HIGH COMMISSIONER'S OFFICE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2915, 26 January 1910, Page 10

HIGH COMMISSIONER'S OFFICE.

AND SOME HIGH COMMISSIONS. ' FURTHER REFORMS PROBABLE. (Feoh Our Own Corespondent.) LONDON, December 10. The reorganisation of the, emigration, j branch of the High Commissioner's office \ is already producing a good effect in .sliuni- | lating the outside shipping agents in- favour of New Zealand. Under the old conditions, j the existence of which will probably HturlUi many readers, a.ge.nta generally had iHi ( in- \ ! eentive to work for the Dominion. lire j facts of the case are as follow : In the same building m Lit" High (, " , " I missioner occupies in. Victoria <■■ • >' -*•*■ w * ! firm doing business undk-r tin- Hlyln <>l " v. A. Smith," shipping a.g.-nl.-i. V"\ ■V* 1 * past this firm has had n, i nn.mly "' Uw work of arranging passage* f*«j I'liiignuiU* ' sent out to New Zoiilittid I».v t.li« («<iv«ini me.nt, and it has proluriily wnml |.li<iii»ii,n«lo of pounds eaoli year from (bin mitwi*' ih<iik», The arrangement was l.liw: All np|»li j cations for assisted psiHsug<wi (<> Hi" , Dominion, whether instigated by » »P | ping agents throughout the kingdom or by " tho initiative <>f I ho - 1 -" 1 ' grants, have been considered mid den 1 1 I with bv the High Cbm.niiwsioner'K ollien When "applioations were approved, the names and the papers were handed ovor to Mr "E. A. Smith." who then, as ;>, mattea- of course-;, booked the passengers through the shipping companies and received he commission —£2 or J3l on each, as the ease might be. The originating! i agents got nothing. Many applications for assisted passages were, of course. : "turned down" as ineligible, and many of these, too, -were passed over to " Mr Smith " who, in a considerable proportion' of cas.es, eventually booked them as ordina.ry passengers and received his commission Whan: we consider that the assisted passages alone in one year totalled upwards of three thousand it can be understood what an excellent arrangement it was for Mir Smith," and what grounds the outside ship- ■ ping agents had for complaint. ! The firm of " E. A. Smdth aleo acted ( ; on commission for the shipment of goods to New ZeaJf-nd on behalf of the Government, | a perquisite which, needfieas to say, was of , very great value, inasmuch as purchases j or material of some kind are going forward every month. The, firm, which practically subsisted on the commission work of the New Zealand Government, maintained a staff of 13 clerks. | t COMMISSIONS ABOLISHED. ; "The reorganisation of office completely ( upsets these understandings with " Mr Smith." The emigration and shipping branch of the High Comnraasioneir's work j is taken out of private hands altogether, . and will henceforth be carried out in the office. What fchs saving to the Dominion will be the annua! accounts of the Government departments, which are published in the Gazette, will probably show. " MrSmith's " staff has forthwith been reduced by one-half, and he will probably not renew his lease of the office, which falls in annul- j : Laneously with that of. the High Commas- ; , sioner's suite, in September. | "Mr E, A. Smith" is in reality Mr E. M. Kennaway, son of Sir Walter Kennaj way, the late secretary to. the High Commissioner's office. I ROOM FOR FURTHER REFORM, j There is room for the Government to go I further in the way of saving money without impairing efficiency. At present a firm of engineers occupying offices in 13 Victoria street is paid an inspection commis- j bio™ upon every pound's worth of material j purchased here for the Government, in- i .eluding thousands of pounds' worth of stores for the Railway and Public Works Departments. By appointing one or .more . of its own engineers to the staff in Vicj toa-ia street at a cost of even £IOOO or upi wards a great saving could) be effected in ! this department. I , THE PRIME MINISTER'S ENPLANA- ' j TION. j WELLINGTON, January 22. j I " E. A. Smith," who has more than ' once occupied the attention of the press 1 and of politicians, has now been the subI ject of an explanation by the Prime . j Minister. j ■ Sir Joseph Ward denied that there j ! was any mystery at all about the matter, nor had the Government any desire to j conceal anything from the public. The , position was this : One of the sons of Sir Walter Kennaway had in recent years been the principal of the firm of " E. A. Smith, shipping agents." They had biieir offices in the same building as the High Commissioner, but the offices were . j entirely separate, there being no communir cation between the two suites of offices, j ' The rentals were paid entirely apart and if the firm of " E. A. Smith " had not done the shinning business then * some j other firm would have done it, or there ! • would have been ,a necessary addition to ■ the High Commissioner's staff. Person- , ally. Sir Joseph Ward knew nothing about the firm of Smith or its origin. | No authority had ever been asked for or ■ obtained by the High Commissioner for this or any other firm to carry out work i of the particular kind that the Smith I | firm undertook, no expenditure being incurred on behalf of the Dominion and no ' j authority had been asked for. At no i time, he felt confident, had there been j ■ any wrong-doing in connection with any I matters over which the High CommisI sioner's office had control. ' On his last visit to London, Sir Joseph j came to the conclusion that the work

