MU . . BURT'S POSITION.
[To TILE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR; .1 SIR,—IB it quite fair to suggest, as you do, that Mr. Burt retains his position in Parliament by means of a public subscription? The statement is often made, I know ; but I could never understand on what grounds. Mr. Burt is the secretary of the Northumberland Miners' Association. Before he was returned to Parliament the miners paid him £250 a year ; when be was returned for Morpeth they increased his salary to £500. They would probably have done that before this time if he had not been returned to Parliament at all. Mr. Burt still discharges the duties of a very onerous post. He is not paid as a Member of
the House of Commons, but as a Trades' Union secretary. No man in England, I believe, has done such great work for so small a salary. It is impossible to over-estimate the value of Mr. Burt's services to the miners, or—considering that he has substituted arbitration for strikes, and that because of his wise management only one great "turn-out" has taken place in the Northumberland coal-fields since 1844—to the country. Surely the miners have a right to pay their secretary as they may choose, without suspicion of paying him to sit in Parliament. I believe I am right in stating that Mr. Burt has never received a penny from any public subscription.—I am, Sir, &c., Savage Club, M.C. AARON WATSON.
[We never dreamed of blaming Mr. Burt, but quoted him as proof that a most honest and excellent man may be paid for political services. Our authority for the fact is, as we believe, himself, in " Debrett," where it is stated that the Miners' Association, which really elects him, will pay him £500 a year " so long as he shall be a Member of Parliament."—En. Spectator.]
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