ARMY STORES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25301, 11 August 1943, Page 2

ARMY STORES

CRITICISM OF ACCOLMTNG INVESTIGATION SUGGESTED (F.OP.R.) WELLINGTON, Aug. 10. The appointment of a Royal Commission to investigate the irregularities mentioned by the Controller and Auditor-general in connection with the public accounts and stores was suggested bv Mr W. J. Poison (Oppn., Stratfordi during consideration of the estimates of the Audit Department in the House of Representatives to-day. He said the Auditor-g3neral had drawn attention in his report to some serious defects in accounting, especially in the War Expenses Account. . Mr Poison said that if anything had justified the proposal of the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Holland, that a committee should be appointed to supervise expenditure it was the report of the Auditor-general. The report contained a mass of criticism which revealed shocking incompetence on the part of those responsible for the expenditure of money which came out of the War Expenses Fund. The Minister of iriternal Affairs, Mr W. E. Parry: There have been similar reports before. Mr Poison: They have never been so condemnatory. The recommendations of the Audi-tor-general, Mr Poison continued, had been disregarded, and things he had asked for had not been done. Assurances were given by the Government •last year that the Auditor-general’s complaints would be attended to, but the assurances had not been kept. In fact, the position was worse than it was last year. Period of Great Expansion The Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, said he was not surprised that the Auditorgeneral had found irregularities. “ I can, however, express my surprise that it has been possible to bring the army and the air force into being from nothing and to expand the navy to its present strength without more serious defects being revealed,” Mr Fraser added. “ While not minimising or condoning the irregularities pointed out by the Auditor-general, I will say that these related to a comparatively small number of items in the vast amounts of money-expended on the fighting forces. I am pleased to say'that there is no evidence of general dishonesty in the services concerned, although there have been isolated instances." The Leader of the Opposition: Why was there no prosecution in the case of an engineer officer of the air force at Wigram? The Prime Minister replied that the man concerned came to the Dominion with a high reputation as an engineer officer of the Royal Air Force. He proved to be one of the most efficient men to have come to this country to which he had given outstanding service. It was doubtful .if a prosecution could have succeeded. The Leader of the Opposition: He was cashiered for it. The Prime Minister: Yes. But when the Crown Law Office went into the matter it reported that it was doubtful whether a prosecution would hold. The Leader of the Opposition: There was a great deal of dissatisfaction in Christchurch that police action was not. taken.

The Prime Minister: There is no sense in taking a risk when you are advised that there is no case. This man has suffered for his action. He has lost everything and had to go. He is the type of man who could ill be spared, though his offence cannot be condoned. " We have pages and pages of trenchant criticism by the Auditor-general and the Prime Minister endeavours to justify it by what has gone before,” said Mr W. S. Goosman (Oppn., Waikato). “The Audi-tor-general must have been alarmed when he took it upon himself to submit a report like this to Parliament.” The Minister of Finance, Mr Nash, said that no one recognised to a greater degree than the Government that all stores should be accounted for arid all accounts made to balance. The period covered by the report was one of great expansion, due to the entry of Japan into the war. There was no evidence other than that in the report of theft or defalcations. It was not possible for any Government during a period of war when the country was faced with possible invasion to keep the meticulous accounts that would normally be kept. “ Plenty of Muddiement ” Mr Goosman: There was plenty of muddiement, The Minister said he agreed that the records had to be better kept, but one had to take into account the magnitude of the stores and that the country was at a most dangerous period in its history. The report showed that in several places improvements had been made, and steps were under way to ensure that competent accounts were kept. Whenever Ministers had been notified that things looked out of order, steps were taken to put them right. He was surprised that there had not been even greater discrepancies during the 12 months when we were near to invasion and trying to build up a force. He had arranged for the Auditor-general to attend a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee to be held to-morrow, when he would answer any questions. Mr J. A. Lee (Dem. Lab., Grey Lynn) said that because there were difficulties in an emergency period, that did not justify us shutting our eyes to the position. He believed that the economies that could be effected in the War Department were terrific. “If no-notice has been taken of the Auditor-general’s criticisms, then someone is at fault,” said the Minister in Charge of War Expenditure, Mr Adam Hamilton. “It is the duty of those concerned in the control of departmental officers to see that notice is taken of the report. It is gratifying to see that most of the auditor's comments relate to bookkeeping rather than to the mis-spending of public money."