Attorney General Lois Browne Evans should be paid almost three times as much as any other MP.

The call came in the House of Assembly as Finance Minister Eugene Cox moved to have the post of Attorney General included in the Legislature and then moved to have a salary of $91,544.09 affixed to it.

Shadow Finance Minister Grant Gibbons said he wished Mr. Cox had given more rationale for the amount and questioned whether the salary was an attempt to financially reward Mrs. Browne Evans for her service to the party and to the country.

"We on this side of the house believe there should be rewards for long service, but, and it's a big but, the taxpayer should not have to pay for it,'' Dr. Gibbons said.

The statement brought Premier Jennifer Smith to her feet on a point of order.

"Mr. Speaker, the honourable member is suggesting that the Government is paying off a member of the House.'' Dr. Gibbons noted that the salary scale for an officer of the Legislature should be in line with other officers and charged that the Government is "confusing the civil service salary scale with the salary scale of the Legislature''.

Dr. Gibbons also pointed out that the salary suggested is close to three times as much as is paid to the Ministers of Education and Labour and Home Affairs and close to twice as much as the Finance Minister and the Premier. He suggested that a more acceptable acknowledgement for the taxpayer of Mrs.

Browne Evans' service would be to give her the title of Dame.

He pointed out that from the taxpayer's perspective almost twice the amount will have to be paid out for the same work -- $113,000 for the new post of Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the $91,000 for the Attorney General in comparison to the $125,000 that was paid for the same service.

He further suggested that the salary of Attorney General should be $11,000 -- the difference between the former salary of the Attorney General and the salary for the new DPP.

But Government MP Arthur Hodgson explained the difference in salary comes as the position requires the postholder to offer his or her professional advice.

He pointed out that no other member of the Legislature is called upon in this regard.

"No other Minister has to render professional services to their Ministry,'' Mr. Hodgson said.

He also claimed that if the Government were seeking solely to reward Mrs.

Browne Evans for her long service, that they would have no problem claiming such. He reminded members of the House that there is precedence for such in British history and suggested that anyone who wanted to raise the matter of reparations should bring it to the House for debate.

Mr. Hodgson also revealed that he and the Finance Minister actually wanted the salary for the new AG post to be higher.

ATTORNEY GENERAL AG