LOCAL BODY ACCOUNTS.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XII, Issue 233, 14 September 1922, Page 4

LOCAL BODY ACCOUNTS.

AUDIT DEPAIRTMENT CRITICISED. UNSATISFACTORY METHODS ALLEGED. Te Kuiti. fiept. 12. Commenting on the Audit Department, Mr. Hine (Mayor of Te Kuiti) said: “It is a grave reflection on the law governing Lhe audit of local bod} accounts that while such a disgraceful state of affairs should exist lor >ears m thijr borough without hindrance oi discovery, yet 1, who have been successful in cleansing the Augean stifle, should be harassed and* prosecuted by the very Department whose unsatisfactory methods have to a great extent been respousibfe for our troubles. Little wonder is it that so few successful men of business and education are taking part H the business life of the Dominion. The present legislation empowering the Audit Department to prosecute members on the slightest pretext can easily be converted into a weapon to- stifle criticism. 1 don’t say it is. but I see a grave danger in that direction. At the same time it can be used as a device to deceive the public into believing that the Department is very efficient, whilst all the time the reverse may be the case. I make that a public protest because the matters 1 refer to are of national importance, the cost to the country of yearly defalcation*alone running into thousands, whilst the chief concern of the Audit Department appears to be the prosecution of members of local bodies for trivial and technical breaches of an absurd law, doing incalculable damage to local government.” Mr. Hine said he favoured discretionary power being given to the courts. A Department wfflen 'Siiould be open to criticism, as the Audit Dept, should be, should not have such powers, as they might be used to suppress criticism. Mr. Hine does not intend to stand at the next election.