborer —for five months a year^-rhas no right to assume that the country should and must pay him for seveif months* leisure as well as for five months' work. And we believe that the average legislator who, during the Parliamentary follows some trade or profession, will always make, in the long' run, a much better and more useful Member of Parliament than heI'who spends the seven months' recess in doing nothing but thinking—and talking—politics, and irelinquishes, what has been, previously tohis watchchain being ornamented with a free railway pass, his ordinary daily avocation. It is contended, we believe, that the New Zealand honorarium should be increased: ik> a level with the yearly salary or allowance which is paid to a Member of the Commonwealth and certain of ' the Australian State Parliaments. All we need say on this' point is that we believe we get, on the whole, quite as good a class.- of legislator for £300 a year as the Australians get for £500. It is i difficult; to see how the Massey Government, the members of which criticised so severely the last advance made in the honorarium, can now, with anjr consistency, vote themselves and their fellow-Members an addir tional £100 a year, as is, it is said, proposed. Further, we may say at once that we do not think they will countenance any such proposal. Later on, perhaps, if the Legislative Council Reform Bill passes, and the Council becomes an elective instead of a nominative Chamber, therey. might, be some fair ground for bringing up the Legislative Councillor's salary to the level of that drawn by a Member of the House of Representatives. But to "bumpup" the M.P's salary £100 a year, without any mandate or warrant from the country, would seriously injure the mana of the Massey Government. ' ■