A DISCLAIMER

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 85, 8 October 1915, Page 2

A DISCLAIMER

AUDITOR-GENERAL AND COMMISSIONERS. In his annual report on the public accounts, Colonel R. J. Collins, Controller and Auditor-General, has the following paragraph :—"ln: — "In regard to aforementioned defalcations, I must express my extreme regret that such a paragraph as the final one on page 4 of the Public Service Commissioner's report has been laid upon the table of the House, for the reason that it is so constructed as to present a relationship of cause and eSect which is inconsistent with the facts of the case, and is therefore unfair to the officers who comprised the conference therein referred to. So far as these defalcations are concerned, there is no conclusive evidence as to when they commenced, but it certainly was not as a result of the conference of 1911 that 'facilities were offered to a dishonest officer' in the sense implied by the Public Service Commissioner's report, the real fact being that such essential 'facilities' were created by the systematic lack of supervision on the part of the supervising officers, who totally disregarded the requirement of the Lands Department that a regular internal check of the accounts should be applied." [The section of the Commissioner's report referred to, and to which exception was taken, is as follows : — "What is believed to be the most serious defalcation heretofore by any member of the Public Service came to light in Christchurch in October last in connection with the collection of land revenue. The failure to discover the theft at the proper time has been, investigated, and a special report made by a board appointed by the Public Service Commissioner, consisting of an accountant from outside the service and the permanent head of a revenue department. It is to be regretted that in this particular case a system of keeping the accounts, recommended in 1911 by a committee consisting of two Audit Inspectors, two Receivers of Land Revenue, and one Treasury officer, is responsible for the facilities offered to a dishonest officer. In September, 1913, some months after the Commissioners assumed office, the attention of the Auditor-General was called by them to an inherent weakness of method, but he considered it would be a retrograde step to revert to the former system."]