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New Zealand Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 8268, 27 December 1887, Page 4

The following is the full text of the important new clause which was moved by Mr Wilson inthe Public Revenues Bill, but was subsequently withdrawn : —“lf any Minister of the Crown shall authorise the expenditure of or shall pledge the credit of the Colony for the payment of a sum or sums of money which, added to all sums of money expended or pledged in respect of any class of items in any Appropriation Act, shall exceed the sum appropriated by such Act, to such class, he shall be liable to a penalty equal to the amount of the excess, but not exceeding LIOOO. Proceedings for the recovery of such penalty shall be taken by the Controller and Auditor-General in the manner prescribed in the Public Revenues Act, 1878, section 70, as soon as, and within twelve months after it shall become known to him that any such excess has been so expended or pledged as aforesaid. Provided always that this section shall not apply to any exnenditure under the authority of thePublicßevenuesAct, 1882, and provided further that proceedings shall not be taken in respect of any money expended as ‘ unauthorised expenditure’ under the provisions of sections 44 and 45 of the Public Revenues Act, 1878, until the end of the session of Parliament, during which an abstract of such expenditure is required to be laid before Parliament; and shall only then betaken if such expenditure shall not have been ratified by Parliament.” It will be observed that this is a very stringent provision, against the wholesale abuse of Ministerial powers with regard to unauthorised expenditure, to which on several occasions attention has been called ; but in view of certain notorious facts, we are not prepared to say that its stringency is excessive. We hope that this or some other provision in the same direction will bo adopted next session.