THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1891.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8663, 4 September 1891, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1891.

In a preceding article it was shown that £100 a-year would fully satisfy the conditions laid down by Sir George Grey in fixing the salary of labouring men, members of the House of Representatives, and it had been our intention, as there stated, to have proved that if such amount was enough for the least independent class in Parliament, a fortiori, it is sufficient for those who are better endowed. However, the necessity for argument upon this subject has been superseded by the decision of the House, which in this case must be final, whereby the members thereof will become annuitants of the State to the extent of £*240 a-year, while Legislative Councillors will occupy a like position with an income of £150, those salaries to be payable monthly, and not to be attachable by legal process ; that is to say, that supposing all other sources of incometo be forestalled or arrested, members of Parliament, according to their grade, will be able to maintain an impregnable position against creditors, while ready money will not be wanting for the totalisator or baccarat table. But while the question of endowing the office of a member of Parliament with a fixed inoome has been settled by the voting power of an Administration which has shown no generosity in dealing with annuitants, who at least earned their pay, the policy, the expediency, and the equity of the procedure are still open to canvass, and if we do not pursue such inquiry at present, the delay will be accounted for by the acq' jition of evidence to be supplied by the proceedings of members in their official capacity, of which a striking example has just been afforded by the debate on the committal of the Land Bill.

If the words "ashamed of himself," applied by Mr. Bryce to the Premier, were considered to he unparliamentary by that decorous assembly, the Speaker ought to have decided the point in question, but as a matter of fact the expression is in common use as a mild reproof, chiefly applied to children when in fault, and it would never be questioned by men of the world, even without the explanatory addendum, which completed the sentence. Of this the country may rest assured, that as like causes produce like effects, the same results will follow in New Zealand from the rule, of bare majorities, and from making politics a trade, which have arisen in America from those practices, by which the most leisured, the most cultivated, and the most responsible citizens, are conspicuous by their absence from the Legislature. It must, we fear, be now accepted as a permanent fact in politics that hereafter we are to be governed by the "professional politician." We have been tending that way for several years past, and of late we have made a plunge forward in that direction. Being governed by men who make politics a trade, we shall naturally be ruled with a steady eye to the advantage of that trade. There is no trades union so powerful and unscrupulous as : a trades union of politicians. The first I care of the professional politician will be for himself, and then let us hope that he may have some ambition to advance the country. But that ambition will follow at a long interval, and may, indeed, be non-existent. His chief care during his occupancy of office will be to act so that he will secure his re-election, and prevent a rival professional from taking his place. That end can most readily be achieved by pandering, and the qualification to pander will be zealously cultivated. Meantime things in the House are settling down to their old style of pushing through the Bills which the Government have determined to pass. Very little amendment is permitted in the provisions of these measures. The Legislative Council is revising, and every alteration it makes, and every Bill it rejects, are for the good of the country. The session will close in a few weeks, and then the colony will be in the awkward position of being actually under under one system of taxation, while another and a totally different

jsjatem i 8 impending. Thlt^ZT s */ no means settled. It i, di |£® 13 ' ascertain how the provision* nf t U 10 Taxation Act will operatft • a ns i'?"' 'theGovernraeutstatetliattbeywilTrf 68 ' session, bring down measures torn' " it in certain particulars - find it necessary or expedient T t scarcely be expected that even ? n the most favourable circumstances tht ? can be any progress in the colony ? any life and energy developed. tilUli these uncertainties are past. :