SALARIES OF M.P.'S.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20075, 12 October 1928, Page 14

SALARIES OF M.P.'S.

" £450 QUITE INADEQUATE."

MANY EXPENSES TO BE MET.

THE SUPERANNUATION QUESTION.

Tny TELEGRAPH—PRE 9-5 ASSOCIATION.] WELLINGTON, Thursday The following statement wns issued this evening by Mr T. K. Sidey, M.P.. on the subject of salaries and superannuation of members of Parliament: — "During this Parliament I have acted as chairman of the committee which has considered the question of members' salar ies and superannuation. As I am no longer seeking re-election I can now speak on this subject with greater freedom and from a disinterested point of view. The honorarium for many years took the form of a sessional allowance. It was assumed that members had other sources of income and had private work to do during recess It is now a salary, and there is an over-incroasing number of members for whom the honorarium is their onlv moans of livelihood

"Following are some of tho considerations bearing on this question:—(l) The work of a member of Parliament does not end with the session. His work is nover done He is always at the beck and call of his constituents Ho has never-ending corres pondence, he has frequent calls to attend public functions and he must give consideration to many questions likely to como boforo tho House. (2) Every three yoars he has to contest an election. Legislature contemplated expenditure for this purpose of £2OO. based on pre-war values. When indirect expenses aro taken into account it costs many members much more than that Comparison with Australia. "(3) He has to live in Wellington for from four to evon six months and in most cases has to maintain his home in another part of the Dominion at the same time. (4) Ho has to meet many claims for public and private subscriptions. (5) His duties involve travelling expenses, moro or less depending on tho constituency he represents. When all these considerations are taken into account it will bo recognised that £450 is quite inadequate as a salary and is not to bo com pared with the salary of similar amount paid to an officer of the Public Service. "Tlieip is only one Australian Stato that docs not pay its members more than they aro paid in Now Zealand, and that is South Australia, whose population is not more than 500,000. Tasmania, whose population is not 250,000, pays some of its members more and some less, the salaries ranging from £370 to £SOO. In New South Wales salaries are £875. New Zealand, as a Dominion, occupies a higher status than any of tho Australian States. Retiring Allowance Scheme.

"On the question of superannuation for members of the House of Representatives a scheme was worked out under which, by an annual payment of £IOO, a retiring allowance of £l5O might he granted to a member who had served for three Parliaments or nine years, the amount to be increased by £25 for each additional Parliament and rising to a maximum of £250 for service in seven or more Parliaments. An interesting feature of actuarial calculations in this connection was that the political mortality of a member of Parliament decreased as his number of Parliaments increased, his greatest chanco of political extinction being after his first Parliament. "On'o of the objections raised during (he expiring Parliament to giving effect to proposals for an increaso of salaries or superannuation was that {hose questions were not before the country at tho last election. My object in drawing public attention to them now is that they may not bo lost sight of during the approaching elections and that the objection mentioned may not bo available in the new Parliament to which members may bo returned, having expressed themselves definitely on these questions during the campaign now in progress."