BRITISH CRITICS OF HEAVY GOVT. EXPENDITURE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23024, 15 August 1949, Page 5

BRITISH CRITICS OF HEAVY GOVT. EXPENDITURE

LONDON. Aug. 12. An all-narty Parliamentary committee, in a report issued today, criticised the Government’s expenditure in South-East Asia, on a coal-to-oil conversion scheme at home, and on the nationalised British Airways. It objected to the British Food Ministry's rice trading and distribution in South-East Asia on behalf of the Burmese Government because the “Food Ministry not only continues to act as an agent for what is now a foreign Power and uses public money for the purpose, but participates in price negotiations in which the Exchequer has no direct interest.” 1 The report criticised the Government’s £3.000.000 coal-to-oil conversion scheme for railway engines launched in 1946 and later abandoned. It said that' extra time spent in ascertaining all the facts before undertaking such schemes might not only save unprofitable expenditure, but also lead to the adoption of more practical measures. Demanding more information about the cost to the taxpayer of the Stateowned air services, the report said that Parliament should know the extent of the help given to airways corporations from public funds, and proposed that the cost, be recorded separately in the accounts.