THE OPPOSITION

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19678, 21 December 1933, Page 13

THE OPPOSITION

EXTRA ALLOWANCE FOR LEADER ‘■LEGITIMATE AND JUSTIFIED” By Telegraph— Press Association WELLINGTON. December 20. Speaking in the House on the clause in the Finance Bill (No. 2) granting an additional allowance ol £l6O per annum to the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Representatives, Mr A. J. Murdoch (CL, Marsden) said he believed the time was not opportune for extending to any member of Parliament more money than he was now receiving, and there should be no extension until such time as public servants' salaries could be increased. He agreed that members of Parliament were not receiving a sum commensurate with the amount of work they had to do, and he also considered the Leader of the Opposition was entitled to a sum sufficient to pay his expenses throughout the year, but he repeated that the time was inopportune. Mr Fraser pointed out that the Leader of the Opposition himself would not obtain one penny piece of the additional allowance, which, together with the sessional allowance, would cover portion of the secretarial expenses attached to his onerous duties. Even the ordinary member of Parliament had sufficient correspondence to require the services of a typist, and the work of the Leader of the Opposition war much heavier than that of the ordinary member. It required secretarial assistance all the year round.

Mr R. Semple (Labour. Wellington East) expressed the opinion that the amount provided in the Bill was altogether inadequate. “As for the honoraria of members,” he said, “the time will come when members will be courageous enough to tell New Zealand that they are underpaid.” Mr F. Lye (C„ Waikato) congratulated the Government on what he described as the long overdue recognition of the legitimate claims of the Leader of the Opposition. Mr W. E. Parry (Labour, Auckland) said he would rather have seen the clause deleted than brought up in the manner in which it had. Mr M. J. Savage: Yes. So would I. Mr Coates: We will not take it out. Mr Savage: I would rather see it kicked out.

Mr Coates said that no arrangements had been made with Mr Savage. The Government had brought the clause down because it considered it legitimate and Justified, and it intended to pass it. Mr W. J. Jordan (Labour, Manukau): Then why did the Chief Whip oppose it? Mr Coates: Please don't take it that way. I know one member had an individual view, but he did not intend it to be personal or nasty. Mr Murdoch assured the House that there had been no spleen in his remarks. The clause was passed amidst a loud chorus of “ayes.”