REDUCTION OF 35 PER CENT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 260, 2 November 1932, Page 16

REDUCTION OF 35 PER CENT.

PURCHASES OF GOVERNMENT STORES. PRICES LOWEST SINCE 1922. (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. A reduction of 35 per cent in the expenditure on behalf of State Departments for purchases of stores during the last financial year is revealed in the annual report. of the Stores Control Board. < The total expenditure was £2,757,214, compared with £4,286,803 for the previous year, a decrease of £1,529,590. With a few urgent exceptions .tenders or quotations were invited for the stores purchased. Several contracts which expired on January 31 last, were not renewed, owing to unstable market conditions, exchange, uncertainty and surplus stocks held through the stoppage or curtailment of works and services. These included general ironmongery, email tools and implements, plumber's requisites, iron and steel, fencing wire, paints, oils and varnishes. When conditions become favourable new contracts will be arranged, but in the meantime purchases are being made in the open market as required. , ■• : • Contracts let during the year reflected the general downward tendency in prices. In many cases they were the lowest received since 1922. The contractors' service in general was efficient and satisfactory, but in one instance a contract was cancelled and the contractor disqualified for two years, owing to unsatisfactory performance of a contract for the supply of foodstuffs.