INQUIRY COMMITTEE'S REPORT.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVI, Issue 264, 7 November 1912, Page 5

INQUIRY COMMITTEE'S REPORT.

j [PRESS ASSOCIATION.] \ WELLINGTON, Nov. 6. ; The Public Accounts Committee report:— I The Public Accounts Committee— ■ which was directed to inquire fully : into all the loans paid or applied for or provisionally or finally approved for local authorities under the New ', Zealand State Guaranteed Advances i: Act since its inception, and to report on losses made (if any) since it came into operation, on commitments and available means and unexhausted loan, , authorities as at 31st March, 1912, j and 16th September, 1912; also on the '. letter of the superintendent of the New : Zealand State Guaranteed Advances i Department of 30th September, 1912, to the Minister for Finance—has the honor to report as follows :■ — (1) the loss sustained by the local authorities branch of the New Zealand State Guaranteed Advances Department, since its inception up to 31st August, 1912, was between £22,----000 and £23,000, and was incurred owing (a) to Sir Joseph "Ward's diffi- ! culty in finding immediate investments for the funds at the credit of the loans to local authorities account; and (b) to the remission of 10s per cent, allowed to the Department being insufficient to cover expenses and loss of interest whilst moneys remained uninvested. (2) The commitments on 31st March, 1912, were £820,320, and the commitments on 16th September, 1912, were £651,310. (3) The available ' means and unexhausted loan authorities at 31st. March, 1912, were as follows: Credits in the bank £163,643, unexhausted loans authorities £778,000. (4) The available means and unexhausted loan authorities at 16th September, 1912, were as follows: Credits at the bank £27,550, debts £30,000, debits exceeding credits £2450, unexhausted loan authorities £825,000. The Committee's finding was, in regard to the Superintendent's letter— written in behalf of the Advances Board alleging that statements were made in the House of Representatives on the. 28th September, 1912, to the effect that loans had been, granted by the Board to local authorities under political influence and with a'view to influencing the general election of, last December—that no evidence was | submitted substantiating the Superintendent's written statement, and the Committee considers that members of the Board were ill-advised in accepting the headlines in the Press reports as sufficient grounds for writing to ! the Minister in charge of the Advances Department in the terms used in the letter. The Committee's! recommendation is that the evidence has , led the Committee to the conclusion that insufficient control was exercised in administering loans to local authorities, especially in committing the Department to advances three years ahead— an action which the Committee is advised was contrary, to law. The Committee therefore strongly recommends a change in the personnel of the Advances Board. The report ia signed by Mr J. B. Hine, as chairman. Mr Mac Donald .(Bay of Plenty) defended the administration of county council affairs, and said the whole of the criticism recently, levelled at the Department was intended to discredit the party previously in power. He claimed that every transaction entered into by the Department had been absolutely satisfactory. Mr Hine (Stratford) quoted from a return presented to the Inquiry Committee, with a view to showing that the expenditure was abnormal before the election and that the £5000 limit was put on immediately after because of the "plumping" of the Ministry.