POLITICAL JOTTINGS.

Hokitika Guardian, 30 July 1924, Page 4

POLITICAL JOTTINGS.

DEPART.M I’BNT.A!. BA LANCE SHEETS.

The .system of ilesartmental hahmiesht'els. new required fimn all the

.'jt.'-te ill'.]';i rWU'iits. iipj vr.r.s to ls> working well, judging from the report .submitted to Parliament by Colonel (E F. C. Cam] hell, the (' /ittrolier and Attditor-Heneial. “T am very glad to ho able to report,'' lie states-, “that C’oit.sideralde improvement has Been

shown in the ] reparation of those accounts. which at,* lnm-li more uniform than wax the case la-t year, and in nearly all eases in which a department is cuntioiling .subsidiary undertakings, .separate profit and loss, nr working accounts. have been prepared on ei mtr.ereial linos. It is anticipated that next year separate accounts will he provided for all such undertakings. I would like to emphasise the fact that, in

cases where separate activities aie carried on’, or where separate institutions are being , ontndled hy one department. a general statement showing the total rot result of the working of tho department as a whole for tho year would be of little valve as a guide to administrative efficiency. Each separate subsidiary an omit .should Ik* complete in itself, so that it can bo sopa-

ratcl.v nhalyseci, otherwise it will l>o impossible to coaipnro the results obtained in similar establishment* tarried on in different places with a view to the adoption of the most eeunoniical methods cf administration in all of them, and it would he equally impcssilde to disclose to the country the actual tost of these separate undertakings.”

SOM D J)1 FFIC.'U hTIKS. Tlie preparation of these balancesheets, of course, for the fust time or two has been a matter of no little difficulty. But the difficulties necessarily accompanying the- inauguration of the system have been oveic.me; and it should work much more smoothly from it cm. With regard to the <|iiestion i f j:\ymeiit for iiiter-cle; artmenlal servi'es. it has been decided that the services of the Audit. C.o-vn l.av. Internal Affairs, and the Treasury Departments shall only lie ehaiged in the eti.se of trading departments and .special accounts. Wlii'e simplifying the accounting of departments. the value id' the various income and expenditure accounts, and the jos-ilility of economies arising therefrom, arc to a tel tain extent locluceii. Owing to the varied nature cf the work c.f ■ ace (fovet ntr.em departments (iiilicaliic.s are still met villi in dealing with Isilaucc sheet... The actual value <>'" laud held by some departments is cliflic ctk to apportion in the ••a.s-,et>’’ column. owing to tile fat f that land set aside for sfo: iiir 1 ur oscs has in course cd' time keen utili-ed t :t ether purposes. d lie dele: ti ui of clti- ]. I itmil.n of assets is tints in s< me cits.r. a ilillicult matter.