WAR ASSETS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25552, 3 June 1944, Page 6

WAR ASSETS

DISPOSAL OF SURPLUSES APPOINTMENT OF BOARD (P.A.) WELLINGTON, June 2. “A War Assets Realisation Board has been established by the Government,” said the Acting Prime Minister, Mr D. G. Sullivan, to-day. “The board will dispose of all the war assets which become surplus to the requirements of the armed services.

“The need for such an organisation has been realised for some time, and the Government has decided to appoint a special board when the volume of surplus war assets to be disposed of

increased to an extent beyond the capacity of the existing departments to handle,” the Minister-said. The personnel of the.board is as follows:

Brigadier H. E. Avery, quartermastergeneral of the army, chairman. Mr B. C. Ashwin, Secretary to the Treasury. Mr James Fletcher, Commissioner of Works.

Mr F. R. Picot, Commissioner of Supply. Mr A. H. Sage, chairman of the Stores Control Board Advisory Committee, and controller of stores, New Zealand Railways. ■Mr F. P. Walsh, president of the Seamen’s Union and a member of the Economic Stabilisation Commission. Mr E. P. Meachen, M.P.' Mr D. A. Ewen, a director of Messrs Sargood, Son, and Ewen, Ltd., and a member of the New Zealand Supply Council. Air Commodore F. H. T. Hewlett, air force member for supply. Powers of Board

“Provision has been made for the appointment of additional members If the need arises,” the Minister said. “ The members represent a wide range of interests, and have been selected for their special knowledge and experience. The board will operate under the general supervision and direction from a policy point of view of a special Cabinet Committee, comprising the Prime Minister, the Ministers of Finance, Supply, Defence, Works, Health, and the Minister in Charge of War Expenditure.” The board’s main powers and functions, the Minister said, would be: — 1. To assume the responsibility for the disposal and, if necessary, the safe custody and storage of all buildings, equipment, materials, and commodities in the Dominion or elsewhere which, on acquisition, were a charge on the War Expenses Account, and which have been declared the services or departments concerned to be surplus to their requirements. 2. To determine the future use, method of disposal, and prices at which items will be sold. The Price Tribunal is to be consulted where necessary. and the fact that a member of the Stabilisation Commission is a member of the board will ensure adherence to the Government’s stabilisation policy. 3. To ascertain the requirements of the Government departments so that these needs can be met out of the surplus war assets. 4. To make the most suitable arrangements for the disposal of surpluses. The method adopted must necessarily depend on the particular item or commodity to be dealt with. Survey of Stocks Mr Sullivan said the board had been directed to conduct a survey of all the armed services’ stocks likely to become surpluses and work out a scheme for the regulation of overseas imports so that the existing stocks could be utilised as they became available and without disrupting the internal economy of the country. Already much had been done to salvage huts, building materials, and equipment from vacated camps, Mr Sullivan added. He was sure the public would have confidence in the ability of the board to establish orderly and efficient methods of disposing of surElus war assets, which would be of eneflt to the community and the proceeds from, which would to some extent lighten the burden of the Dominion’s war debt.