CONTROL OF THE PURSE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21981, 16 June 1933, Page 11

CONTROL OF THE PURSE

PARLIAMENT’S SPENDING AUTHORITY EFFECT OF RECENT CHANGE. Legislation recently passed by Parliament subjecting several accounts to annual appropriation is reflected in the public accounts for the financial year 1932-33, which are now available in printed form. The immediate effect of this highly important change in parliamentary financial practice has been to increase expenditure voted by Parliament, as distinct from statutory allocations, from £7,006,090 for 1931-32 to £10,335,170 for 1932-33. However, the apparent increase in expenditure is offset by a marked decline in spending under the heading of permanent appropriations, the total being reduced from £17,854,461 to £12,193,207, a difference of £6,661,254. For several years the Controller and Auditor-general, Colonel G. F. C. Campbell. endeavoured to induce the Government to subject numerous accounts, at that time removed from parliamentary control, to annual appropriation. By doing so, he said, Parliament would have direct supervision _of large sums which were then appropriated automatically, or, as provisos in measures usually stated, “without further appropriation than this Act.” SUPPORT BY COMMISSION. About two years ago Colonel Campbell in his annual report advocated this far-reaching change very keenly, but it remained for the National Expenditure Commission to emphasise in an exhaustive analysis the necessity for giving Parliament greater control each year over the spending of taxpayers’ money. It was held that if various amounts were appropriated each year and Parliament were given the opportunity of reviewing them from time to time, there would be greater scope for economies. The British Parliament until recently passed annually by vote classes of expenditure allocated by Statute in New Zealand, and the Expenditure Commission agreed with Colonel Campbell that the system persisting in the Dominion was cumbersome from an accounting viewpoint and unsatisfactory in that it deprived Parliament of its important revisionary powers. Even with the alterations recently made in New Zealand, it is still questionable whether the Dominion Parliament has relatively as much authority in annual votings as has the British Parliament, which permanently appropriates only charges on the National Debt._ payments to local taxation accounts. King’s civil list, and a number of special salaries, annuities, -and pensions. AUTHORITY OVER PENSIONS.

One of the most important single changes made by the Coalition Government was to place the pensions vote, one of the largest, under annual appropriations. This year’s accounts show in what degree Parliament’s yearly authority has been strengthened. In 1931-32 the portion of the pensions vote on the annual appropriation list was £160,564. but last year Parliament had direct control over the whole vote of £3,139,224.

Although the commission declared that New Zealand could no longer stand a pensions bill of £3,000,000 and complained that the total vote in 1931-32 was £3,220,000 it will bo seen that last year’s expenditure in this direction was not curtailed very appreciably. Members of the Cabinet have, incidentally, remarked recently that the pensions vote was proving the hardest of all to pare down in view of the stringency of the times. Another large vote for social services transferred to annual appropriation is that for hospitals and charitable institutions, expenditure for which is now lumped under the one heading of health each year and voted by Parliament. In 1932-33 Parliament passed a sum of £708,449 for this purpose, as against odd amounts totalling only £199,387 the previous year.