£5000 A YEAR ENOUGH.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 13299, 7 February 1914, Page 9

£5000 A YEAR ENOUGH.

' • LONDON, Dec. 21. Five thousand pounds a year is a ' very good salary to pay anybody for ! public services, Lord Haldane said m evidence before the Royal Commission ' on Delay m the King's Bench Division. ' As Lore! Chancellor, Lord Haldane re- * ceivcs £10,000 a year, and Avill be en- - titled to £5000 a year when he goes out : of office Avith the resignation or defeat of the Government or if he. retires. Lord Haklane's £5000 maximum recalls Mr ! John Burns' famous declaration long be--3 fore he hecame ' President of the Local - Government Board Avith a salary of s £5000: "I have yet to see the man Avho ' 13 worth more than £500 a year." ' The evidence given before the Royal Commission was published m the form - of a Blue Book yesterday. The report ' of the Commission was published a week : . ago. * ' Lord Haldane saiel that he knew many * judges attached the very greatest ini--1 portancc to the pension attacheel to the office. "Therefore I should be very sorry to do anything which Avnuld make the pension precarious and make it bulk - less largely m the mi ml of a man Avho " Avas considering whether he should give ' up £15,000. a year m order to take 1 £5000." 3 lt was m reply to questions from Mr * Samuel Roberts, M.P., that Lord Halk dane said he thought, generally speak- [ ing, that £5000 a year was a very good *• salary to pay. any anybody for public services. i Mr Roberts : You think nobody is > worth more than that? — I am inclined 7 to think no one is worth more than 5 that. Not even the Lord Chancellor ? — 1 make no exception. The question! of salaries was also responsible for am amusing passage m the evidence of Lord Loreburn, ex-Lord Chancellor, Avho stated that sheriffs m Scotland are the equivalent of county 1 court judges m England, except that > they only get about half the salary. Mr Justice Darling : But, then, they ) are mostly Scotsmen. l>ord Loreburn: Yes, but I do not > knoAv that that is a reason why they should only have half the salary. ' TOO OLD AT 90. Six Stanley Buckmaster, the present Solicitor-General, said the fact that a judge could not be, removed except by t resolution of both Houses of Parliament ' hael produced deplorable results m certain cases. He had practised before , men sitting on the Higb Court Bench one of Avhom was DO, two of whom, through the? infirmity of . advancing t years, Avere suffering from mental decay, one Avas so deaf as to be unable without great ditfieultv either to hear the witnesses or counsel* and four whose age had materially their powers. He kneAV that there had been striking instances of men who had preserved unimpaired their faculties far beyond 70 years, but he knew of no case where '■ it Avould be suggested that the men Avere better after 70 than they were before. , Lord Macnaghten Avas one of the striking instances he preferred to, "but," Sir Stanley said, "I voften think that the very great service he rendered to the law is to some extent met by the fact , that be. afforded an example for people to point to and say : 'See Avhat a man can do after 70!'" Giving evidence as to circuit work, Mr Justice Bankes referred to the ( difficulties engendered by tho servants and the large amount of baggage a judge had to carry about. Mr Justice Darling : And tbe. cook* ha? to take all the cooking utensils? — Yes, and they all have to be packed up. I assure you I am ashamed of the amount of luggage a judge has to carry about .with him.