HL Deb 05 February 1918 vol 28 cc377-80

LORD HINDLIP had the following Question on the Paper—

To ask His Majesty's Government whether any decision has been arrived at concerning the salaries and allowances paid to members of the Diplomatic and Consular staffs in Scandinavian countries, who by reason of the abnormal rates of exchange and excessive cost of living are suffering considerable disabilities.

The noble Lord said: My Lords, the question which I have on the Paper this afternoon will not take up very much of your time, and as I understand from Lord Newton that the answer which His Majesty's Government are going to give is more or less favourable, I propose to cut my remarks as short as possible.

The question of the pay and allowances of the officers and staff of the Diplomatic and Consular Services in Scandinavia and other neutral countries is one which, through the fall in the exchange, the lack of shipping, and the increased cost of living on all sides, has made life for these people extremely difficult. Certain criticism, I fancy, is being made as to my Question being confined to Scandinavia. I confined it to those countries simply because during the past twelve months this question has been brought to my notice somewhat forcibly on several occasions; but, of course, the principle will apply to all other countries within neutral zones. The question arose in Russia before the Revolution and before the rouble became valueless, and the question was settled there on a piecemeal principle after the visit of Lord Milner to that country rather more than a year ago, and after one or two itinerant Members of the other House had been there and made certain representations to the Foreign Office and to the British Treasury. Therefore that forms a precedent; other precedents are the increased pay and allowances in America, which have been part and parcel of the Foreign Office form of pay for a good many years.

I made—I think it was last October—a calculation while I was in Sweden, and a kroner stood then at about l2½ to the £1. The value of the sovereign at that time, with the rise in the cost of living and the fall in exchange taken into consideration, was only about 6s.; so that your Lordships will readily understand that if a man got only 6s. for every £1 of pay he received from this country, his position was not a particularly happy one. The cost of all foodstuffs had risen in a most extraordinary way. It was far worse, I think, than in almost any other country; and, in addition to that, although they had no Food Controller, a great many things had absolutely disappeared. For instance, coffee did not exist at all. Acorns were being sold at nearly 1s. per lb. for making coffee. The whole of the coffee drunk in the country was made out of a mixture of acorns and dandelion roots—a very unpleasant mixture. Butter and milk were practically non-existent, and had not been on sale for some time. Members of the staffs who before the war had taken a house or lodgings which they thought they could afford, found that rents had gone up and incomes had gone down very considerably, and they could not move into cheaper houses or lodgings because in those countries there is hardly a room to be had from one end of Sweden to the other end of Denmark or Norway. I hope I have made out as shortly as I can a case for these rather hard-worked officials, and I hope that the noble Lord will be able to give me, as I understand he will, a favourable reply.

LORD MUIR MACKENZIE

My Lords, before an answer is given to the Question, I should like to say that I have the strongest personal reason for knowing how very serious is the state of affairs in connection with the members of the Diplomatic staffs in Scandinavian countries. I have occasion to hear, as often as the postal arrangements allow, how very great the difficulties are from day to day, and that the prices are quite beyond what these people with the incomes of our Diplomatic and Consular Services are able to pay. What, of course, is almost more serious is that actual articles of food are scarcely to be procured unless supplied from this country.

THE ASSISTANT UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (LORD NEWTON)

My Lords, the salaries and allowances of the Consular and Diplomatic Services in Scandinavian countries have been frequently under review during the last two years, and owing to the heavy fall which took place in the exchange in October of last year additional compensation was obviously required. I need hardly assure my noble friend that, having formerly been a member of the Diplomatic Service myself, I am in full sympathy with his complaint.

The arrangement which has been effected is as follows. All salaries up to £300 a year are paid at the par rate of exchange; on salaries above that amount the first £300 and half the balance is paid at par. This arrangement is based on the assumption that some part of every salary, especially above £300, is spent in this country in the form either of Income Tax or insurance premiums. In addition a percentage bonus, varying with the increase in the cost of living in the different Scandinavian countries, is paid on the proportion of salary convertible at the par rate; this bonus being at the present moment at the rate of 50 per cent. in Norway, 35 per cent. in Sweden, and 33⅓ per cent. in Denmark. It is not contended that this bonus actually meets the increase in the cost of living. The increase I understand in Norway, according to figures supplied in July last, was no less than 70 per cent.; in Sweden, 50 per cent.; and in Denmark, 47 per cent.; and there is every reason to suppose that there has been an increase since then. It is felt, however, that some part of the burden must fall on the officials concerned, although their representative character renders it necessary to make their position relatively easy, in the opinion of the Foreign Office, as compared with officials in this country.

In the case of diplomatists who receive very small salaries—my noble friend is probably aware that the third secretaries receive in some instances as little as £150 a year—and who are expected to provide £400 a year from their own means, the difference between the current and par values on £200 is allowed them, and a bonus at the proper rate on the same sum, in addition to the bonus on their salaries. Apart from these concessions, His Majesty's Government are prepared to defray three-quarters of the cost of providing coal for Consular and Diplomatic officials in various places in Scandinavia where coal has risen to an extraordinary price representing in some cases more than £20 per ton. I hope that my noble friend will be satisfied with this assurance.