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MAITLAND MERCURY.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1852.
LATER ENGLISH NEWS.
_. .... situation NEWS.
By the Waratah English news to the
2nd June, brought to Melbourne by the
Lady Head and the mail steamer Aus-
tral fan, has been received.
The two most important items in the
news thus received are-that emigra-
tion to Australia was rapidly on the
increase, and that there had been a considerable
advance in price at the London
May wool sales. The great bulk
of the emigrants however were proceeding
to Victoria-no trifling instal-
ment of them having arrived there
within the last three weeks.
In another column will be found
summaries of the English news copied
by our Sydney contemporaries from
the Melbourne papers.
THE SPEAKERS SALARY.
Mr. Wentworth has succeeded in
carrying his motion, that from the 1st
of January, 1853, the salary of the
Speaker of the Legislative Council
should be fixed at ,£'2000 a year, until
a house and service of plate could be
procured and the salary of the Chairman
of Committees at 2500 a year.
The motion was carried, after a motion
by Mr. Donaldson for the previous
question had been rejected, by a majority
of 19 to 14; the whole of the
minority, except 1 being elective members
the majority comprising 7 official
and 2 non-official nominees.
We are advocates for economy in the
administration of the public money ;
yet with all our desire to see economy
practised, we are constrained to art mit
that the arguments in favor of the increased
salaries which have been voted
to the Speaker and Chairman of Committees
are more weighty than those
urged in opposition to the increase.
There is a certain degree of state
and dignity, and certain duties and
obligations, attaching to the office of
Speaker, which in the nature of things
cannot well be separated from it. To
sustain this dignity and to perform
these duties suitably, involves a very
sons derable oiiflay-confessedly much
greater than the salary now attached to
the office will defray. It is therefore
only fair, when the Council elect a
gentleman as their Speaker-as in fact
the representative of the Legislature of
the country that they should attach
to the office a salary sufficient to enable
him suitably to sustain the dignity and
discharge the duties of his official
portion without trenching on his private
means.
On these grounds we think the
Council were justified in voting an increased
salary to the Speaker; and,
after weighing the arguments as to the
amount of increase, we think that while
the Council have made a liberal provision
for the Speaker, they are not
open to the charge of extravagance in
fixing the salary of 2000 a year. By
attaching an adequate allowance at the
Speakership, the Council have practically
thrown the office open to the
person who may be deemed best qualified
to discharge its duties whether
he reside in Sydney or in the country,
or whether he possess ample or only
moderate private means.
The salary of the Chairman of Committees
rests on a different footing. It
is more in the nature of a direct remuneration
for services performed. Considering
that the services of the Chairman
of Committees are not generally
required for more than four or five
months out of the twelve, (he salary
which is in future to be attached to the
office is quite ample.
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