REPORT OE THE HONORARIUM COMMITTEE.

5

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.