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Pahiatua Herald, Volume II, Issue 212, 8 October 1894, Page 2

Tiie relations between the Public Trust Office and the Auditor-General’s Department have been strained for some time, and the chiefs have engaged in a literary warfare of the most bitter and recriminating character. Mr Warburton has hit out with consummate skill, and the blows have evidently had their effect, for Mr Fit/.gerald. the Auditor-General, has sent a communication addressed to th Speaker and members of the House of Representatives, stating that he had been compelled to suspend the audit of the accounts of the Public Trustee, owing to the statement made by th;r. official* and denied by the Audit - Inspector, that the cash in the office had not been commuted at the end of the financial year. This will have lb' effect of bringing the official differences to a much-needed crisis, f rom the public point of view the matter in dispute is of a serious character, for i: amounts to this, that either the Public Trust Office is not being conducted in a proper manner, or that the Audit oifioe is incompetent to perform the* services required of i . How should the Government treat this matter? Toying with it will not do! Let a Royal Commission b« appointed to enquire into the efficiency and usefulness of the Audit Department as presided over and controlled by Mr Fit/.gerald.