HONORARIUM.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 2972, 1 August 1891, Page 2

HONORARIUM.

TO THE EDITOR. Silt,—ln answer to the sham Liberal who writes in your issue of the 28th July, I may state that it should be the aim in all countries with paid members of Parliament to make the honorarium sufficiently largo to support a man and his family respectably— in the manner that a legislator of New Zealand and his family ought to live. £150 a year is not sufficient for that purpose—perhaps £210 may be. Better be without an honorarium and leave the representation entirely in the hands of the monied classes than have the present honorarium. Mr Ballance is quite right to raise the sum paid to representatives ; it is a truly Liberal measure, and one thoroughly in the interests of the working classes. After ten years experience in this country I have come to the conclusion that nut oniy all the Ministries but all the Parliaments of that time have been the very obedient servants of the Civil Service. In fact I have also come to the conclusion that in the economy of nature the sole reason for tiio existence of New Zealand is the support ot an over-grown Civil Service, by an industrial population, taxed to its utmost limits. The cost of government in Kugland. the interest on the national debt, the support of a high-paid army, and of a most costly navy do not equal the financial burden in proportion to population that is placed on the shoulders of the industrial closes of New Zealand in supporting the Civil Service. The productive classes of New Zealand also pay the interest on the enormous colonial debt—over and above that crushing Home expenditure. The Parliaments and Ministries whom the sham Li'.ieral admires so much have been the means of sinking New Zealand to its present deplorable condition, and 1 am afraid the incubus of the quilt drivers will oppress us for many years to come. —Yours truly, Jos. J. Bakuoh.