The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-08-24

rary on the other side of the Atlantic,
be the only member of the present CAB
met to allege that his official salary is
inadequate to his needs
OF the we'll rewarded members of the
British cabinet, the first law officer Of
the crown. Sir Rufus Isaacs. has the
feathered nest To begin WITH he
draws a salary of $4,000 a year as com
pared with the $4,000 with which At
torney-General McReynolds is rewarded
yearly, this sum, moreover, being his
emolument merely as legal advisor to
the government. Unlike the American
attorney general, he also appears in the
courts on behalf of the crown, aud gets
whopping big fees for so doing. OF
course the yearly aggregate of these
fees varies according to the number of
cases in which the first law officer OF
the crown is engaged, but they inVar-
iably amount to enough, plus the attor-
ney-general's official salary, to enable
the government to get man at the top
of his profession for the post Sir
Rufus lsaacs, the present attorney gen
eral, (who may have been appointed
Lord Chief Justice before these lines
appear in print) is, for example. one of
the ablest of the English barristers, and
X. c., or kings counsel, worth from
100000 to $4,000 year to accept
the attorney -generalship. Last year
which brought with it the long drawn
out Titanic investigation. tho state
prosecution of Mrs. Pankhurst and the
Pethick Lawrences. the olympic-Hawke
collision case and the suit for
s10oO0o,O00 brought against the gov
ernment by the National Telephone
company. was rich one for the attor-
y-general. who poeketed, in fees ana
'refreshers" between January and
December 81 the goodly sum of f9764,
or just short of $4,000, which makes
his annual income work out at little
less than $4,000 For his appearances
in the Titanic inquiry alone, Sir Rufus
lsaacs received f245S, or, roughly
$12,29o, this sum representing a brief
fee of 500 guineas, or $4,000, and the
'refreshers" at the rate of so guineas,
or $3.50 a day.
The second law officer of the crown.
officially known as the solicitor-gen-
eral, gets a salary of 100000. and. like
his distinguished chief-"fees." Those
pocSeted by the present incumbent of
the post Sir John Simon, amounted last
year to s32,075. Like the attorney gen.
eral. the solicitor general sits in the
House of Commons, and the absence of
his chief, or during a vacancy e may
perform the function of attorney gem
eral in all their extent.
Legal luminaries are well recon-
pensed, the world over. and the member
of the British cabinet with the fattest
Official salary, or Screw as it is col
loquially termed over here, is that
potent and vastly dignified parsonage
the Lord Chancellor De Wolf Hopper
has been taking him off quite lately in
the American revival of "Iolanthe" into
which the opera with characteristic ir-
reverance w S. Gilbert himself an ex-
barrister. introduced the dignified occu-
pant of the famous Woolsack in the
House of Lords. In the United States
we have no exact counterpart of the
Lord Chancellor who, besides acting
as speaker of the upper house. is
supreme head of the English judiciary
and who draws an annual salary OF
$50, 600. When he retires. moreover. he
Immediately enters upon life annuity
amounting to $4,000 year. Tie pres
ent holder of this office is, of course
Lord Haldane, who was secretary of
state for war before his elevation to
the Woolsack, and who is crossing the
Atlantic next month to be present by
special invitation, at the grea. gather
ing of the American Bar Association
which is to be held at Montreal
Nobody ever has accused Tho Lord
Chancellor of having a snap. Besides
sitting clad In wig and gown, on the
Woolsack as speaker of the house OF
peers, he sits as judge in that house,
in the privy council, the court of APP