THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1891. DR POLLEN'S PENSION.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2251, 8 September 1891, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1891. DR POLLEN'S PENSION.

The Hon. Da Pollen, member of the Legislative Council, and at present a pensioner in receipt of £SOO a year, has made the most impudent claim on the Government that man ever made, and, what is more extraordinary, a determined effort was made to get it recognised. It should be stated, however, that the Government are in no way to blame. The claim came up in the shape of a petition, and was referred to the Public Accounts Committee, and they reported as follows :

" The Hon. Dr. Pollen in 1873 had the right to retire on a full pension. Instead of retiring, he took office on the 3rd July, 1873, as a Minister of the Crown. He ceased to draw the salary attached to his Civil Service office, the duties of which, however, he continued to perform. In consequence of the passing, in 1876, of the Disqualification Act, Dr. Pollen, on the 30th October in that year, resigned his office in the Civil Service, but continued Minister till 1877. Dr. Pollen then claimed his pension which, after some time, was fixed at £4lB 15s per annum, calculated from the date he resigned his office in the Civil Service. He now claims that his pension should date from the date when he became entitled in 1873. In the circumstances, and following the precedent in the Hon. W. Gisborne's case, the Public Accounts Committee recommend that Dr. Pollen be paid a sum equivalent to the time from the 3rd July, 1873, to the 30th October, 1876, amounting to £1389 5d." Now let it be remembered that this same Dr Pollen is at the present time receiving a pension of £SOO a year from the Government, besides his honorarium as a member of the Legislative Council. He is, besides, one of the most vulgar opponents of any Liberal or progressive measure which come before the Council, and no one accepted the retrenchment which reduced his honorarium with so bad a grace. As a politician we know no one more objectionable. He is one of those who is everlastingly raving against working men if anything touching their interests happen to come up, and yet he himself would evidently bleed the country to the last farthing if he could. But he is not §0 much to blame as the Committee who recommended payment of his claim. He had neither law, nor justice, nor equity, on his side, as for the time for which he claims he was a Minister of the Crown, receiving £1250 a year, and had not even resigned his office. And even then the claim is nearly twenty years old, and was refused recognition evidently when Sir George Grey was Premier. It is most extraordinary how a man could possibly muster up sufficient impudence to put

in such a claim, and it is still more extraordtnary how a committee of sensible men could have been got to make such a monstrous recommendation as the payment of it. Mr Saunders, who was chairman of the committee, strongly opposed it, and made a speech in which he said that in 1883 Dr Pollen held six offices, for which he received £575 a year. At the same time he received from the Imperial Government the sum of £3OO a year. He was called to the Legislative Council and appointed Colonial Secretary in Sir Jnlius Vogel's Ministry, receiving a salary of £IOOO a year, whicb was increased to £1250 when he became Premier, but he had ceased to draw the pay from the Civil Service and Imperial Offices. Mr Saunders' claimed that the conditions required by law had not been fulfilled, and that therefore Dr Pollen was not entitled to the pension he now claimed. All honor to Mr Saunders for the stand he took. He is deserving of the greatest praise for it. Sir John Hall was the great champion of Dr Pollen. Sir John Hall, of course, is a Tory, and so is Dr Pollen, and so he saw no wrong in putting a few pounds., in his pocket. This is the most scandalous thing that has come under our notice for a long time, and. we are glad that it has been defeated, chiefly by the combined action of the labor members, who carried a motion which will have the effect of throwing it out of court. So, after all, labor members have their uses. It is mnch to their credit that they prevented such a fraud, and we sincerely trust they will look closely after such matters in future.