THE HONORARIUM.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 874, 27 August 1879, Page 2

THE HONORARIUM.

.The " Patea Mail" jokes thuswise : — Ou Tuesday, the sth instant, the House magnanimously voted , itself and the Legislative Council the full honorarium fora session. It required £26,460 to give a,ll the assembled patriots £210 a-piece. Besides this amount a grateful country gladly provides ample travelling expenses to arid from th6 Empire city. To pay 126 disinterested gentlemen at the rate of £13 2s. 9. for eveiy day they devote to public business is a mere bagattelle for a great country like New Zealand. It is truly refreshing to the taxpayer, who always likes to see his money spent in an enlightened and liberal manner, to remember that in a few weeks 126 more patriots will meet in Wellington to burn gas. It is said that some gentlemen, hearing of the dissolution, hurried up at once, for the sake of the trip, and to establish a claim to two hundred guineas. This we know to be a libel; for it is only, at an immense sacrifice hon. members meet to toil for the public good. One or two monsters of iniquity had the audacity, in the face of this enlightened country, to propose that part of a session should be rewarded with a part of £210, namely, £52 10s. The absurdity of this proposal was very soon made clear. Mr. Pyke leterally smashed it up by declaring that without the £210 he co.uld not come back. Dr. Henry ably followed with the declaration that it would take all of the two hundred guineas to pay the expense of his election. Zealandia saw where her interest lay aud paid down the cash smiling.