MEMBERS’ SALARIES

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVII, Issue 241, 8 September 1927, Page 6

MEMBERS’ SALARIES

MOVEMENT FOR A RISE. GOVERNMENT BEING APPROACHED.' (By Telegraph.—Special to Standard.) WELLINGTON, Sept. 7. An organised and fairly widespread movement is on foot among members or the House of Representatives to induce the Government to consider the question of increasing their Parliamentary honorarium. Nominally it is £SOO per annum, but when cuts were made in the public service salaries during the former depression the House accepted the same fate for itself and salaries went down to £450. However, this is considered to be too small in view of the fact generally admitted that a member of Parliament can find no time effectively to earn an income from any other source, his full energies being usually spent in public business. Living expenses in Wellington are heavy, and during .this winter the calls on members for private help where constituents have been out of employment have meant in most cases a heavy drain on the slender resources. The question was raised privately with the Government last session, a deputation of members consulting the Premier regarding the position. No developments followed, and an effort is being made to bring the matter to a head before this session ends. A committee ha 3 been set up to consider the proposals which will be placed before tho Prime Minister. The Tasmanian Parliament’s decision to raise members’ salaries in the Lower House from £3OO to £375 where a member resides near the capital or up to £SOO for representatives of distant constituencies has stimulated the movement. Compared with the majority of Australian Parliaments the New Zealand elective members are certainly badly off. The Commonwealth Lower House members receive £IOOO annually, those in New South Wales £875, Victoria and Queensland £SOO, South and West Australian £4OO.

Though it would be an exaggeration to say that a large majority of members are at present actively interested in an immediate salary increase, many who keep aloof are of the opinion that the matter will be discussed at the next general election.