IMPREST SUPPLY

Gisborne Times, Volume LXIII, Issue 10064, 31 July 1925, Page 5

IMPREST SUPPLY

DEBATE OPENED IN HOUSE.

SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS BY LABOR LEADER.

PREMIER’S REASSURING NOTE (PRESS ASSOCIATION J .. .. WELLINGTON, July 30.

When the House resumed, at 7.30 the Minister of Finance moved to go into Committee of Supply for the purposes of voting salaries. Oil this motion Mr Sidey "said there there was little occasion to debate this Imprest Supply Bill, because they now were in the middle of another debate of a similar kind, but ho would like to ask the Minister to tell the House how the finances of the first quarter of this year compared with a similar period last year, there might be other financial information which the Minister*..had .in his possession which he could give to the House. . Mr. Holland asked the Minister it he could give the House any informat!on regarding the loose methods ot caring for public property, since the Auditor-General in lfis report laid on the table last night, mentions that in one Department- two motor-cars and ]1 motor cycles have been found to be missing, and no explanation is forthcoming. There was a further complaint by tho Auditor-General that a Government officer was interested in a firm supplying goods to the Government, and that excessive prices charged covered up goods which were never delivered,' and this had been going on a few years. He wanted to know what happened 1 to that Government officer, and what was the name of the firm concerned, and whether it had been proscuted. In another Department the sum of £l,“ SCO had been lost and 'wou’d be increased when the surplus and absolete stock was taken into consideration. An audit investigation has further disclosed irregularities in connection with the recording of workmen’s time and the subsequent overpayment of wages, haphazard and irregular methods of costing in connection with the manufacture and sale of Government stores, illicit sales shortages, and extravagant consumption ot motor spirit. In olio Department which controls many important mstitutitms, it |has oeen ascertained that p’ant and material in three of these institutions alone, valued at roughly £27,000 were issued without any record as to their ultimate use. Consequently an audit was unable to tippy any checks on the use to which these stores were being applied. He considered the House was. entitled to know mopo about these matters.

The Prime Minister then gave instances of absurd Departmental regulations which were being simplified, but the control of pubi c stores were not being slackened. He was satisfied the great bulk of public servants were honest, and the position was not nearly so bad as the report, made it appear. ' Mr. Forbes said the Auditor-Gen-eral’s report was full of drastic statements, and the House was bound to tako some notice of them, otherwise that officer might well be abolished. His complaints were made year after year, and apparently Ministers took no notice'of them. Some proper check was obviously necessary to prevent the wiaste evidently going on in the public service. He quoted from a paragraph referring to the Lands Department in which the Aud.tor-Gen-cral pointed out the losses on soldier settlement so far ascertained, exclusive of reductions made by the Revaluation Board, are approximately £131,000. , - . . The Minister of Lanas, replying to Mr. Forbes, said lie regretted the losses on soldier settlements, but he was afraid there would be ev®n greater losses than those mentioned. Tho whole posit-'on was most difficult for manv cases of soldiers were border line cases about which ; t was not easv to come to an equitable decision. Sir J. Parr said lie had very great respect for the Aud tor-General, but his experience was that officers sometimes asked Departments to observe rules which were wholly impracticable. Sometimes Departments were right and the Auditor-General was wrong. ~ , , The debate was continued by Messrs Rhodes (Thames), Jordan, Parry and Veitch. ■ __ At 11.30 p.m. the Hon. W. Nosworthv replied. He said lie could give no information regarding tho first quarter’s finance as the accounts were still at audit. They would be gazetted at an early date. So far as exports and imports were concerned the information available seemed to K how that there had been no falling off. So far as the Auditor-General s report was concerned most ot the matters mentioned there were discovered by the officers of the Department themselves, showing that of fleers were not so negligent alter af . If the Auditor-General was satisfied there was any fraud on the port of officers it was his duty to prosecute. If there was no prosecution in the cases referred to by Mr Holland then it must be assumed there were no o-rounds for action. Many cases looked black on the surface, hut when analysed there was nothing m them. The House then went into G<)mmittee of Supply and reported that the sum of £2,499,150 was . required for salaries, wages and contingencies. At this stage Mr Holland raised the question of the position of • the Crown Solicitor at Westport complaining that no proper inquiry had been held into Ins complaint on this subject made last session. He contended that the men employed acting ns Grown Prosecutors should be men! above reproach, and in face of facts he laid before the House there should be a full investigation into this case. Sir J. Parr said&vhen Mr Holland made his charges last year lie had submitted the whole case to the At-torney-General who had caused a report to be made which he /Sir J. Parr) read to the House. This report dealt with every point raised by _Mr Holland, and none of the accusations were proved. Replying to Mr McCombs’ reference to a commission on wages and the ‘ cost of living, Mr Coates said this was a matter that required consideration. and a good deal of it. .It was a mistake to suppose he was not sympathetic. The matterwould re ceive consideration, and the Government would take the responsibility tor whatever course was finally adopted. Discussing tho position of railway employees he said he had improved their working conditions out of all knowledge. It was not yet perfect but it was better than he found it. casuals’ pay having been raised from £3 15s to £3 19s lid. 80 far as the Auditor-General’s report was concerned he agreed that where there were defalcations in public service there should be prosecutions. _ He could find no records of prosecutions, and therefore ho assumed there was no ground tor prosecutions in the cases mentioned by Mr Holland. The Bill which amongst other items provides for a loan of £30,000 to tho New Zealand and South, Seas Exhibition Company (Ltd), free of interest, was passed