ON SALARIES

Hokitika Guardian, 25 October 1928, Page 5

ON SALARIES

\ DEAN INGE’S COMMENTS.

(United Press Association —By Electric Telegraph—Copyright).

LONDON, Oct. 24

Following Lord Birkenhead’s resignation, owing to “the financial interests of the family,” Dean Inge, in'the Evening Standard asks :—“Are our big men overpaid, and particularly, whether with £SOOO per year and the honour of serving the country, they should be content as members of the Cabinet

Personally, he thinks, if a man is not content with £SOOO, which is probably dear at the price,, it would be better to let him go. It is true the stipends of Ministers were fixed when money went twice as far, but high officials in those days expected to live in extra pomposity. It was also true that the public, which paid civil servants a pittance, rained gold upon actresses, movie stars, jockeys, dramatists, lawyers and business men. It would be of incalculable benefit to the country if it were made, plain that the best people were content with simple, self denying lives. The stability of the social structure was threatened by the universal spirit of grab. Certainly, large business incomes were not really earned, except in the case of a clever surgeon. Let public men cut their coats according to the cloth. It is unpatriotic to ask for more money at present.