PAYMENT FOR SERVICES.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 378, 15 July 1911, Page 6

PAYMENT FOR SERVICES.

A COMPARISON AND A DIFFERENCE. One of the most successful functions held in London just before the Imperial Conference opened was an "At Home" given by Mr Asquith and his colleagues in honour of the colonial representatives. It came at a time when British Ministers were burdened with an enormous amount of work in Parliament and out of it, but they found time to entertain their guests in admirable fashion. Many people wondered, no doubt, at the smiling faces of these men who had been working at high pressure all day, and after snatching a few hours of gaiety were still not free when midnight came to seek rest that would refresh them before the troubles of another day claimed their attention. Sir Henry Lucy dwells on this matter in a little homily which he has contributed to the "Sydney Morning Herald," and he lays stress enpecially on the point that for the labour Ministers undertake, compared with which, he says, the British workman's day is a restful interval, they are sadly underpaid. Seeing Mr Asquith conversing with Harry Lauder, Sir Henry bethought him of the difference in earning power of the two men. The Prime Minister has a salary of £SOOO a year and his necessary expenditure can leave him but ilttle margin for saving. Sir Henry states that he is "most definitely informed" as to the amount earned by the music-hall favourite in Great Britain, and "it is probably an under-estimate to assume that Harry Lauder's income is at the rate of £30,000 a year—a sum equal to the aggregate salaries of the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the Secretary of State for War, the Home Secretary and the Secretary of State for India." The great Lafayette, who was burned to death in Edinburgh recently, left a fortune of £IOO,OOO. Harry Lauder already has invested large sums in land. "Though not yielding an immediate big return," remarks Sir Henry, "it has the quality of treasure laid up elsewhere ; neither moth not rust doth corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal." Mr Asquith's earnings would never place him among the landed proprietors.