The Northern Advocate SATURDAY, AUGUST 23, 1913. PENSIONS FOR M.P.'S.

Northern Advocate, 23 August 1913, Page 4

The Northern Advocate SATURDAY, AUGUST 23, 1913. PENSIONS FOR M.P.'S.

In the event of the Prime Minister carrying out the promise he made to a deputation yesterday there can be little doubt that the Bill providing for payment of pensions to " old members of Parliament " would se-

cure an easy passage through the Legislature. The majority of members of Parliament are far from being affluent, and there have been quite a number of cases in the history of New Zealand in which members have reached an advanced age, and after long public service found themselves practically without means of support These cases have always been more or less painful, and it certainly seems desirable that means should be taken to prevent their recurrence. Yet there are some aspects of this matter about which certain questions suggest themselves. The pension it is suggested should be paid after nine years' membership. Now a not inconsiderable number of men are elected to Parliament while still young, and before reaching the age of forty or forty-five have nine years to their credit. Would £150 a year be payable to these interesting gentlemen for the rest of their lives? If it would then we are bound to say that the arrangement will not be looked upon very favourably by the *tasy)ayers. A system under which the pension became payable at the age of sixty or sixty-five could be understood, but we are very much afraid it would be impossible to have much sympathy with one commencing twenty or thirty years earlier. An out-of-work member of Parliament at 40 or 50 is in no worse plight than any other citizen in similar circumstances. One objection we see to this scheme of members of the Legislature appropriating public funds in order to provide pensions for , themselves is the possible influence of such a scheme on future elections. It is quite conceivable — indeed, it is very probable—that a member who had sat for six years might, under this arrangement, provided his financial position was of a certain description, find in it a powerful instrument for securing " another chance " in order to qualify for the pension. In many constituencies the question influencing the public mind might not be political, or whether A should give place to B, but whether the electors should take the extreme course of " robbing A of his pension." Contemplated from this point of view the suggested innovation looks like giving members of Parliament an even greater vested interest in their seats than they now possess, and for that reason, we think, should be viewed askance by the community Members of Parliament are not badly treated now. The honorarium is a generous one, and the privileges by no means inconsiderable. The resources of the public purse are not altogether boundless, and the raid now proposed to be made upon it, unless the scheme is greatly modified and made to apply only when parliamentarians reach the age of retirement fixed for other individuals, seems to us without shadow of justification.