LEGISLATURE IN SESSION

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12204, 31 July 1925, Page 8

LEGISLATURE IN SESSION

FINANCIAL DEBATE RESUMED, BUT INTERRUPTED

IMPREST SUPPLY BILL •

LOSS OF STATE PROPERTY DISCUSSED "

The Financial Debate was'resumed in tbe House of Representatives yesterday afternoon, but was interrupted with an Imprest Supply Bill which had to be disposed of.

BUDGET DEBATE -,'

WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN .Sneaking in the budget debate? Mr E. ;J. Howard (Christchurch ' South), criticised the Government for not putting through the Workers’ Compensation Bill which he had introduced during the previous session. Had that bill been passed, the injured, workers Would have received ’ full pay, and medical,. comforts. Premiums would have been reduced by 10 per cent. and,2 per cent, set aside for contingencies. They should end the state of affairs which permitted i ,35 insurance companies to make profits which , should be made by the- State and keeping 35 sets of books, when one set would do. He argued that by proper management freights between the Dominion and England could be - reduced by 50 per cent. : Motor ships should be eiriployed and big ones. .> Last year, said Mr >F. Lye (Waikato), o remission of 13 1-3 per cent, on, income tax had been granted. The previous year the amount had been 20 per-.cent, so that the total was 33 1-3 per "cent. • The land tax reduction by the figures in the pfesent budget was £91,211 and income tax paid was £395,480 less. ' Both of these went to the people' who' were best able to hear taxation. - The Government had taken muoh credit to.itself for the manner in which it had dealt with the land problem, but it had only .bowed' to the inevitable in permitting;revaluations. They had also the cattle tick country and here the men would soon he walking off if nothing was done. The Government had never investigated the cAuses of cattle tick, and they had "the Minister talking about’ investigation and education.

Mr,J. A. Young: Research has been going on for years. Mr Lyot Then the farmers have done

Mr Young: No, they haven’t. He believed that they were living ir. an as(e of. trusts; hut thought that the affairs of fertiliser companies and the priceß paid by them needed investigation, To Jiackblocks education he devoted considerable time urging that better facilities should be given, and deliveririg the" opinion that many people made sacrifices .when', they went .to the country and that the hotter opportunities for the children in the cities was one of the reasons for the drift to the' town’s. The Dairy Produce' Control Bill he believed to be mischievous interference with the rights of the producer to dispose of his produce. As a, result'Tooley Street, which had always been a friend to New Zpaland, had turned its - attention to . South America. . --' .

IMPREST SUPPLY. MISSING GOODS. , Tit the evening the Imprest Supply Bill .was brought down. The Auditor-General’e remarks prefaced to the statement of Publio Accounts, if or the past year gave. Mr H. E. HoUaridi-the opportunity to criticise the Tunning o.f Government ' departments when, the Imprest Supply debate began last evening. Mr Holland cited instances "of missing goods, arid the Prime Minister gave a lengthy, explanation.. ' ' ’ ; Mr Holland began by asking if Mr Coates could, give ,him some informa-tion-'m connection'with the Publio Accounts Statement, which was laid before the. House <m the previous evening. He quoted- a passage fr v om the Auditor-General’s statement, which said .that 11 motor-cars and two motor-cycles were missing from one department. ’ Mr *Coates: They were not during one year. Over a number of years., -Mr Holland: Surely the report ought to state that in dear language. That makes it all the worse,, I thmk. Mr Coates: Oh, I think not. Mr'Holland cited another statement In the report to the effect that there had been a case of a. Government offi-, cer .who was responsible for the requisitioning, and . issuing of certain stores for his department, and who at the. same time wps interested in a firm which supplied the goods. It was found ori/investigation that in some cases orders for goods were only partially executed by the .'firm, hut, those glods which the firmdid supply were subsequently issued by the officer marked at excessive prices. The excess prices covered up the deficiency in the deliveries. Goods which were never reoeived were thus being paid for, and the process hqfl been carried on for years. Was the- firm prosecuted, and what was the-penalty? And why was the firin’s name not given? In another case' owing to faulty purchasing of goods, and overstocking, and want of care in disposal a loss of £IBOO had been recorded up to date, and this los3 would he increased when the surplus and obsolete stores in hand had been fullv disposed of. There was also the case of a department in which wine was manufactured which had issued it free to oertain officers, to the extent of £136. When the department concerned had been called upon to collect the amount it had failed jto do so. Full publicity as to the department involved was needed as in the other cases, arid full information as to what had been done, and what was proposed to be done in connection with those who had consbired to defraud the Government.. If these irregular practices were going on surely a revolutionary change was needed, and When-the report was presented to the House it ought to he told, what department it was that this occurred in. The firm concerned was implicated in what was

