PUBLIC EXPENDITURE.

NZ Truth, Issue 416, 14 June 1913, Page 5

PUBLIC EXPENDITURE.

HOW THE MONEY IS MADE TO SPIN. BIDE BOOK "8.-1A" IN AIL ITS BEARINGS. A Stupendous Task for the Printer— The History of the VolaaN -— Meagreness Brought tp a Minimum — An Example of Slovenly Compilation— The Defence Department— Who is A. J. Godley?'— Is the Canadian Precedent Followed?— A Curiously Complicated Compilation. , x s (NO. L)

The Government Printing Office, after considerable groaning and travail, has just delivered itself of a monstrosity, unique m the annals of Great Britain or any of her oversea dominions, m the form of a blue-covered book of portentous dimensions, officially designated "B. — lA, Session IL 1912," bearing the pretentious title of "Statement m Detail of the Expenditure of the Public Account for the Financial Year 1911-12." It consists of no less than 659 pages, double-column throughout, consisting of \ A HETEROGENEOUS MASS OF FIGURES, and, judging from the imprint, 1100 copies have been printed at a cost of £600. "Truth" has been informed that 1100 copies have not been printed, and there is reason to believe that no more than 25 copies have seen the light of Vlay; and, furthermore, that Mr. John Mackay, the Government Printer, when confronted with the stupendous task. of printing the voluminous MSS., ventured upon a spirited protest against the uselessness of going to the expenditure of so much, mon^y upon an obviously penseless proposal; but his protest was futile. The work went tp press, and last week the child was born. \ Investiga- . tion has led "Truth" to .ascertain that the cost of compilation alone amounted to approximately £600, so that the total, cost of iproduction of this unwieldy work has amounted to somewhere about £1200. Viewing "B. — 1 A" as a newly-born child, it will be found that its very conception .was .unique, m the annals of Parliamentary procedure. It was on July" 10, 1912, when, the makeshift Mackenzie Ministry having resigned, the House adjourned for a three weeks' interregnum to enable Mr. Massey to consider matters, and meet the House with formulated plans. On that date the Post-audit system was under discussion, iand the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Ward pointed out that under the . ... EXISTING LAW OF THE. LAND ' the whole of the 'details of expenditure must be laid on the table of the House as soon as the Controller and AuditorGeneral had them, and he asked Mr. Arthur Myers, M.P. for Auckland East, who had just vacated the position of Minister of Finance, what the position was, so that there might be no misapprehension,, misunderstanding or misconception m the future as to what was done under- the law so far as he 1 (the Right Hon. member for Awarua) was Concerned. Mr. Myers said that the Right Hon. gentleman was perfectly correct m his statement that, m accordance with the procedure laid down, all the details of revenue and expenditure had been listed, and . he (Mr. Myers) held the statement; made up to March 31, 1912, m his hand, and

May it please Your Honor, and gentlemen of the. jury, Listen to my thunder, m other words my fury; t I appear for plaintiff, and this case for him I'll win. Because I want the other side to weifjh m with "the tin."

he asked permission to lay the statement upon the table of the House. He, therefore, moved, with the indulgence of the House, "That the paper which I have m my possession do now lie on the table of the House, and be printed." Mr. Speaker said that It was rather unusual for a private member to lay a public document on the table !of the House. The new Minister of Finance (the Hon. James Allen) did not raise any objection to the papers lying on the table, but he thought he ought to have an opportunity of seeing what they were before they were printed. Sir Joseph" Ward suggested that the Minister of Finance should personally move that the paper 110 on the table, and be printed . SUBJECT TO HIS APPROVAL. Mr. Allen was agreeable to follow thi3 course. After further discussion, Mr. Myers' motion was amended so as to read, "That the paper lie on the table.

