"THRIFT" MINISTER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11504, 28 September 1915, Page 1

"THRIFT" MINISTER.

PROPOSED ADDITION TO CABINET AGITATION FOR. RETRENCHMENT. LONDON, August; 22. Britain's overflowing Cabinet may j soon bo further enlarged by a Minis- } ter of Thrift." > , , - Well-defined agitation, somewhat Of the complexion of the unrest that pre- < ceded the recent formaftoii or the Cornition Ministry, is to-day intne air ior a national manager of thrift., who, it is declared, could effect a g™enU in <5 of from £5,000.000 to £10,000,000 in"the Civil Service alone. , From curtailment of the over-bum- ( ing bathroom gas to tlio priming i Cabinet and members' salaries there are suggestions for the " Minister oi Thrift.''" . . < That Britain is wasting money on a colossal scale and that saving , should become a national habit is heard daily in Parliament and in the Press. Some of Britain's best writers have been agitating the question. Their arguments have gradually spread to the * Houso of Lords and the House of Com- j rnonsj until to-day it looks as if the nation would have to begin a search for a Minister who'll tell not only the J people, bub tho Government, how to i save. LORD ST ALWYN 13 MOTIONED- i Earl St Alwyn, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, is prominently men- < tionedi for the proposed new portfolio, j His first duty, the economic experts agree, should bo to trim a substantial j amount from the £4OO annual wage or , 060 members of Parliament. Ihe . House of Lords has no salary consider- , ation and therefore will escape. , The new Minister would also be . obliged to turn his pruning knife to ; the salares of the Cabinet, ranging . from £IO,OOO annually for the Lord Chancellor to from £3OOO to_ £sooo_ for i various other Ministers. Cabinet Ministers ought to be able to_ subsist, in war time, on a maximum of £2OOO a yeax, tho experts say. _ While men are fighting for the King ( at Is a day the administrators of Britain's judicial system should also make i sacrifices, it is argued, and therefore it is recommended that judges should live on not more than £1001) a year. It is conceded on all hands that Britain is far from the bread stage, but agreed that the time to save is now. MIDLETON FOR RETRENCTBIENT. One of the staunchest advocates of governmental retrenchment is _ Lord Midloton. In an interview he said : " Rich people must, pay their share of the expenses of war, but it is allimportant that thrift should be practised by the multitude. When the Government itself is not doing it, what is the use of trying to impress, the masses with the necessity of its' Lord Midle+on advocated the appointment of a committee of business men, whose duty it would be to reduce immediately expanses of the Government by 10 or 20 per cent. This plan he hos already placed before the House of Lords, and it has been sanctioned by Lord Crewe, Lord Ribbles-da!-a and other peers. Sir Leo Ohizzo Money, member of Parliament, h-w; taken the occasion to quoto importation figures showing that the British public is equally as much wine now as before the war cut off the great German supply.