PARLIAMENTARY SALARIES.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13171, 1 February 1936, Page 5

PARLIAMENTARY SALARIES.

SHARE AND SHARE ALIKE.

GOVERNMENT PRACTISES PREACHINGS.

Electric Telegraph—Tress Association WELLINGTON, Last Night.

For the first time in the Parliamentary history of New Zealand, Ministers of the Crown are sharing their honoraria with members of the Labour (Government) Party. Moreover, this unique system has not yet been developed to the full extent of Labour’s ideal of service and reward, and a wider practice in the near future is assured. In reply to a question to-day, the Prime Minister (Mr M. J. Savage) said: “Yes, it is true that the Ministry is sharing its honoraria with other members of the Labour Party. •The system, however, has not yet been fully developed. As a matter of fact, the' Minister of Finance (Hon. Walter Nash) and a special committee, are working out the details of a comprehensive scheme of what may he called salary-sharing on a basis of co-operative service, not merely for party hut for tEe country as a whole.

“Already arrangements have been made by 'which additional members of the executive who arc without portfolios share in the Ministerial honoraria. This has been clone within the limit of the civil list and without any additional cost to the taxpayer. Tli e same principle will hold when the present system of sharing has been extended to all members of the Labour Party in Parliament, it is now merely a question of working out the details. "We are of one mind on the principle. Every member of the party will have an opportunity to do his full share of work. This does not mean that there will be any division •of Ministerial authority. Each Minister will he fully responsible dor the portfolio or portfolios he holds, and the Parliamentary members of the party who will help him will in no sense usurp the responsibilities and decisions of the Ministers. It is reasonable, however, that, if members share the Ministerial work, they should also share the emoluments of the Ministers. That is all there is to it.

“Full details of the co-operative Government system have not yet been worked out, hut you have been given the idea and the objective.”

“We have a big task to do and there are 55 of us now in the party, each willing to do his bit. All are cxpei tcd to do their best according to their ability, experience and special knowledge. The ideal is simple enough and it is as reasonable as it is simple in idealism. The Labour Party is pledged to do everything possible for the people as a whole and it follows that each member is anxious and determined to do his best. As a party we do not want any man to feel that he is merely a cypher—a head to count when the parties go into the division lobbies. Wo want to get the best that is in each man’s head, and it seems to me that here is another way to get a national done with the thoroughness and" fairness that the people want. “1 agree with you that it would be unfair—l would not go so far as to say it was an impertinence—to ask how much salary I as Prime Minister am drawing under the present arrangements. It is, of course, not so much as the sum allotted to the position and it is likely to be less, but that has nothing to do with the objective of the Labour Government and the Labour Party. We aim at securing the best possible results, and as a means to an end, we believe that every man who is willing to strive for that goal is entitled to share in the fixed statutory rewards for service.”