nothing less than a system of robbery, and they should know what was dons. The publio servants generally were honest, and it was not fair to them as a body that the House should have a report such as that presented to it without names. THE PRIME MINISTER’S REPLY The Prime Minister drew attention to an early portion of the Auditor-. General’s report. Here it was stated that it had been the practice to write off losses and deficiencies in storeß without sufficient investigation as to the cause of the loss, and without reporting the. circumstances to the AuditorGeneral in .aprder that the discharge from the public account might be approved by.yiParliament as required by the Public ./Rev enues Act. “The door has thus, remained open to peculation and extravagance,’’ he said.- “These irregularities can only be checked by the institution of a proper system of stores accounting in each of the service. With this object in view departments were requested to draw up sets of rales governing the receipt, custody, disposal, and accounting for Government stores and property undOr their, .control. It was found, however, that considerable uncertainty existed in regard to methods of procedure, due to the fact that the different regulations published by the Publio Service Commissioner, the Stores Control Board, and the' Treasury, relating to the control of stores, were at variance with one another, and as a result some, confusion arose: This difficulty has' since been removed, and I am pleased to. say that steady progress is now. being made in introducing a sound system in most of the departments,” * That was quite correct. There were about three sets of regulations'-under which the Government departmentswere working. He gave instances of how the regulations operated. • For instance, number of cement bags could be used;-everything must be kept and be returned to store: When a hammer was issued > iri the Public Works Department it passed from one hand to another half a dozen times; hut if it was broken and did: not come back a board of inquiry had to be held upon the spot. (Laughter.)/ But they had co-ordinated these regulations and were 6till co-ordinating them. ‘ The difficulty had been that'therewere quite a number of people who did not recognise the fact that stores were cash, and that when they were handling stores they were handling sovereigns. But the. position had. been difficult in the past. Sup posing that a plank had come off a. bridge the foreman had had no authority to go to a store and buy the nails to mend it. This could bo carried to absurdity. _ Mr Holland: That does not affect the position as far as the names are concerned. ' Mr Coates: There were a number of names. 1 Mr Holland: But 1 can’t find that firm’s name. . ~ Mr COates: Oh, well, we’ll get that later. We spent four or five months trying to bring about a system of regulations which would, meet tho case,, and so far as the future is concerned we will have a -better system., I do not say that-they will be perfect. The humhn . element, will always be there; but I will go this far. “WOULD £e,:«|ELD RESONS- - They had impressed on officers the fact that , Stores were cash, and that they would be held' responsible. He thought that they could say- that, taking the offiefirp as a whole, they were strictly honest, t They wfere improving their systeips also, The Railway Departtnent’s Store . systeru was consider- 1 ed to be a good one ; but they had sent their Comptroller of Stores to Australia, to New South/Wales, and Victoria to investigate systems there. In the cose of tho Publio'Works Department, so many works were being carried out in the backblocks that, with all the care in the world, they must lose something. ' With regard to the matter of the motor-cars the thing was riot worth talking about. Some of them had been dumped out bn tile scrap-heap, others had had parts.used. The department, after months olf investigation, isaid that it could not find them, but that it was satisfied that they, had’ not; been stolen.’ He would like to emphasise the fact that the loss in this case extended over years. * The position was not as serious as the Auditor-General implied. No one in his wildest dreams would say. that these motor-cars had been stolen,

As to the short deliveries, he knew nothing, brit bo, would try to get some information on the point. He had : pointed out similar remarks years ago, said ’ Mr G. W. Forbes (Hurunui).. Senior officers were said to be delegating responsibility to junior officers, and methods of dealing with contracts. They had a Public Service Commissioner who seemed to do very little towards tightening up the methods of the Public Service. It was a matter for the ( Government to take up. He had great respect for the Audil tor-General. stated Sir James Parr (Minister for Education) later in the dehate. He thought that any criticisms which he made piust be considered seriously. But his experience had shown mm. that, the regulations which the Auditor-General proposed for departments were ilot always those which were easily carried out.

Tho bill (£2,499,150) was passed. Authority is given the Minister for Finance to.grant a loan of £30,000 to the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition Company.