TREASURY HEAD

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 104, 29 October 1931, Page 15

TREASURY HEAD

OVERLOADED OFFICIAL

MEMBER OF ELEVEN BOARDS

During times of difficulty in balancing Budgets, and strenuous efforts to economise,, the Treasury is always to the forefront in administrative matters. In the course of the opeiiing.discussion oh tho Estimates of. expenditure in tho House of Representatives, some of the Opposition members complained that the Secretary to- the Treasury seemed tq exercise the powers of a dictator.' The Minister of Finance did not endeavour to remove- that impression, but countered it by explaining that Ministers who had attended tho Imperial Conference • were impressed by tho way in . which the , British Treasury appeared to influence affairs.

te The New Zealand Parliament appears to be itself responsible for loading the „ Treasury with exceedingly wido powers, for there are a dozen or more Statutes [ giving the Secretary of that Departt ' nient definite responsibilities in regard j, to matters which aro strictly outside J the purview of his own office. Thus the c Secretary to the Treasury is a much -, overloaded official. In addition to being ; ' head of the Department, ho is Paymas- ,■," tcr-General, Receiver-General, Kegisi£ trar of Inscribed Stock (a duty involving tho signing of an enormous t number of documents requiring Jk signatures), and Chairman of the Local fl Government Loans Board, the final ,?' authority in respect to local bodies' loans, and their terms. Formerly, there f 3 was a Financial Adviser to the Treaj ß' sury, whoso special function related to Government borrowing, but this office is now merged with that of tho Secrem _ tary to tho Treasury. The samo officer '?" carries responsibility as a member of the following boards: Rural Intermedi- "}■ ate Credit, State Advances, Land Dea velopment, Government Life Insurance °" Investment, Tongariro National Park, he National Provident Fund, Public Scr- ■}'■ vice Superannuation, Railway Super- • animation, Teachers' Superannuation, a* Public Trust Investment, State Fire Inld vestment. ECONOMY AND UNIFORMITY. :i- By way of extra measure, the Sec- — retary to tho Treasury has had to deal vote a good dcul of time to the active oi- work of the Cabinet Committee on hi economy set up. towards the end of last k, year, and of which ho is a member, rs There is also a small committee for •s, securing uniformity of conditions in es the, various branches of tho Publio ys service, and again the Secretary to the 3d Tronsury has to take his share of tho •t- work. Another inter-departmental org- ganisation is a Publications Comuiitir- tee, of which the same official is a or member, and its work has been shown re in the disappearance of inflated departsro mental reports, which are now printed in in economical fashion, with the mini:s. mum of duplication except in regard a- to the Education Department, which ir- still issues several separato reports cm its specialised work, in addition to including references to these activities in its main report. As the condition of all the State superannuation funds has been a subject of anxiety, an investigation 'committee was appointed to report to the Government on tho subject, the head of tho Treasury being again included as a member.