NATIVE ADMINISTRATION

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 May 1934, Page 7

NATIVE ADMINISTRATION

AUDIT INSPECTOR’S CHARGES

“A TERRIBLE MESS"

[PEB PBESS ASSOCIATION.] ROTORUA, May 11. At the Native Affairs Department Royal Commission, strong criticism of accountancy methods employed by the Waiariki restrict Maori Land Board in the administering of the native land development, scheme in the Rotorua district, was expressed by Mr. Joseph Austin Petre, audit inspector, who gave evidence this afternoon. Witness stated that the oilice copies ot the stores orders were in a state of chaos, and it was impossible to trace

where the stores had gone. The posting of the orders to the ledgers was very much in arrears, and quite recently the books were twelve months behind in this respect. It was also the custom of the Maori Board to buy its stores in Rotorua, which means buying them at considerably above the contract rates set by the Stores! Control Board. There was no proper I costing system, and in many cases the I natives had bought tools at cost price from the Government. Witness alleged that frequent discrepancies were shown in the time sheets and the vouchers, which appeared to have been manipulated in the office. lie did not allege that this had been done from motives of dishonesty, On the contrary, he did not believe that the clerks responsible would misappropriate a .penny. The natives had been asked to sign the pay sheets in blank, and to send them in so that they could be filled in for any amount. The natives had com

plained to him that they had not received their pay. Au investigation showed that in some cases there were natives receiving unemployment relief

when they had a substantial farm, while in another instance, an aged chief was receiving £1 a week as the supervisor of one of the schemes, althought he was too old to work, and was also drawing a war pension. It was very difficult, witness stated, to determine the position with regard to stock. As a whole, the position was in a hopeless muddle. The Supervisor knew fairly well what stock there was, but he did not know what it had been charged with. In one case, Mr. Petre stated, a man named Tupara Kingi, at Horohoro, had received an increase of 3s 4d per week in pay in order to compensate him for entertaining distinguished visitors to the scheme. This man had also been paid £25 for entertaining the Governor-General. The Native Board had failed to impose the 10 per cent, on certain wages. The wages clerk had made the reductions, but he had received a “blast” from headquarters, so he had not proceeded.

INFORMATION WITHHELD. There had been practically no internal check in the Rotorua office, which made it very difficult for the auditors. A great deal of trouble was due to a lack of staff, although many requests had been made for extra assistance. There lately had been small increases, and attempts were being made to reorganise the office. The men on the staff were doing their work well, but they were overworked. The general accountancy system in the Rotorua Office was in “a terrible mess.” He had brought the position under the notice of the head accountant for the Department. The Registrar of the Board was very secretive, and it was very difficult to obtain information from him. Witness also raised the question of the potato crops at Horohoro. In 1932,

he had been unable to obtain any records in regard to these, and he found it very difficult to obtain any information about them. He had asked the Registrar for details, which were not supplied, although witness afterwards ascertained that these had been in the office all the time. He estimated that £650 worth of potatoes had not been accounted for. Lavish gifts of potatoes had been made to individual natives.

Witness said that a number of the properties at Maketu had been fenced with materials from the land schemes, although they did not form part of the development blocks. Unemployment monies also appeared to have been improperly used, and there were other irregularities. Allowances were paid officers in the Rotorua district which were not in accord with the scale set down by the Public Service Commissioner. He had been unable to determine what these allowances were for. 'He had submitted an official audit query to the Registrar in July of last year, but none of the questions had so far been answered. A number of horse-driven hay presses had been bought at a cost of £54 each, but they had been found to be quite useless, and had never been worked. He estimated there was a dead loss of £3BO 12s 6d in this account. An investigation showed that _ a motor vehicle belonging to the Native Board and the Native Department had been extensively used for other than official purposes. An admission of the misuse of a truck had been made by two officers of the Board, who had agreed to pay a surcharge on that acocunt. Mr. Finlay had just opened his crossexamination of witness when the Commission adjourned.

CHARGES DROPPED. ROTORUA, May 11. The cases of H. Tai Mitchell, Rotorua, came before the Native Affairs Commission. Mr M. H. Hampson said that very grave allegations had been made against Mitchell in the press, owing to the fact that statements had been taken from the audit report to which Mitchell had had no opportunit.v to reply. Mitchell was the acknowledged leader of the Maori people in the Rotorua district, and he could offer a very conclusive explanation on the whole matter. In supporting Mr Hampson’s application. Mr Finlay said it was understood that certain allegation that were made by the audit officer would not be proceeded with. The charges made were very grave indeed, and it was significant that they were not to be proceeded with. Mitchell could refute them entirely, and he should be given an earlier opportunity to do so. Mr Quilliam said that, since this matter had been raised, he considered it his duty to say that the charges of dishonesty which were made could not be substantiated. The audit report was based on a number of irregularities, nut an explanation had been offered which was consistent with innocence. For that reason, he consid-

ered that it would be fairer not to proceed with that section of the report.