Political Patronage Declared to be Menace To British Public Life

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26584, 6 October 1947, Page 5

Political Patronage Declared to be Menace To British Public Life

Rec. 7 p.m. LONDON, Oct. 3. A resolution expressing disquiet at the “vast growth of political patronage which the Government has deliberately created,” and determination to remove this menace to the purity of British public life,” was passed at the conference of the Conservative Party. A delegate, Mr John Boyd-Carpenter, had said that the rpere existence of masses of agreeable well-paid Government appointments, serving no useful purpose, which are in the sole gift of Ministers, must necessarily affect the mental background of people engaged in public life. “ The chairman of the National Coal Board gets along on a beggarly pittance of £BSOO annually. His colleagues stagger along on £SOOO yearly with a mere £IO,OOO for expenses.’ He added that Mr Emanuel Shinwell has deliberately concealed from the House of Commons the salaries of regional officials of the Coal Board. Mr Boyd-Carpenter also mentioned other four-figure appointments to the Bank of England Court of Governors, at the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s disposal, three chairmen, three deputy-chairmen and 27 members of three airways corporations with salaries determined by the Minister of Civil Aviation, 10 members of the Land Board, determined by the Minister of Town and Country Planning, 54 appointments determined by the Minister of Transport, and 124 electricity appointments in the gift of the Minister of Fuel and Power.