PROFITS OUT OF MUNITIONS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16798, 14 March 1918, Page 5

PROFITS OUT OF MUNITIONS

ENORMOUS SUMS MADE. DEPARTMENT INDICTED. A. and N.Z. LONDON. Mar. 12. A severe indictment of the Ministry of Munitions is a feature of tho report of tlu Committee on National Expenditure. The Ministry provided for tho erection of national factories valued at £66,000,000, and granted private firms £16,000,000 to meet capital expenditure, The Ministry's officers are the only security tho taxpayer has that these enormous sums are wisely spent. Three millions were saved in cordite alone by a reduction of prices after accountants had investigated tho cost. Similar investigations resulted in the saving of £35,000,000 in tho cost of gun ammunition during tho two years ending September, 1917, compared with the first year of the war. In another caso a contract for gun equipments was let at £7,750,000, which was reduced by £2,000,000 after Government accountants had investigated the contract. Another company had an engineering contract for £4,000,000 sterling, on which it made a profit of £1,300,000. It then offered a considerable rebate for a further order, and made a second profit of £500,000. Tho committee proposes to check this profligacy by effective control of costings and fixing rates of profit, and strengthening the authority of tho Finance Department.