PARLIAMENTARY BENEFICIARIES. Purses for Politicians.

Free Lance, Volume II, Issue 79, 4 January 1902, Page 8

PARLIAMENTARY BENEFICIARIES. Purses for Politicians.

SOME are born great, some achieve gieatness and some have gieahiess thrust upon them The same observation might apply to some people m their relation to sovereigns Mr. A L D Fraser. M H.R for Napier, is an example of a man on whom the people wished to thiust sovereigns Probably, the action of his constituents \ws then kind way of showing that at least he was w.orth £300 a year, and as much more as they could scrape together among themselves They desired to offei him a gratuity of sovereigns in a purse "as a =-mall token, etc and to then surprise perhaps because it was unprecedented, he intimated that if such gratuity was offered he would refuse it. * • He had achieved nothing, in his opinion, that entitles him to gratuities and he thought that anMHE was paid well enough for what he did without extra contributions from constitutents Nobody would have blamed Mr Fraser for taking a present his constituents believed he deseived, but all will commend the excellent principle which prompted him t) refuse it Other people, even Ms H R aie not to be blamed because they have clutched the soveleigns when opportunity offered, biit this apparently, was Mr Frasers chance to demonstiate a principle laid down by him in Nov mbei of last year * • * He voted against the increase of members salaries at that time He ' objected to gentlemen who might be membeis after next election having money forced on them they might not want The sixty pounds extra "appropriation' was forced upon men who might have conscientious scruples about accepting it. and. of course, the said scruples will cause many members to pay back by stealth the extra £60 into the State coffers But there are probably very few men who would have stuck to the principle Mr Fraser laid down to the extent of refusing a nice little sum in glistening gold offei cd. more or less, by constituents who might, or might not be the best judges of a member's a, alue to them m hard cash * * * Imitation is the smcerest flattery, and it is hoped that Mr. Fraser will have a host of followers Supposing that at any time in the future there should unexpectedly creep into Parliament men who were, as someone lecently put it, "on the make If such a thing were even remotely possible what is to prevent those gentlemen from dropping hints that a puise of sovereigns, 01 any little gratuity of that kind, would spur on the Parliamentary recipient to greater efforts If such a rara avis as a politician who preferred cash to conscience did happen to get into the House, what possibilities in the way of unearned increment the position might hold out to him * * • People aie very like sheep they iollow the lead of the bell wether A members friend, with a list headed with a good bold promise for £5 could be sure of a substantial purse by the time he had got round to the last constituent People who subscribe money to charities frequently do not care an iota about the charity, but they do care a great deal about the fact that John Brown, who is only getting £150 a year, attaches his signature to a subscription, list for £1, and that they, whose income is £500 are compelled to beat him or

be for ever disgraced. In this connection, we believe it is unnecessary to make Ms HB, recipients of charity # * • A list, crammed with the names of prominent persons, promising to pay a certain sum of money, is not always indicative of their feelings towaids the object of charity. Any j)ersoii who has been in charge of a petition, for instance, knows that Brown, the baker, signs it because Smith, the miller, who is a 'cute man signed on the line above. Mr. Fraser may have had an inkling that the mob had followed the bell wether. • • • He has demonstrated the fact that he is. at least, more consistent than several other New Zealand politicians If Mr. Fraser is a faddist, he has struck a useful fad. We would like to see the epidemic spread. Politicians who sink self are not numerous to any dangerous extent, and if the gentlemen of the House commence assessing themselves on a like estimate with Mr Fraser, soon the popular Chamber will becom ■ a school in humility that is bound to raise the tone of politics and lower the colonial debt