FREE TRAM PASSES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18567, 27 November 1923, Page 6

FREE TRAM PASSES.

CONCESSION TO SOLDIERS. AUDITOR-GENERAL'S " TAGG." , -', , ■ . [BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION.] I r CHHISTCHUECH. Monday. . A " tag ** attached by the . AuditorGeneral to the Tramway Board's balance- .. v sheet, in connection with the issue of' free , passes, was referred to at a meeting of the ';;':"[ board to-day.. , The board issues free passages to sol-. " diers who, through war injuries, are unable to walk without artificial assistance. The Auditor-General holds that the board has no authority to • issue these passes. : r, Ther*,, are 365 of these passes *in - regulir ,r, iin Christchuxck • The War. /Contributions Validation Act, 1914 \ (No. , 2), permits contributions, whether, in mom?)* or kind, for the relief of distress occasioned; ; r-: by war or for any patriotic object - approved by the Governor-General, provided that every such contribution is paid into a public -fund,- the conditions of control and expenditure to be approved by the Governor-General. The ' AuditorGeneral ; says vj; that all .■-,; 'contribution/, whether of money* or in " kind, must spas? through the committee of the fond, and V the '. proviso "to", the 'governing ■ : section ;,:, applies to every such contribution. • The board had • replied that the • clause %}OZS requiring money to be paid . into a properly controlled fund could not apply jo gifts " in kind," as obviously it was im- . possible to pass gifts "in kind," such as tramway > passes, into a ' fund. ■' The Auditor-General, however, will no! accept the board's view, and has " tagged" ih» board's balance-sheet accordingly. ' A-