A CHOICE EFFORT.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1474, 24 June 1912, Page 6

A CHOICE EFFORT.

HON. Or. W. EURSELL ABUSES "THE DOMINION." MINISTERS' TRAVELLING ALLOWANCES. (To the Editor.) Sir,—ln your issuo of Saturday you refer to the above question editorially, with special regard to tho recent bout on Ministers' travelling allowances between myself and tho Editor of the "Otago Daily Times." Here is an extract from your article: "Mr. Ritssell was unwise enough to resort, in reply, to u perversion of iaet. After saying he did not know how much lie had drawn for travelling expenses, lie added: 'When a Minister was travelling about ho had to pay all the cost of his board and residence, excepting his loco-motion-and cab fares/ There is only one thing to say about this: it is contrary (to fact. All his actual travelling expenses arc paid by the State, and tho State pays the Minister 30s. a day, in addition, to do as lie likes witli when travelling." That is your statement. I trust your readers will not think me rude if I say that statement brands you as the champion Ananias of New Zealand journalism. And now for the proof. Knowing well that tho "Otago Daily Times" must have written in ignorance, and not wilfully, regarding a matter upon which any average country journalist would know this facts, I forwarded tho following letter to that paper for Friday's issue:—

Ministers' Travelling Allowances. [By Telegraph.] (To the Editor.) Sir,—ln your leading article of yesterday you state as follows"All his travelling expenses, including hotel expenses, aro charged by him to the State, and are paid for him by the State." The following telegram which I have received to-day from the Secretary to tho Treasury completely an-

swors tho statement you have made:— "Neither you nor any other Jlinis'er lias ever charged for board and residence in hotels in addition to,travelling allowance of 30s. per day. Such claim, if made, would not pass audit. . —J. W. Poynlon, Secretary Treasury." The statement made by you can only have originated in entire ignorance of the position. Under the circumstances, I leave it to you to make the amende honourable to your readers and myself in connection with tho grossly improper charge you have made against me and other Ministers in your recent leading article regard- • ing" travelling exneiues.—l am, e;c., G.W.RUSSELL.; , Christchurch, June 20. T'ho editor of tho "Otago Daily Times" appended tho following footnote:—

In view of the statement by the Sec- , retary of tho Treasury it seems clear . that we have been under a misapprehension in supposing that hotel expenses aro included in tho travelling ; expenses of Ministers that are charged . by voucher against tho Slate. That tiioy are paid by the State is, of course, indisputable. Mr. Russell's point is that thev aro paid out of the travelling allowance of 30s. per .day, and are not included in travelling expenses, and we accept his correction on the point. This being so, however, tho extent of tho travelling expenses that have been incurred by some Ministers in tho past is surprisingEd. O.D.T; I do not need to labour the point. I rammed , the lie down tho throat of the Dunedin Conservative journal, and I now repeat f'ite process upon your capacious throat also.' During the last year The Dominion has sounded persistently the lowest depths of political lying and mendacity. There is no paper in New Zealand-there never lias teen one— which has so prostituted tho high honour of journalism to tho meanest lying as you ljave done and are still doing. iou are accustomed to hearing vour lies given currency without comment- and reproof. I have now met you on your own ground, and though I feel ashamed at having to touch such a journalistic sweep as Thk Dominion, I have done so, 111 order that vour readers may learn once for all that the truth is not in you, and that the charges you are constantly hurling have no more backing than the one I have exposed.-! am, RUSSELL.

[Tho little triumph which Mr. Russell imagines he has scored in the matter of discriminating between travelling allowances" and "travelling expenses has led him to indulge in some very coarse and very ■ vulgar abuse, sadly out of keeping with the dignity of his office. In moments of excitement and stress the real nature of man comes to the surface, and it would ho foolish therefore to quarrel witn tho Minister for dropping the mask and reYGfllill" IIITUSCIf to tll3 public AS HO lGilllj is. As to the actual facts of tho matter, they are as follow—Ministers not onl£ draw 30s. a dav "travelling allowance, but "travelling' expenses" as well. The actual details of this drain on the public funds is not shown, merely tho total amounts drawn bv each Minister being published, and like our contemporary, the "Otago Daily Times, and no doubt other journals, wo assumed that "travelling expenses" included hotel expenses. The Secretary of the Treasury says they do not, and we aie not in a position to dispute liis interpretation of thfe law on the subject. If any member of the public is sufficiently interested to desire any further -light on the question he will find in the consolidated statutes, under the Civil List Act, a clause, number 8, which states that Ministers travelling in Ken- Zealand shnll be entitled to an allowance not exceeding £1 10s. per day while travelling, but the total amount,, for tho whole of the Cabinet shall not exceed ,£ISOO in any one year. Then, if he will turn to Paper II 18a of the Appendices for 1910, he will read as follows:—

"Return of travelling allowances drawn by eaeli member of tho Executive (luring the financial year ended March 31, 1910, and the amount charged by voucher for actual travelling expenses during tho so mo period. Travelling Allowances. i£ s. d. Et. Hon. Sir J. G. Ward 11l 0 0 lion. J. Carroll 99 0 0 Hon. J. A. Millar 151 10 0 Hon. CI. Fowlds 14G a 0 Hon. J. G. Findlay 99 0 0 Hon. I(. M'Kenzie 187 10 0 Hon. D. Buddo .'.... 95 5 0 Hon. T. Mackoazie 108 0 0 Hon. A. T. Ngata 227 5 0 Hon. A. W. Hog? ™ 10 0 Total 1,301 5 0 Travelling Expenses. .£ s. d. Et. Hon. .Sir J. G. Ward 153 fl 0 Hon. J. Carroll 7ti 11 I) Hon. J. A. Millar 156 5 3 Hon. G. Fowlds 181 1 G Hon. J. G. Findlay IIG M 2 Hon. ft. M'Kenzie 308 3 1 Hon. .1). Buddo (11 11 9 Hon. T. Mackenzie 71 2 3 Hon. A. T. Ngata 191 H 1 Hon. A. W. Hogg IGI 3 0 Rt. Hon. R. J. Seddon (the late) IS 10 0 Hon. W. Hall-Jones ' 0 S 2 Hon. J. M'Ciowan 1 10 0 Hon. E. M'Nab 1 1G 19 G Total 1,551 G G Here it will bo seen that Ministers not only drew i'l3Gl in travelling allowances, but ■51554 in travelling expenses as well, despite tho fact that they havo l'reo passes over the whole of the railways. It is not surprising in the circumstances that tho "Otago Daily Times," and we, ourselves, find it difficult to understand, if hotel expenses <lo not como under tlie head of travelling expenses, and no railway fares have to bo paid, how is it that Ministers manage to run up such heavy bills?. Apparently Ministers liavo to present vouchers for their "travelling expenses," but their "travelling _ allowance/ ' of thirty shillings a day does not have to bo accounted for to anyone—they simply draw it, and spend it as they please. When the present Ministry go out of office .we have no doubt it will bo found that, despite lii 3 bluster and abuse, tho Minister for Internal Affairs and his colleagues have in tho time at their disposal broken all previous records, nnd saddled the country with a verv tidy bill for what everyone can plainly see Is travelling for party electioneering purposes, ami not on the business of the country.]