SALARY SAVED

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 634, 10 April 1929, Page 16

SALARY SAVED

Bay of Islands has had No Member STATE GAINS £9O (THE SUN'S Special Reporter) OHAEAWAI, To-day. WHILE the two candidates have been fiercely fighting their claims to the Bay of Islands seat, the country has been saving money by nonpayment of a member’s salary. When Mr. H. M. Rushworth and Mr. Allen Bell tied at the General Election and the returning officer cast his vote for Mr. Bell, salary, amounting to £l7 10s for the fortnight from the election date, November 14, during which he occupied the position, was paid to Mr. Bell. Then the magisterial recount reversed the decision and put Mr. Rushworth in. So the salary was then paid to the Country Party’s sole representative in the House, who reacned Parliament just in time for the emergency session. Later, when the petition upset the election altogether, the Bay of Islands was again left without a member of Parliament, and all salaries stopped. Many believed Mr. Bell was still their member throughout this campaign, but actually the district has been unrepresented since the end of January, when the election was voided. In this way the State Treasury gains something like £9O by paying salary for on’-- 11 weeks, instead of for the 21 weeks since the General Election.