PAINFULLY SLOW.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 139, 13 June 1936, Page 16

PAINFULLY SLOW.

AND EXPENSIVE, TOO. INQUIRY BY COMMISSION. WHERE AUSTRALIA LAGS. (From Our Own Corresconrlent.) SYDNEY, June 4. " There is—ns is usually the case in any Australian State at any given time —a commission sitting just now in Sydney. It is concerned with starting price betting, and it was originally set up to inquire into allegations made by members of the State Parliament, under cover of privilege, against certain police officials who were accused of dishonesty and corruption in tie discharge of their duties. There were originally two cases to investigate, but these have since grown to 12, with more likely to follow, and the examination of witnesses has landed the commission in a perfect maelstrom of charge and counter-charge, plot and ■ counter-plot, which is often dramatic, sometimes entertaining. So far, however, it has brought to the surface no tangible result.

This commission has sat for 30 days; more than 32,000 questions have been put by "the commissioner (Judge Marshall); more than GO exhibits have been tendered; the transcript of evidence has already run into more than 750,001) words; and the cost to the taxpayer is already more than £0000. Yet there is no sign of an ending in the near future, and no probability that the commission will be able to discover anything of real public value. Lesson from Britain. All this is depressing enough, but perhaps the most unfortunate feature of nearly all these elaborate investigations is the waste of time and money that they involve. Last week the "Bulletin, with the S.P. Commission and the Milk Commission before the mind's eye ; drew a striking contrast between the methods followed in England by Royal Commissions and the slow, tortuous and indecisive methods usually adopted here. It took for illustration the recent inquiry bv a Royal Commission into the Budget leakage at Home. The Budget was introduced"on April 21. On May 5, as a consequence of ominous rumours, the Commons sanctioned an investigation. On May 11 the Attorney-General opened the ease before the Commission. On May 20 the taking of evidence was completed. On that same day Mr. Thomas, understanding that the bunal immediately proceeds to consider its report," resigned his Ministei ial office. All this happened within the short space of one month and the tribunal sat for only ten days. Its methods were quite in keeping with its businesslike alacrity. A witness called before the Commission sent word from Switzerland that he could not appear, and a message was at once sent aftei him that if he did hot come a warrant for his arrest would be dispatched. .Nor was the tribunal any respecter of persons. Desiring to know precisely what were the relations between Mr. Thomas and his speculative associates, it called for the papers relative to the _ £15,000 house provided, as a sign of, friendship, for the Minister, and'within 4S. hours they were' in his hands. There is something "swift and sure", about this sort of investigation, which makes it riot onlv impressive but effective and differentiates it widely from the kind of inquiry that we.are accustomed to watcn dragging its .slow length along in Australia. "Appalling Cost," .

. . Not the least distressing feature of our experience of commissions in Australia is their appaling cost. About a year ago "Truth" took the trouble to estimate what inquiries of this sort have cost Australia during the last decade, and the total was really enormous. For 17 separate investigations the costs came to about £500,000, of which the Coal Commission cost £5-,000, the Development and Migration Commission £72,000, .and the Scientific and Industrial Research Commission £152,000. In addition to these there have been countless minor commissions inquiring into bread, milk, petrol, wheat, forestry, agriculture, sugar, dried fruits, the Murray Waters, hospitals, road transport and taxation. All these investigations have been marked by the same general characteristics —slow progress, heavy expense, impotance in regard to the extraction of evidence which witnesses desired to conceal (as in the petrol, milk and bread inquiries), and almost complete indecisions and lack of finality in the reports. / -

Of course, Royal- Commissions are sometimes necessary, more especially to investigate such/public- scandals as the Budget leakage at Home;- but there is much point in "Truth's" bitter gibe that commissions here are the expedients devised by Governments when they want to shelve their own responsibilities and throw a sop to the electors. And they are an expensive luxury at that.