The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1888. THE HONORARIUM.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1798, 4 October 1888, Page 2

The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1888. THE HONORARIUM.

Mr Fish, M.H.R, for Dunedin South, addressed bis constituents last, Friday evening;, and received a, purse' of £9O to compensate for the redaction,made in his honorarium. Mr Gourlay, in making the presentation, said it was the intentioii of a large number of Mr Fish's constituents to make up annually a sum equal to the £6O by which amount the honorarium had been reduced, as they did -hot wish anyone to sustain a loss in representing the district in Parliament, The people of South Dunedin have taken a. very sensible view'of the question. It is not right to require anyone to sacrifice his own interests to the interests of the public, and that anyone of auy standing or ability must do if be spends four months a year in Wellington for £150.' It is simply absurd to ask anyone to ,d,.o't, and the fact that the honorariuavihas been so .red need, will ultimately, have a very bad effect oh. the,,colony-) hpe it ■ said that * £l5O, is, enough for three month#’ work, but little reflection will show anyone that it is not. First, let it be remembered that iq thu, majority of case# the election . expenses of a candidate are over £l5O, and sometimes fire times and- .ten times that inm. If the election ' expenses of a member are £l5O, then it means that

his honorarium for the first session in

Parliament goes to refund the cost of election, and he,,has nothing to pay his expenses at the seat of government. He must, therefore, work during the first year to make up his loss by election. If the coat of the election should be £3oo—and in hotly-contested constituencies it often is—he must work two years to make up his loss, and so on. But besides his election expenses he has many other calls upon his purse. Illr Pish said that during last election* he received, and answered, 300 letters.and 100 telegrams.. . To answer them even would take a considerable sum. Then the member is supposed to subscribe to every collection that is set on foot, and to take up shares in every enterprise, and to attend meetings here, there, and everywhere. All this costs money, so that ha has to have his hand continually in his pocket during his r term of office.; It must be patent to everyone that no man can do this with £l5O, vputting , aside altogether any remuneration for-, his services, and it follows that men of means alone can now afford to go to Parliament. Of course,, if Jhe constituencies took it into their heads to make presentations to their tbe. way, £bas the people of Dunedin South have done, it would come to the same thing as if the honorarium had never been reduced ; but it is not likely that that system will be very generally adopted. Indeed we db-nqi; think tha,t it ought. There are in every constituency two parties : one party friendly towards the member,-the other deadly opposed to him. In each of these parties there is still party so closefisted that they would not subscribe to anything. The party opposed to the member would not, as a matter of principle, subscribe to his testimonial, neither would the close-fisted party ; so that the raising of it would fall entirely on perhaps a quarter—if not less —of the electors in the district. Now, is it right that a few free-hearted, generous electors should pay ; for the others ? We do riot thinks it is, and consequently we think, that the member’s honorarium ought to be paid by the Government,: for then all of his constituents would have to subscribe through the, medium of , taxation to it. This is the fairest way; he represents all of them, and all. of them ought to contribute to his honorarium; and the only way they can be made to do bo in through the medium of taxation.