The Daily News. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6. PAYMENT OF POLITICIANS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 152, 6 October 1910, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6. PAYMENT OF POLITICIANS.

Politicians are not paid for their services in the House of Commons, because it is assumed that no man can have attained sufficient eminence to guide people unless lie has amassed money and is therefore independent of an "honorarium.' Since other than financial elements have j insisted on getting into Parliament to | represent their class the institutions I which have been the means of their eh- | try have maintained them. In Britain it has been already proved that the representation of classes hitherto unrepresented has been absolutely justified, that if Labor members and others were not paid by some methods there would be no Labor members, and if there were no Labor members, the "masses" would not be faithfully represented. It is impossible to believe that the old-time Houses of Parliament represented the people of Britain, and it is equally impossible to believe that the present representation would be so complete if all members depended on outside employment for their sustenance. The present antagonism to payment of members is a'Tory weapon, and the futility of the reasoning for non-payment of any members is splendidly illustrated in the cabled remarks of Lord Tennyson. Lord Tennyson was the | Governor of 'Sout'll Australia, and, for a I short interregnum, Governor-General of 'the Commonwealth. He therefore has ' some knowledge of the system of paying members. He seems to agree that payment of members of Australian Parliaments is necessary, but mentions that payment of members of the Imperial Parliament "would be fatal to Imperial unity." In plain English, Lord Tennyson says: "There are men in the imperial Parliament who could not possibly be there if some organisation or other did not pay them money for their political services. The representation of the ■whole of the people is fatal to Imperial unity. If these men of the people were not paid, they could not be in the Commons. Do not pay them, and then Parliament will revert to the old standard of politics for the persons." It seems to be argued by Lord Tennyson that "the broad interests of the Empire" cannot be looked after if politicians are paid for looking after them. Therefore, only those who take up politics , as a hobby, having sufficient independent ■ means to do so, are capable of understanding "broad interests/' The member 1 of Parliament who is at Westminster because people of his class wish him to be there to represent them must necessarily be cut out if neither private or- | ganisations nor the State will pay his I salary. The extraordinary idea that work that is hone without pay is necessarily th.e best work is peculiarly Tory, but the Governors of States who undertake less important work than members of the Commons by indulging in gubernatorial functions for a term do not, as far as we can ascertain, refuse to take salaries for their duties. There is no record of a colonial Governor having handed back his salary with the remark that working for money "would be fatal to Imperial unity," and yet it can be shown that real representatives of the people who could not be in the Commons without payment from somewhere have given finer services to the Empire than most State Governors. Payment of members in the dominions seems necessary for the reason that the people demand real representation. At least onehalf of the members of the New Zealand Parliament would be unable to carry on their duties without the honorarium. If payment of members in the colonies were abolished, it would necessarily follow that only those men who were wealthy enough to afford politics as a recreation could obtain seats in the House of Representatives. We-do not want dilettantism in our politics, and although there may be cases in which dilettantes have succeeded as sJUUesmen, statesmen are not tied up in dozens. There is only one.statesman to an acre of politicians, ana statesmen crop up whether they are salaried or not. In the case of the Commons the payment of members might be made optional. The landed patriots who believe that taking a salary for the more important work that can be done is "fatal to Imperial unity" need not take it. We have a record in New Zealand of a member refusing to take his salary, and another record of a member, owning one of the greatest unimproved estates in New Zealand, taking his salary and spending it immediately on entertaining ! his constituents. There seems to be no reason for preventing a politician working gratis if he so desires, but to make comparative poverty a bar to the entrance of a man into.Parliament to represent his class is obnoxiously Tory and an excellent example of class selfishness. We are not willing to admit that every man in the New Zealand Parliament earns his salary, and quite unquestionably there would be some good results if salaries were not paid. Still, in making it illegal for an organisation to use its funds to pay the salary of a member of the Commons, and continuing the English custom of non-pavment by the State, means absolutely that "no poor men need apply." Lord Tennyson's Tory reasoning. is that real representation in Parliament means indifference to the "broad interests of the Empire." Therefore the only persons in Parliament who have the interests of the Empire at heart are the men who are rich enough to dabble in 1 poliftes without pay. His proposals that the State should pay the election expenses of members of Commons is absurd if the principle of non-payment of salary is carried out. The man who can afford Parliament without salary can afford election expenses. The man who canno*

afford to enter Parliament unless either the State or some organisation pays him cannot keep Lis cupboard full with election expenses. Even for a person whose appointments at large salaries have been the result of the eminence of his father. Lord Tennyson, is peculiarly inconclusive. If he should be offered another excellent situation uiukr the King in any of his dominions it is hoped he may refuse the salary, on the principle that payment of Governors "would be fatal to Imperial unity."