PUBLIC SERVICE

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLI, Issue XLI, 15 October 1921, Page 7

PUBLIC SERVICE

THEFT NO EXCEPTIONAL

INIQUITY

(By Telegraph—Special to the Star,) WELLINGTON, Oct. 14. ' Seventeen defalcations by public ser- j vants are enumerated by the Auditor^ General in his report to the House ot Representatives, the oiienders having, in every instance,- been punished by the . courts. The Auditor-General contends that the publicity given to these cases should not create the impression ot special iniquity on the part of public servants. The fact is that oftences of this nature appear to be always more common, or more commonly disclosed, during periods of financial stress, the reasons for which are not far. to seek, but need not be set forth. The real cause of,the seemingly large proportion •£ Government employees involved in these cases, he says, arises from'the' simple factj in every instance of such' ottence in the service, that proceedings are instituted in aeoerdane&vW'ith what is ruled to be the Audit Office's duty, ; whereas in the case of private or proprietary employees there is often no actton taken for such misdeeds, either as a matter of policy or some like equivalent. Even under these conditions the prosecutions taken by the Audit Office outside of the public service, that is, with, regard to local ibody officials and the like, bear at least an equal proportion to those instituted against Government'servants when the respective numbers of each are taken into ac- j count, and I trust that hereafter a juster view will be entertaned of the . ; reliability and integrity of the vast ma- [ jority of officers in the public service. „ ! ■! 1