The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31. END OF SESSION ODDITIES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81878, 31 October 1906, Page 2

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31. END OF SESSION ODDITIES.

THE atfcci.onaic 'rust thai members o! I'aiham-ill place jn iUnusici- or lite Cioun ano Di pal uiicutai heads in the Government service ;s never better "limvu than al the end oi the iLSs.on, wlilji u seems üb- t . m ely necessary tliat Parliament shad uitow Oil the shackles c:Uicr to get to a lace meeting, to the electors, or to ih LxhibMon. 'file g-ntlcincn w~.i« premised to be the faiuiful watchdogs el uie public puree have a very ela : - t e conscrciice wncn their billet and it 1 ! emoluments are sale for at least a little nine, give up the watchdog idea and leave ilie public purse to do wliat u lib's.

Parliament is mure expensive when II F- siuiag than when ;t is not, as 1,11 as the n-al co-t of dii; legislative machine is concerned, whioi may be a comfort, but when one is told tluu 111 half an hour during the last day ot the session Parliament -pa-ssi't! ixtj pages of estimates mv-..iviug jus. under half a million of mon.v, wi'h out question, one ha- m bclrvc thai ail Exh.bilion is u'aily a mere 1111poitam ciinsichr.it.on than any other public business. li may not have iiappi'iiej to the read' is ot l'ailianan taiy news dur.ng the »e-sioji ju-t closed that there has been some lit le tricuon about the payment of salaries 10 members of the House who hold billets as chairmen and so 011. The high and honourable pos.Uou of Chairman of Committees canics with it a salary of .£SOO pei annum. Maybe the Chaiiman earned that sum in the two months or 'o wlr.ch Parliament >at, but if lie has earned it, the average man who helps to pay this, and any other salaries which are the perquisites of the chosen, wants to knowwily he can't also earn a year's salary 111 a couple of months.

O.N the whole, the members of the House of Representative* do the hardest work in getting tlieie, after which I is the chief desiie of the members to hold ihe billet and get away from .lie House. it is always pointed out, when the question of remuneration .11 members of the House i s ra.sed, that they aie more poo,ly paid than mem in r- of the Australian Houses, and kite "fat things'' are n«i so fat as hey were in ttte House of Commons ami so oil. We claim to be an or.g- ---■ liai people, a people who experiment. \Ye might expel intent by easting off iie shackles of precedent and paying the people who ale tealiy sinecurist-., a "tair day's pay for a fair day's work.'' There is ab olutely no excuse for the rushing through of that half a 111 llion pounds' \vo:th of estimates ami other work—except the Exhibition. Each of the members is, of course, a fre.- pas-enger to the Exhibition: he gets his six pounds a week as usual, the staff of the Houses of Parliament draw their salaries just as if the House were sitting, and altogo.her it costs a large amount to give the members a good time.

Many of the members have done nothing to deserve a good time, and they really aie not an int.-resting cxhib t. The peculiar thing abotn members of Pailiameni is that they are qute honest in their excu-es when rushing important business through. They openly tell the count:y ihat it is a race meeting that is to close the c-sion. a trip at the country's expense, and now they are absolutely frank about the magnetic power of the Exhibition. About a third of the members would have been well paid for lhe work they have done at the ju-t concluded session with a couple of half-crowns and a slice of bread anil jam—but a number of the members would have traded the bread and jam away for something to drink. Apnn from the voting of the sums of money to continue the running of ihe country, members of Pailiament might have done the work of the s>s•ion siit'ng in ilieir own homes.

THE CARNEGIE LIBRARV. The -Sew Plymouth Borough Councii has issued Us piogiamme ui loan propo als, and conspicuous by us absence is tile scheme 10 saddle the ratepayer with a Lability 01 from £2OOO 10 x.joou iur tile puicliaoe of a sue on winch to erect the Carnegie library. file ratepayers are to be coiigiatuialed oil their escape from tilts chance of another burden. Whatever may be said for or against the site next the present Town Hail, the net-' icinain tnai it can be got for nothing, Uiat it is cent,ally tiiuated, .wihui easy reacli of the residential and business portions of tae town al.ke, and ihat the d liietisions 0! ttte section aie ample tor the election of the buildings icquircd. New Plymouth is sullicienily rated now, and 110 boriuwing -liquid be undertaken that is not absolutely necessary. Had tlie Council gone to tae ratepayeis with a pioposal to mortgage the propel ty ol lhe burgesses to buy a Filial y site, we feel sure tile latepayers would have given the Carnegie library committee a -liiait rap over the knuckles. At pie-ent the Carnegie committee is lull ut tae borrowing craze. Baulked in one dneciion, they fly to another 10 obtain purchasing opiion. A property was subnotion at a cost of £3OOO, and the chaiman of the committee —we quote tiom his own remarks —was "convinced that the committee had come to a right and sensible decision" in lecoiiimending the purchase of ihe giound. Looking at it from the po.ni of view of a commercial transaction, he considered the Council was 111 luck's way. The Council, however, ihougni diil'eienlly. and then tile committee recommended the pur-

own- ut another property ai a l>iice e.hicii Uiv owner told them was tar above iis value. When llii- was ienderd impraetxable by reason of iis w.thdrawal, the committee Ml bac-k on tn« £h*m property, which \v;h ll'i'.v available fur /oOia I'-'-- A taihoa policy seems to pay, so we say "laihua." What's wrong- with . the site next the Town Hall? Is it tou handy, too conveniem, too ccntialr No, but it is too valuable. There i= no other argument adduced w dtli is 0211. The>e sections between homage tu two Greets. King and Ariki. Facing King street, its w.dth is 02tt. The sections between .Mi iiw.e s leasehold and a point to the west of King street were originally set apait its a tile for a Town Hall and Fcture room, but the Borough Council obtained the light by legi-laiion to alter tiuir purpose, and make them iev< nue-pfdiiciiig ; or. m bioaef language, 'm liie beiKht and 111p! ovi inent i;i the borough of New I'lymouth. A library _a.id readingioom may fairly be included in such a ean-goiy.