and m the meantime the Minister will have an opportunity of perusing it, and, if he approves of it, that it be printed." Mr. Allen raised no objection to this, and the motion, so amended, was agreed to, and the paper wa3 ordered to lie o nthe table, it was subsequently ordered to be printed on the authority of the Minister of Finance (the Hon. James Allen), and last week the first copies appeared] This Statement was described at the inception of this article as unique m the annals of Great Britain or any of her oversea dominions. That assertion is not absolutely accurate. It is unique as regards Great Britain, Australia or New Zealand; but it is only' fair to state that there is a Canadian precedent, and upon that precedent New Zealand's monstrosity, "B.— i A, Session n. 1912," purports to be framed. If it really is, Canada's example is not to be extolled: , The Statement was prepared by the Treasury Department pursuant 'to section 84 (1) of the Public Revenues Act, 1910, certified to by the Controller and Auditor-General, and presented to Parliament m accordance with the provisions of section 84 (4) of the same Act a. statute ior the introduction of which Sir Joseph Ward, when Prime Minister and Min--1 ister of Finance, was -responsible, and it purports to be . , , A STATEMENT IN DETAIL/ of the expenditure of the Consolidated Fund for the financial '• year ended March 31, 1912. The arrangement of the Statement is under the following heads: — (1) Civil List, (2) Interest and, Sinking Fund, (3) Under Special Acts of the Legislature, (4) 128 Departmental heads respectively entitled,. "Vote 1, Vote 2, Vote 3, etc., down to Vote 12S inclusive. Beyond ;a general table of contents showing what these various votes are, and on what pages they respectively begin, there is no indication m the table of contents of what subdepartments there are, or what different classes of expenditure there may be m any department or sub-depart-ment; and the table of contents gives merely a superficial idea of the actual contents. A table of contents covering one page only for 659 pages oC double-column matter is meagrenesa brought to a mihjmum. One would expect at least an index of fair proportions, but index of no sort or kind whatsoever is there from" cover to cover; and, should it be desired to ascertain the emoluments of any particular individual, it is impossible to do so without going through the book, column by column, until one lights upon the name, unless one knows beforehand the particular department to which that individual belongs. Even then, the finding is no guide, as tha same individual's name m many cases occurs more than once, and the total emoluments can be ascertained only by , v : ■ ADDING THE VARIOUS AMOUNTS TOGETHER. ; Accurate information is made more difficult of ascertainment by reason of certain persons' names, when occurring under different headings, being spelt m different ways, or prefixed by different initials. 'The* arrangement of the names goes upon a rule-of -thumb method. These are^not placed m alphabetical order, m order of seniority, or m order based upon salary received. They are just as irregular as the names of jurymen called by the Registrar of the Supreme Court when he draws cards bearing their names from a rotary box. .Take one example as an illustration of many: On page 366, under the heading of Vote 61— Defence Department, sub-heading Salaries, towards the end of .the. list appear the following names and salaries: — £. s. d. Chaytor, E. W. C. . . 575 Heard, E. S 750 1 Hughes, J. G. 475 Godley, A. J 1000 Johnston, G. N 578 7 2 j Judging from his position on the list, | " A. J. Godley/' might be ; a mero I non-commissioned officer, or a drill instructor, or a clerical assistant, except lor the salary of £1000, instead of being the General Officer Commanding His Majesty's Forces m New Zealand. On a list of 82 names under the heading of •IMPERIAL GENERAL STAFF AND NEW ZEALAND STAFF CORPS," . he, Major-General Godley, the most highly-paid of them all, has his name placed as low down as seventy-first, and the list is very far from alphabetical. One woujd at least have expected to find his name figuring at the head of his own department. At the top, however, one finds, "P,urdy, R. G. £101 Is 6d," and one has to peruse seven-eighths of the list before coming upon the namo- of the exalted General Officer Commanding modestly figuring as "Godley A. J. £1000." It that is following Canadian precedent, then Canadian statisticians require tuition m elementary indexing and arranging. It is not for one moment suggested that the voluminous "B. — 1 A" doos not contain any information, or even any information of value. It undeniably does; but it presents such infor-, mation m such an incomprehensible mass, which, to make matters worse, is absolutely without an index of anykind, that actual knowledge can be derived from it only by the closest scrutiny. Handing a person a copy of •*B. — 1 A," and expecting him to bo able to glean any required information from it forthwith, is like throwing a Latin grammar at the head of an ignorant schoolboy, and expecting him to forthwith write an oration m Ciceronian style or compose an epic on Vlrgilian lines. In the words of Josh Billings, "it karat be' did successful." In its next issue. "Truth" will furnish its readers with some of the salient features of the contenta of this curiously complicated compilation.