REPORT OF THE HONORARIUM COMMITTEE, TOGETHER WITH MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS AND EVIDENCE.

Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1871 Session I, H-13

H.—No. 13.

REPORT OF THE HONORARIUM COMMITTEE, TOGETHER WITH MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS AND EVIDENCE.

REPORT BROUGHT UP ON THE 31st OCTOBER, 1871, AND ORDERED TO BE PRINTED.

1871.

WELLINGTON.

Extracts from the Journals of the House of Representatives. Thubsday, the 19th day op Septembeb, 1871. Ordered, That question of the Honorarium to be paid to members, be referred to a Select Committee. A true extract. (On motion of Mr. Keynolds.) P. E. Campbell, Clerk to House of Eepreaentatrres. Fbiday, the 27th day of Octobee, 1871. Ordered, That the Honorarium Committee consist of the Hon. Mr. Vogel, Hon. Mr. Fitzherbert, Mr. Swanson, Mr. Bunny, Mr. Henderson, Mr. Thomson, Mr. Lightband, and the Mover; three to be quorum ; to report within a weak. A true extract. (On motion of Mr. Reynolds) P. E. Campbell, Clerk to House of Representatives.

ORDERS OF REFERENCE.

H.—No. 13.

Your Committee have the honor to report, that after examining into the customs with regard to payment of Members in different countries, they have unanimously agreed to recommend the adoption of the following resolutions : — "That the payment of Members be fixed at £105 per regular session, 40s. per diem beingdeducted for each sitting day a Member may be absent from attendance, unless the Member be prevented from attendance by illness; special Sessions if any to be paid for at the rate of 20s. per day." " That, in the opinion of the Committee, the scale of payment of Members proposed above shall commence from and include the present Session, and shall be exclusive of travelling expenses to and from Parliament." William Fitzherbert, October 31st, 1871. Chairman. Friday, 27th October, 1871. The Committee met pursuant to notice. Present: Mr. Bunny, Mr. Reynolds, Hon. Mr. Fitzherbert, Mr. Swanson. Mr. Lightband, Hon. Mr. Fitzherbert was elected Chairman. The Committee was adjourned until Monday next, at 10.30 -o'clock. Monday, 30th October, 1870. The Committee met pursuant to adjournment. Present : Mr. Bunny, Mr. Swanson, Mr. Lightband, Mr. Thomson. Mr. Reynolds, Mr. Bunny in the Chair. The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed. Mr. Swanson read the following statement, showing what honorarium is paid to Members of Parliament in various parts of the world: — Spain.-—Nothing. Victoria. —£300 per annum. Switzerland.—l 2 francs a day, and 1 franc 50 centimes per diem travelling expenses. America, 1866. —Senator, Member, or Delegate, £1,041 13s. 4d. per annum, and mileage 20 cents per mile to and from Congress; but mileage is only granted for two Sessions in each Congress. Canada, 1867.—£1 ss. per day, if not over thirty days; if over that £125, and no more in any case, but personal attendance is insisted on. Newfoundland.—President of Legislative Council, ,§240; each Member, $120; the Speaker of the House of Assembly, $923; Members resident at outposts, $291 each; Members resident in capital, $194 each. Holland. —Upper House, nothing; Lower House, £161 each, and mileage. Belgium.—Upper House, nothing; Lower House, £16 15s. Id. each monthly, during sitting, for Members from out-districts. Members resident in capital are not paid. Sweden, 1865. —Upper House, nothing; Lower House, £66 13s. 4d. for an ordinary Session, and travelling expenses in ordinary cases; if otherwise, about 10s. lid. per day : £66 13s. 4d. is the maximum. Norway.—Members of both Houses get 13s. 3|d. per day, and all costs to and fro. Portugal.—Upper House nothing; Lower House, 10s. per day for the Session. Greece.—Senators, 500 drachmas = £17 15s. 2d. each per month, not limited to the Session; Representatives, 250 drachmas per month = £8 17s. 7d. during the Session.

