TRAVELLING EXPENSES

Waipa Post, Volume 45, Issue 3251, 5 November 1932, Page 5

TRAVELLING EXPENSES

HIGH ANNUAL COST TO AUCKLANDERS. (By Telegraph. Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Friday. If Auckland members of Parliament paid cash for their railway fares the cost to them would be from £l5O to £2OO each annually. During the discussion on the Legislative Department vote in the House to-day, the Minister in charge, Sir Apiuana Ngata, referred to members' travelling privileges and stated that Auckland members were the most expensive in that connection. That was readily understood, for during sessions Auckland members travelled up and down the Main Trunk at most weekends. The Minister agreed it was necessary for Auckland members to do so to attend to their business. The Minister explained that a charge of £92 10s annually for each member was made on the Legislative Department vote for payment of railway fares. That amount might seem large to some members who did not require to travel much because of the nearness of their constituencies to Wellington, or the fact that trains were of no use to them in reaching their homes. "I do not think the public sufficiently appreciates the difficulties of a _ member of Parliament in regard to his attendance, especially during the past two years," remarked the Minister. "There is a vote of £24,530 for railway passes and concessions to members and ex-members of the Legislature, their families and relations." The Minister said there had been two sessions each year during the past two years. '