MINISTERS’ SALARIES

Taranaki Daily News, 30 January 1934, Page 9

MINISTERS’ SALARIES

ANOMALIES IN BRITAIN. CASE OF MR. BALDWIN. The whole question of Cabinet Ministers’ salaries, says the Sunday Chronicle’s political correspondent, is likely, to be thrown .into the melting-pot as a result of a demand concerning Mr. Walter Elliot, which is being made by Conservative agricultural M.P.’s Mr. Elliot’s work at the Ministry of Agriculture has attracted a great deal of attention, and it is known that the Prime Minister regards him as one of the most valuable men in the Cabinet Many members, it is stated, are so impressed with Mr. Elliot’s work for agriculture that they are anxious that he should not give up the job. Their suggestion is that the Minister of Agriculture should be concerted into a .firstclass State Department, with a salary of £4OOO for its head. When this issue comes before the Cabinet the whole, question of Ministers’ salaries will, it is suggested, inevitably be brought up. There are several anomalies, in any case which the Ministers themselves wish to be removed. Some of the Ministers doing the most responsible work are getting the smallest pay, while some with the biggest pay are holding by no means the most responsible positions. Mr. Baldwin’s' case is the most anomalous. Despite the fact that he is Deputy Prime Minister, and has to carry the expense of maintaining No. 11 Downing Street, his salary is on the lowest scale in the Cabinet—£l7oo, a year. Sir John Gilmour,,on the other hand, is getting £4OOO, and Sir Thomas Inskip and Sir Boyd Merriman, the Law Officers, between £15,000 and £20,000. The Lord Chancellor receives £BOOO. These last three all get much more than the Prime Minister, who is on the £4OOO level, like the heads of his chief Departments. And he has the expense of a Downing Street house to meet. Mr. Baldwin’s close colleagues in the Cabinet know that he has to draw on his private means and that he will be a poorer man when he leaves Downing Street than when he entered it. He does not complain. In fact, he deliberately chose one of the Cabinet posts that carries a small salary. But his colleagues do not like the idea of him making the sacrifice, and would like to persuade him to take one of the other Ministerial appointments. The correspondent says:—“lt is probable that some system of pooling the salaries of the important Ministers will be considered when the matter comes to be investigated, so that the more deserving ones can be more adequately remunerated without imposing any extra burden on the taxpayers.”