DEFALCATIONS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 111, 6 November 1929, Page 12

DEFALCATIONS

1 CIVIL SERVICE LAPSES

STEADILY DIMINISHING

Satisfaction is expressed by the Public Service Commissioner in "his annual report to Parliament that the umber of defalcations and misappropriations in the-Service is steadily diminishing. While regretting that several officers have had to be dealt wth in that connection, during the past year, the Commissioner comments that the publicity given to defalcations to some extent conveys the impression that lapses are more frequent in the Public Service than in private employ. The fact that the Auditor-General is obliged to prosecute in every case tends to magnify the extent of the improprieties in the Service. "It is well known," says the Commissioner, "that many private employers, either from a dislike of the publicity and the association of their firm's name with criminal proceedings or from a misplaced sense of sympathy, hush up these unfortunate incidents. '' The improved methods of accounting and system of internal check undoubtedly contribute in no small degree to the detection of improper practices, and at the same time the greater certainty of detection no doubt acts as a deterrent in many cases. When one considers the extremely wide- ramifications of the service, extending to remote localities where close supervision and check are difficult to maintain, it is indeed surprising that the number of lapses is not greater.'^