EMPIRE EXHIBITION

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 48, 25 August 1923, Page 9

EMPIRE EXHIBITION

MR. U. F. WINTOUR'S AFFAIRS

SIR J;-- ALLEN SPEAKS OUT,

(PROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

■ LONDON, 12th July. The contract of Mr. U. F. Wintour with the British Empire Exhibition authorities, who recently dispensed with his services ai chief executive officer for the consideration of £14,600, was. again the subject of a question in Parliament thia week.

Sir James Remnant pointed out that under the agreement Mr.. Wintour was entitled to a salary of £3000 a year free of income and super tax, £2000 a. year as entertainment allowance, and his travelling expenses while away from London. Sir James asked: "Seeing that the Exhibition must end- next year, on what basis the compensation of £14,500 was arrived at, in view of the fact that his expenses for entertainment and travelling on behalf of the Exhibition would not be incurred after his retirement. Why the sum of £2110 15s 6d was paid to him within a month of the signing of the agreement, for the purpose of purchasing a motor car?". j Lieut.-Colonel Buckley, who replied, said that the allowance of £2000 included provision for a motor-car as well "as for entertainment. • The amount of compensation wag assessed on a basis of 2£ years' salary and allowances, and the ! sum of £2110 155.6 d was to be paid to Mr. Wintour not merely for purchasing: a motor-car but in view of his having already been engaged on the work of the Exhibition for nearly six months. THE HIGH COMMISSIONER'S STATEMENT. In the course of an. interview with a "Pall Mall Gazette" representative, Sir James Allen revealed a little more of the history of the arrangement with Mr. Wintour. This is the first time the public here has been taken so far into the confidence of the board in regard to this matter, and the High Commissioner is still wondering what his colleagues will have to say to him when next they meet.

"You must' understand in the first place," said Sir James, "that this agreement with Mr. Wintour was entered info before I and others came on the scene at all. I had no part or lot in it, and I refrain from passing any comments on it —but if I did so I am afraid my comments would be rather severe. EXTRAORDINARY POWERS. "We examined the agreement, and found that it was quite legal, hence we had to undertake its ratification. But •vve also soon' discoyered that.Mr, Win-! tour enjoyed under. its provisions extraordinary powers. I say extraordinary—l,will leave it at that. He had, moreover, a terrific amount of work to get through. .No man . conld have got through it. We decided that he must be relieved of some of it, and we took over the matter of policy, leaving the question of executive administration still in his hands. Of course he objected to our doing that, but we, nevertheless, had our way. "The machine, however, did not work as it ought to h*ve done. There was j grit somewhere. We then came to the conclusion that something must be done. But here the question of the agreement j came in. There were meetings of solicitors, and after much negotiation,. Mr. Wintour handed over entirely to us; as has already been described. MR. WINTOUR'S DEMANDS. "I do not intend to say anything about ■ the amount of the compensation that was finally agreed upon. But I would like to point out that the board- did not pay any more than they need have done, and that Mr. Wintour, in the first place, asked for much more than he finally got. I fully believe," and I say it' to the public generally, that the board, in acting as they have done, acted in tho best interests of the Exhibition.; nor do I see what else they could have done."