Manipulation Of Accounts Alleged

Northern Advocate, 12 October 1949, Page 5

Manipulation Of Accounts Alleged

CANBERRA. Wed. (11.30 a.m.>—Al» legations that the Government-owned Transaustralia Airlines had been guilty of dishonest manipulation of accounts and of falsifying balance sheets, were made in the House of Representatives bv Mr R. S. Ryan (Liberal) who declared that theft of stores worth £58,000 from Transaustralia Airline establishments in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne had been covered up in the airline’s balance sheet.

Mr Ryan said that the service the airline gave was second to none in the world and that the charges referred only to people responsible for its policy and administration. "THEFT CONCEALED”

He charged that the theft of stores was concealed by writing up the remainder, much of which had been bought cheaply from disposals, that no interest had been paid on a Government loan of £3,670,000 for two years, whereas interest should have been at a rate of £150,000 a year, and that despite all privileges received, Transaustralia Airlines had shown a balance sheet loss of £903,000 in three years. Mr Ryan also attacked “extravagances” revealed by the fact that the airline’s overhead expenditure was 50 per cent of its operational cost, whereas the overhead of its competitor, Australian National Airways, was only 30 per cent of the operational cost. BUDGETING FOR PROFIT The Minister of Civil Aviation (Mr A. S. Drakeford) said that rivals of the Government airline had misled Mr Ryan. Transaustralia Airline’s losses were largely establishment costs. It was gradually overhauling the results obtained by Australian National Airways, and next year would be budgeting for a profit.