should be done by the High Commit sioner's office, so that commissioiiH paid by shipping firms should be paid direct to the High Commissioner. Accordingly, the new branch was formed on November 1. He had learned that in addition to Mr T. E. Donne and Dr Mason, there were four of E. A. Smith's employees taken on—two at £2 15s a week, one at £2 10s, and one at £2 ss, and a cadet at 10s a week. It was so that the commissions paid to "E. A. Smith" by the shipping companies should in future be received by the High Commissioner's office that Mr Donne was sent to London. Before he went it was decided that, among other duties, lie should take over , the shipping agency business. Additional offices being necessary, three extra roorriH | were taken from "E. A Hmilh, at a . rental of £SO per milium. The shippm;/ j companion had agreed to pa y U,« Commissioner the kuiiiu i-niiiiiiitastoiin they hud paid to " J'i A r»»JIJi. -^ the Trade Co ~• h-d •"•'- ?«'■'"<' i« e ,l to issue iul.l D'KI, •■- '-.■-.- nu ,„t passage* boof.-d <»,'• ■-■■::■■' iimiii'l . On .. ■ 'in, id' ■■■•■■'■> <■'■■: ■■■ Llim |mbi«B«* Uic .:i,,».>*»> "■<<» '■• •'■ to he Ilaid I" Hi'. ~.,...!-, >:■■>■ ■:■■■ •'"■:; Ui«y were i U.J, Ui. u,, Hjjtni mirk I" U d'w.-. -..ui ■■> ■ - ■■ buliM-li-ii l«J I". |Mi>d .....:■; - • ■ luileed by iJj'J , -.in. „.,■■-■;■ :- 'I > I -h----blupiii.H, .umpahj.i ....-.•;> TJ JtJ i'rime :,lu,„-<-> ■>'■■.<■■> U -■• inultoi innli \.h* </)«/<« ' •.»/,/«.«**',/•*-» Tliid \ dd !.•■ i ■•'••■' ; '- J'-'--"-'-11,, (Kii .1.-)■''/ 1 "" i '- '" '■■■ '■ ; '- ;; ni'.oofi ... •/<.". )"■ '''-""'' / I-"'' '"' '- ''• «id.-i-H by -»■•■/ '■'• •■ »»*"'*"«. "■■>■■> '■■ kuvml by il"- >'■-•':•"" ;c -'-ii '■' '''■'• if>^'' <:.,im.ii^Ri'.i" '--■ •■"'" 7/h.t. ',,'■- ),;■) aiy.'i wan Mud. l-h« iidd)U'.»i»tl ••.■-''• "iMHrA h/ 11,,, ;,.,!,,...•» -d Mrng,n )\.>,<,■■., t,.h<\ thmne, w.Mild, iw mi 'if'-i. "f U" itufvsiii'-Aiiiu, ril 1,],,- liifh CoJlilnisisir.JM-.r's >tti)t<*, b<-. r«;i/n bnihcd by lb-. rimimiKfci'.ns \nw\ by the Hhipptng coinpaiiif'S. A*; it iiitit,t«;r of \w\, the, comimniKcioiin pai/1 nhouid at least pay tho whole of the vxyA, <»J»th«j additional ©tuff <r't;nit'-d to rnmy out this work. Neither hirnw-.lf nor any member of the Government knew that Mr Kennaway, jun., had been a principal of the firm of "E. A. Smith" until quite recently. The conduct of the firm had never been called into question or reflected upon in any way so far as he knew, while the fact remained that the Government had not at any time made any payment to the firm in the direction suggested.