A CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10717, 30 October 1912, Page 4

A CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION.

A Master-ton resident has.received a communication from a London business house, in which the following sensational statement appears:—"A constitutional question which has been I discussed for some time past, is abon to' take practical shape. It has been j maintained by many people of anthoi rity on such matters, that no Act of Parliament passed since the payment of members, is valid ; because upon payment of members, each member accepted an office of prollt under the. Crown, and by the British Constitution it is necessary that whenever a member of tho House accepts such an office, he must seek re-election at the, hands of his constituency. This, of course, is always done in the case of a member accepting a Government office carrying a salary, but it was not done by members when they commenced to receive a salary as ordinary members of the House. To the ordinary lay mind, a salary of £4OO a year constitutes an office of profit, and the Law Courts are now to decide whether it is so legally or not, certain gentlemen having undertaken to bring the necessary action to obtain s uch judicial ruling."