MEMBERS’ SALARIES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 309, 27 November 1933, Page 6

MEMBERS’ SALARIES.

A BONUS URGED. THE EXTRA SESSION. WELLINGTON, Nov. 27. Several members of Parliament, it is reported, .are considering urging upon the Government that they should be paid a bonus in addition to their salary tor the current year. This year, as in 1931, they have had to attend two sessions ; and there is every prospect that two sessions will be necessary, again in 1934. They claim that these special sittings have imposed an additional financial burden on them, while at the same time their salaries have been reduced in the past two years by two successive 10 per cent, cuts to £365. Members realise that public opinion would be against any permanent increase in this amount until the wage reductions imposed on Civil Servants and others had been restored, but they feel they are entitled to some special aid in view of the long sittings in Wellington which have been necessitated during the past two years on account of the country’s emergency. The movement has not yet spread among members generally, and it is difficult to say how it would be received. Since 1929 members of the House of Representatives have suffered two reductions in their salaries, each of 10 per cent. For many years before 1920 they were paid £3OO a year. In that j-ear the amount was increased to £SOO, but it was reduced by 10 per cent, in 1922, by another 10 per cent, in 1932, and a third 10 per cent, last year, making in the aggregate a reduction of £135. OTHER PARLIAMENTS.

Members of the New Zealand Legislature are among the Lowest paid Parliamentarians in the British Empire. They receive lower salaries than members of all the Australian State Parliaments with the exception of South Australia and Tasmania. Members of the Lower House in New South Wales receive £706 a year, in Victoria £402 a year, in Queensland £SOO a year, and in 'West Australia £4BO a year. Members of the Australian Federal Parliament have recently raised a storm of protest by increasing their salaries from £BOO to £875 a year, and the public reception given to this move, if nothing else, is likely to deter members of the New Zealand Parliament from voting themselves any similar increase, however much they may consider they deserve it. A bonus in view of special circumstances is a somewhat different matter, however, and it is possible that the Government may be persuaded to take action in this direction before the end of the present session.

REPORT DENIED. INDIGNATION AMONG MEMBERS. (By Telegraph.—Special to Standard). ■WELLINGTON, Nov. 27. Indignation prevails among members of Parliament at the statement that they are urging the Government to present them with a sessional bonus of £IOO. It was pointed out a month ago, when the Australian Commonwealth Parliament gaVe itself an increase in salary, that, while members of the New Zealand House received low honoraria and some of them believed they were underpaid, none would suggest an increase in salary until the cuts imposed on the Civil Service and all other workers were restored. That situation has not changed. “It is not only untrue, it is grossly unfair,” said a senior member of the Coalition. “Noire of us have ever heard anything about it and it is easy to see that the originator is not in touch with the feeling of members. That is not to say w'e could not do with it, but to vote ourselves an increase while we have reduced the pay of the Civil Service and other workers by 20 to 25 per cent, would be dishonest.”