THE HIGH COMMISSIONER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18673, 30 September 1922, Page 11

THE HIGH COMMISSIONER

EXPENSES OF THE LONDON OFFICE. (From Our Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, September 29. 'I lie cost of the High Commissioner's Office was again the subject of criticism in the House of Representatives fo-night. 1 Mr Wilford said the cost was £32,000, and it was too high for what was being done. Mr Massey said in reply that ■ iio one who had been in England during the war could fad to have noticed how the work had increased. It had increased threefold. Hie salaries of the office there had to be increased just as had the salaries of officers here. Hie cost of living had gone up more in Jxmdon than in New Zealand, and' the income tax was also much heavier. An allowance had to be made to officers who Wore paying income tax to the British Government. The exemption was much lower in England, When he was there, it was, he thought, £156. As to the Commissioner’s household expenditure, it was necessary to keep up an establishment in London, and it was not true, as had been stated, that ho was living in Mayfair. He was, as a matter of fact, living in a very quiet suburb. The £SOO for entertainment was not a large sum. If the High Commissioner got off with jhat he got off very easily. The expenditure in connection with the New Zealand Office was nothing like ns large as it was in the Australian Offices. He did not look upon Sir James Allen as an extravagant man Far from it. He was,, on the contrary, rather inclined to bo cheese-paring. That was his experience of him in New Zealand. If they attempted to ’ unduly cut down this expenditure in London he was sure New Zealand would suffer for it. There was a great deal of entertaining to lie done. Visitors were continually calling. For instance, Sir Francis Bell had been there recently. Ho did not know what hadl been done for him in the way of getting important people to meet him, but no doubt something had been done. When he (Mr Massey) was there tho High Commissioner had given a function in his honour. There must have been 600 or 700 people there, and there were so many that the function could not be held in the High Commissioner’s office, and rooms had to be hired in the Victoria Hotel. That entertainment must have cost the High Commissioner 7s 6d a. head. That was just one instance of what happened. It was, ho thought, unfortunate that tho High Commissioner had been called upon to .attend so many _ conferences abroad, because that must seriously interfere with his business in England. As to_ the general! expenses of tho office the High Commissioner hud been called upon to make reduction on the same scale as in New Zealand, and these reductions were being carried out. It was, not, true that the High Commissioner was living, as had been stated by some hon. member, in Oriental extravagance. An Hon. Member; Who said that? Mr Massey: I think it was the Leader of the Labour Party. An lion. Member: Perhaps Dr Thacker. Mr Massey: I’m not sure, and I don’t want to do an injustice to anyone. Mr Holland: I used tho words. "Oriental splendour” was the term.—(Laughter.)