MILLIONS MISSING

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 10507, 7 February 1920, Page 11

MILLIONS MISSING

£9,000,000 “CONE WEST” BRITISH KNIGHTHOOD MYSTERY. LONDON, November 25. From all parts of the House of Com* mens Ministers were subjected to a sharp and merciless fire of questions on departmental WasteMillions of money havo "been poured away which might have been .saved to the nation and thus relieved the burden of the heavily-pressed taxpayer., Another explanation of a huge sum o£ money will be demanded by Mr JM. Hogge, a Liberal Opposition Whip, who wTll ask the Parliamentary; Secretary to the Ministry of Munitions whotlier the value of material supplied to Ministry of Munitions contractors on free issue, which has not been accounted for. exceeds .£9.000,000. HONOURED BY KNIGHTHOOD. Dr. Murray (L., Inverness and Ross) will ask the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Munitions whether ho is aware that no action was taken on its being reported by a Ministry official ' that boxes were being sold to a contractor for 6d each and bought back by this department of the Ministry for 5s CJ each; and whether the official to whom this was reported and who should have taken the matter up has since been honoured on the repommendatdon of the Ministry of Munitions by » knighthood.

MILLIONS OF UNSOLD BOXES. ' Ho is also asking whether it is known that there was no acknowledgment ot a London auctioneer’s offer to dispose (on terms to ho discussed) of ■ the boxes and packing-cases supplied to 10,000 Munitions Ministry contractors as free issue.. He also asks if millions of these boxes are still unsold, though a hig staff lias been dealing with them, what the cost of this establishment has amounted to, and what amount will liavo to ho written off as. lost, through: no action being taken to ascertain the value of boxes.

Questions by Mr J. M. Hogg* include the following: —•-

LARG-E PAYMENTS, NO DELIVERIES.

' Whether, ■ because many Munition Ministry’s contracts were loosely worded with omissions as to price or, rate for articles ordered, etc., largo claims have been, and v are, being paid every week to contractors who have made no deliveries under their contracts and to others who have failed to deliver specified quantities per week, otc. Whether, in cases where ■ there is obviously no legal liability under the contract, claims are being paid as hardship, cases. “A CERTAIN DISCOVERY."

Whether a contractor sent 1 in a claim for over £30,000 to the Ministry of Munitions on a contract that was made in June, 1918, cancelled in November of the same year, in, which no rate was specified and against which nothing was delivered; Why, after the claim was passed by the Ministry, the payment was stopped by the Treasury on. a certain _dis-' ■ covery having been mado by a Ministry official; and Whether this official, as a reward for his efforts, has been brought under demobilisation. d ■ Asking about increases of salary since the armistice, he wants to know whether a clerk who began on 31s 6d a- wcelt was raised to £SOO a year; if the salary of the head of an establishment was raised by £l5O a year; if a voluntary worker (Central Stores Department) was given £BOO a year;,and if salary increases were given principally to business men who were anxious to rejoin their own businesses.