THE M.'S. P. £400.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLII, Issue 1734, 9 February 1921, Page 2

THE M.'S. P. £4OO.

LIBERAL WHO LIVES ON HIS SALARY. Mr C. F. White, the Liberal member for West Derbyshire, confessed to an astonished House of Commons that he is able to live on £4OO a year. "I am, perhaps, the only member of the House who lives on his salary," was his statement during a delicate discussion on the question of the salaries and travelling and other expenses paid to members, "I did not come to Parliament to make money," he said. "I have always been a poor man. I started work at the age of 10 at a shilling a week. I have always lived in a cottage and have no social aspirations. I have never asked for an increase of salary, and I do not write for the Press for pay, although I have written thousands of columns for nothing. The House, hardly knowing whether to be amused or scandalised, sat up and took notice. There was more to come.

"I have had no pension from the Government," Mr White continued, "and I have never held a dual office as member of Parliament and any other position under the Government, I have never been in the Army, Navy, or Civil Service. I wrote up the first ration scheme which became operative in this country. Unlike many members of Parliament, I made nothing out of the war.' Something 1 like a shudder went round the House, but Mr White continued mercilessly: "I worked for- two or three years at 3Gs a week with no other income whatever. I seldom intervene in debate, and never unless I know what I am talking- about. I have only £4OO a year, and 1 am not subsidised and am not in business.'