THB KING'S MINISTERS 63

learning the ropes and hope in time to enter the Cabinet. Next,
an older group who for one reason or another hove not been
found suitable for Cabinet rank, but whose diligence in one
Department, or loyalty to their party, give them a claim to some
post. The Ministry is simply a list of all the office-holders; it
does not act together in the manner of the Cabinet. Ministers
outside the Cabinet are expected to agree, in their public speeches,
with the whole of the Government's policy; but an occasional
disagreement does not cause much stir. Mr. Baldwin once
created some amusement by remarking about a middle-aged
non-Cabinet Minister in his Government, who had made a
speech that did not represent the Government view, that "he
would know better when he had reached years of discretion".
When in 1938 a newly appointed Under-Secretary expressed
opinions on a grave matter of foreign policy on which the Cabinet
had not pronounced, there was much criticism and he had to
apologise in the Commons for his "indiscretion".

SALARIES.

Ministers are paid for their work, in addition to their salaries
as M.P.S. An Act passed in 1937 fixed the salaries of the Prime
Minister and the Lord Chancellor at £10,000 a year, and of the
remaining Cabinet Ministers at £5,000. It also introduced a new
idea by providing £2,000 for the Leader of the Opposition.
Total expenditure on this head was increased by about £40,000,
which called forth some criticism. It is dearly right to pay
Ministers something, unless the country is to be governed solely
by those who have private means. How much they ought to be
paid must depend on the expenses of their office and the general
level of incomes outside politics. If an arrangement of the world
is permitted which allows one man to get £20,000 a year for the
mere ownership of property, and enables successful lawyers and
industrialists to draw five-figure incomes, it is hard to object to
£5,000 or even £10,000 a year for Cabinet Ministers. £5,000 a
year is thought necessary to secure the right type of man for a