Note 90 — Chapter IX

Unfortunately the present House of Commons has just decided, August, 1911, to pay its members a salary of £400 a year from the national revenue. It is to be regretted that the cost has not been laid directly on the electors, and that the time is not more appropriate. With the country torn with strikes of workmen seeking a few extra shillings a week, it was hardly the opportune moment for a House of Commons to vote itself some £250,000 a year. The proposal would have been more palatable to the nation if the Commons had decided that payment should begin with the next Parliament.