Fiji's Reluctant

Politicians Get Into

The Salaries Act

From a Suva Correspondent

February’s meeting of the Fiji

Legislative Council would have been completely unremarkable had it not been for a debate on whether or not members should fix their own salaries.

THE debate began after the Colonial Secretary, Mr. P. D.

Macdonald, moved a motion to ap point a Select Committee to “collect and hear evidence, and consider, what emoluments and/or other allowances should appropriately be paid to members . . . after the intro duction of the new Constitution. . .

The motion seemed straight forward enough. After all, every where else in the world, politicians get paid, and have a big say in how much they should get.

But Fiji’s Legislative Councillors— the unofficial ones, anyway—are still modest and scrupulous; and they became quite hot under their collec tive collar at the idea of serving on the Select Committee.

"Should Have Voice"

Speaking to the motion, Mr.

Macdonald said it was right that the elected representatives of the people should have a voice in the remunera tion they should receive as members.

It was done in the House of Commons and it was desirable that people thinking of standing for election under the new constitution should be aware of where they were likely to stand financially.

Unofficial members agreed that prospective members should know their prospective financial status; but except for Semesa Sikivou (Fijian), none of them favoured the idea of being a party to the salary-fixing. In fact, Mr. Andrew Deoki (Indian) revealed that the 18 unofficial members had agreed last December that the Government should do the job.

Eventually, the Speaker, Mr.

Maurice Scott, decided on a 15minute break so that members could try to reach a compromise over the yaqona bowl.

But no compromise was reached, and when the House reassembled, the Government put up the four unofficials on the official side, who,

presumably, were among the 18 unofficials who—according to Mr.

Deoki—had agreed that the Government should do the job.

These four members, Mr. R. G.

Kermode (Member without Portfolio), Ratu K. K. T. Mara (Member for Natural Resources), Mr. A. D. Patel (Member for Social Services) and Mr. John Falvey (Member for Communications and Works) demolished the arguments of their colleagues. , T , , , Mr. Kermode said that no other parliament that he knew of delegated the question of salaries to an outside body; while Ratu Mara, although confessing to some sympathy for the unofficials’ view, said he felt that salary-fixing was “a buck which this House will not be able to pass”.

“If we pass the buck to a body outside this House, it still has to

come back here for our final decision,” he said.

Mr. Patel said members would be shirking a very important duty if they refused to serve on the Select Com mittee; while Mr. Falvey said: “I strongly urge that we grasp this nettle now” (which was perhaps the first time that anything to do with money had been called a nettle).

The Colonial Secretary wound up the debate by stating that no one who did not know the inner work ings of the House could satis factorily fix the remuneration and allowances of members; and that, as far as he knew, all parliaments fixed their own.

That clinched the matter. The motion was passed on the voices.

And Fiji’s politicians moved a little nearer to being like politicians every where else.