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France. —National Assembly, 18 francs per day for the Session. „ (Restoration). —Nothing. „ (Louis Philippe).—Nothing. „ (Republic, 1848-51). —During Session, 25 francs per day. „ (Empire, 1852). —Senators, £1,200 per annum. Members of Legislative Assembly, £100 per month. Since then a change has taken place: the Deputies £400 each for the Session, but for Sessions of unusual length additional pay is given. Prussia.—9s. per diem and travelling expenses. Austria. —.£1 per diem and travelling expenses. Mr. Reynolds moved. That the payment of Members be fixed at £105 per regular Session, 20s. per day being deducted for each day a Member may be absent from the place of meeting of the Assembly, providing that during the period of his absence the House has held a sitting. Special Sessions, if any, to be paid for at the rate of 20s. per day. Consideration of Mr. Reynolds' motion was postponed. The Committee was adjourned until to-morrow, at 11 o'clock. Tuesday, 31st October, 1871. The Committee met pursuant to adjournment. Present : Mr. Bunny, • Mr. Reynolds, Mr. Henderson, Mr. Swanson, Mr. Lightband, Mr. Thomson. Hon. Mr. Fitzherbert in the Chair. The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed. Mr. Bradshaw, M.H.R., was in attendance, in accordance with the request of the Committee, and read the following statement:— There are very few nations that do not pay Members of Parliament. The exceptions are Great Britain, Italy, Austria, and Spain. The law of England is that Members of the House of Commons shall be paid by their constituents. This law has never been repealed, and can be enforced at any time by any Member through the Lord Chancellor, and the amount will be levied on the county or borough that the Member represents. This has not been done since 1681 : the law, therefore, does not exist, simply from disuse, and not from repeal. In the United States of America it is a part of the Constitution. Article 1, Section Vl—l, says :— " The Senators and Representatives shall receive a compensation for tlicir services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States." Charles Edward Rawlings, when commenting on the Union, says : —" Compensation to Members of Congress is here provided for. It is (ascertained by law.' They are not paid by the Session, but by the day; and, in addition, a mileage allowance for distance between home and the Seat of Government is enacted. They are not paid by the separate States, but from the ' Treasury of the United States/ The receipt of it is not optional; the words are ' they shall receive.' Before doing so, they take a solemn oath 'to support the Constitution ;' and thus the compensation becomes, as it was doubtless intended to be, an acknowledgment of its national character." Then, again, Story says : —" The compensation is fixed with a liberal view to the national duties, and is paid from the national purse. If the compensation had been left to be fixed by the State Legislatures, the General Government would have become dependent on the Government of the States; and the latter could almost at their own pleasure have dissolved it. Serious evils were felt from this source under the Confederation, by which each State was to maintain its own delegates in Congress; for it was found that the States too often were operated upon by local considerations, as contradistinguished from general and national interests." A law was passed, 28th July, 18G6, providing that Senators, Representatives, or Delegates shall receive 10,000 dollars for each Congress, or £1,000 per annum ; and mileage at the rate of 1 dollar for every 5 miles at the commencement and end of each Session. In Mexico, Members of both Houses receive a salary of 2,000 dollars a year. In Canada, £1 ss. per day is paid, provided the Session does not extend beyond 30 days. If it extend beyond 30 days, each Member receives sessional allowance of £125. Payment is also made to Local States Legislatures of the United States of America and Canada. In Brazil, Members of Senate receive £400 per annum, and Members of the House of Congress £270 per annum; besides travelling expenses. In Portugal, Members of the Lower House receive 10s. per day during the Session. In Sweden, Members of the Lower House are paid at the rate of £66 13s. 4d. each Session, in addition to travelling expenses. In Norway, Members of both Houses receive 13s. 3d. per day during the Session, and travelling expenses. In Holland, payment to Members of Lower House is made at the rate of £160 per annum.

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H.—No. 12,

In Belgium, Members only of the Lower[ House receive payment at the rate of £20 per month. In France, payment of Members is allowed to both Houses. Each Senator receives £1,200 per annum, and each Member of the Commune receives ,£lOO per month. In New Zealand, a fee is paid to Members of both Houses of the Legislature, at the rate of 20s. per day for every day in attendance, and in addition passages are provided by sea, and travelling expenses allowed for inland travelling. Provincial Legislatures also pay their Members rates varying from 7s. 6d. a day to 20s. per day, and in addition travelling expenses are allowed. In the Colony of Victoria an Act has been passed authorizing the payment of Members of the Lower House £300 per annum for three years, or one Parliament. It is a temporary measure, or an experimental one for the present Parliament. How far the measure has succeeded beneficially can be gathered from the following extracts taken from the leading papers published in Victoria at the end of the general elections. The following arc the extracts :— Australasian, Melbourne, 25th March, 1871. —"The last batch of elections has been, on the whole, highly satisfactory. There is now no doubt that the new Assembly will be a great improvement upon its predecessor. There were comparatively few cases in which the best candidates out of those that presented themselves were not returned We shall have no more corruption, no more disorderly scenes, no more senseless quarrels with either the Home Government or the Council. The new Parliament will be free from many obstacles that impeded its predecessor, and there is plenty of work for it to do." The Melbourne Leader, 25th March, 1871.—" Payment of members has so far worked as well as its warmest advocates could have anticipated. There has been a marked increase in the number of candidates. At the general election of 1868 there was no contest in seven districts; during the present there have been but four in which there was no opposition. Three years ago there were 107 candidates for 71 seats; during the election just over there were 197 for 72. Of the 22 new men returned, the majority are persons of education, character, and intelligence." The same paper, of the 11th March, 1871, says : —"The effect produced by the payment of members upon the gold fields elections has been not only to increase the number of candidates, and thereby widen the choice of the constituencies, but to enable a class of men to stand who otherwise would scarcely have undergone the expense and trouble of a contest The number of political adventurers will be diminished, and there will be a larger number of local men thoroughly understanding the wants and wishes of their constituents." Leader, 25th March, 1871. —"It was office-hunting that degraded the character of the last Parliament, and destroyed it for all useful public purposes. There is only one honorable method of fulfilling parliamentary obligations, and that is not by hanging on the skirts of the Ministry of the day in expectation of a vacancy in the Cabinet. It is absurd to suppose that the only Ministry possible in this country is one led by Sir James McCulloch, or one in which the Langtonian element must predominate, and it would be sheer political cowardice to drop quietly into the ranks of either one or the other." Mr. Bradshaw was thanked and withdrew. Mr. Reynolds' motion, consideration of which was postponed at the last meeting, was put: " That the payment of Members be fixed at £105 per regular Session, 20s. per day being deducted for each day a Member may be absent from the place of meeting of the Assembly, providing that during the period of his absence the House has held a sitting. Special Sessions, if any, to be paid for at the rate of 20s. per day." Mr. Bunny moved as an amendment, That 40s. per day be deducted for each sitting day a Member may be absent from attendance, unless the Member may be prevented from attendance by illness. Amendment carried unanimously. Motion as amended carried. On motion of Mr. Lightband, Resolved, That, in the opinion of the Committee, the scale of payment of Members proposed in Mr. Reynolds' motion shall commence from and include the present Session, and shall be exclusive of travelling expenses to and from Parliament. On motion of Mr. Reynolds, Resolved, That the Chairman be requested to draw up a Report in accordance with the resolutions passed. The minutes were ordered to be printed.