STORES PURCHASE

Hokitika Guardian, 21 September 1938, Page 6

STORES PURCHASE

lit CONTROL BOARD. A short, but interesting. Government publication, the annual report of the Stores Control Board,‘ which lias just been ,issued, shows "tluit during the year ended March 3b, 1938; the expenditure on the, purchase of stores by the- Government was £7,515,063. During the previous year it. was £5,349,386, so that there was an increase during the year reported on of £2,165j677. Commenting on this the repof’t states: .“While this increase is due mainly to heavier orders placed by Government departments; as a result of increased, activities, it is also, to a lessor extent, due to market increases in the prices paid for many of the items purchased both locally' and overseas.” .

The totM expended during the. last financial . year was easily the highest figure recorded under that, 'heading for the last 10 years. In 1929 the, total' was £4,199,822. ? It fe,ll as low ns £2,109,698 .in the depression year of 1933, but rose steadily in following years.

The department contributing the biggest share of the increase in the expenditure of stores (and with the biggest, individual total; for . the 193738 year) was the Railway Department. Jts purchases amounted, to £2,821,427 (£1,923,502 in the previous year). A close second,, the. Public Works Department .purchased stores valued at £2,136,076 (£1,401,096 in the previous year). No other department reached anything near, the figures of either of these , leading departmental spenders. The report points out. that the pol,*.cy pf preference to goods of,New..Zealand and. .British, manufacture has been maintained throughout the year. “In the purchase of stores, for Government use special consideration is. given to lpcaily-manfactured items, and provided New Zealand manufacturers can supply goods of satisfactory quality at competitive prices, after, allowing the usual preference, they can be assured of the board’s support.”