THE PUBLIC ACCOUNTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18773, 29 July 1924, Page 6

THE PUBLIC ACCOUNTS.

Several matters of manifest importance in the administration of publio finance are reviewed in the annual report to Parliament by the Controller and Auditor-General. As he observes, this officer is the servant of Parliament, and it is his duty to direct the attention of the House to any matters which he considers should receive consideration. His criticism is consequently marked by both the lack of emotion characteristic of hia profession and the explicit frankness permitted by his impartiality and independence of political influence. Colonel Campbell disposes in a brief paragraph of any remaining illusions regarding the so-caHed " missing half-million" —the interest remaining unpaid by the Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Account. Mr. Massey said, in the Budget, that account was allowed the temporary use of the money, to avoid further borrowing, as the alternative would have merely inflated the surplus and ••'increased the public debt charges. This excuse will not deceive anyone familiar with the subject. The payment of the due interest would not have inflated but merely raised the surplus to its true amount; there would have been no obstacle to granting the account the. " temporary use" of the money, and the Treasury would have received interest on it. That is evidently the view of the Auditor-General. "Interest due by the Discharged Soldiers' Settlement A.ccount to the Ordinary Revenue Account of the Consolidated Fund . . has not been paid for the year 1923-24," he says. " The amount of £540,000 was due and payable at March 31." He adds that the liability will be shown in the departmental baiance-sheet when published. Mr, Massey's inclination to be generous will be checked by the Auditor-General, and the half-million will, presumably, be brought into this year's accounts, to the relief of taxation. Attention is also directed to the practice of presenting, in the public accounts, the net amounts under various headings instead of disclosing both revenue and expenditure in full. Of several illustrations from last year's accounts, it is notable that interest on the publio debt was reduced by £1,754,268 through recoupments from various sources,, while departmental expenditure, shown as £13,508,04*7, was actually £15,610,813, the difference representing various receipts. The Auditor-General advises . that in future gross figures should' be given on both sides of the accounts. He also shows that the local authorities and the workers' branches of the Adr vances Office are not earning sufficient profits to provide the statutory reserves and sinking funds and recommends the raising of the j rate for advances from these j branches as the proper remedy, the alternative of a subsidy from taxation being dismissed as not sound finance. The complaint is often made that Parliament has lost control of the national finances; it will be interesting to see whether members take heed of the Audi-tor-General's advice, and press for the reforms he proposes, or persist in the futile paper-chasing after such innocent matters as the temporary investments of the Advances Office.