A "very large part" of the master's discretionary fund at Adams House--the same fund used to finance student concerts, plays and dinners--is used to pay the salary of a full-time maid at the master's residence, Robert J. Kiely, master of the House, said yesterday.

Kiely declined to disclose the maid's salary but confirmed that aside from receiving room and board she is paid minimum wage entirely out of the fund rather than his own pocket.

The Kiely maid is paid out of the entertainment fund despite the creation two years ago of a separate administrative stipend that Dean Whitlock yesterday called "more appropriate" for such expenditures.

Grumblings and Rumors

"There have been grumblings by some members of the House committee who knew about it," Muliufi Hanneman, co-chairman of the committee, said yesterday. But, he added that neither he nor other members of the committee knew whether the "rumors" about the maid's salary were true.

Several other sources, however, reported that Kiely last year told a few students about the expenditure for the maid in the context of complaining about the burdensome expenses that come with the mastership.

When first questioned yesterday about the House fund, Kiely told The Crimson, "I don't see how that's any of your business."

In a later interview, however, he said that the payment for the maid grew out of an "unfortunate situation" that he had been left with when he took over the House two years ago.

Rather than fire her after nearly 20 years of service, Kiely said he decided to keep her on and pay her out of the entertainment fund. "There's no other place for it [her salary] to come from," he said.

"We were under no instruction not to pay the maid from this fund," Kiely said, adding later that he had received no complaints from either the administrators or students who knew about the arrangement.

Whitlock said the University paid for masters' maid service on a regular basis until 1965, when the special allotments were eliminated. From '65 to '75 masters were on their own for maids "and many gave them up."

Whitlock said that for the last two years masters have been given an additional stipend--which one source estimated at $5000 a year.

"The administrative stipend is intended to help out with such matters," Whitlock said, listing items like baby-sitters and "maids to clean the house."

For Students

He added that what he called the "master's discretionary fund for entertaining" should be used for "students who wish to do something or other" and "is routinely used to pick up the tab for events like House plays."