RED TAPE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14550, 11 March 1918, Page 5

RED TAPE.

A RIGID SYSTEM: SUPPLIES FOR HANMER. HOSPITAL. WHAT THE DEFENCE COMMISSION FOUND.

One result of the Defence Commission's visit to the Queen Mary Hospital at Hanmer apparently has been a. revelation of the inexorable rigidity of the system under which the department of the Director of Equipment and Ordnance Stores. is conducted. From Hu inner the Commission brought, with it three files of correspondence giving typical examples of the 'working of that system, and it called before it again Captain A. R. C. White, Assistant Director of Equipment tuul Stores for the Canterbury military ■ district, to question hbn on these matters.

The chahman (Sir llohort Anderson) said that the Commission had found intense dissatisfaction amongst the three principal officers at Ha inner with the method 6f obtaining supplies. Producing one of the files, Sir Robert read out a requisition, sent in in November last, for supplies, and questioned Captain White regarding various items. The whole requisition had been returned because certain items in it did not comply with the regulations. One item was a request for 11 mops. In the course of the reply sent back to Hanmer it was stated that tinder the regulations the hospital could have only nine, unless there were several orderlies. Why not, asked 1 the chairman, have sent the nine, instead of keeping the man waiting for his mops? Other items had been objected to because they were not in the scliedules, and: it was stated that the reply to the requisition that the Directoi of Equipment juid. Ordnance Stores would not vary tlve rule by a hair's breadth. One item in the requisition was 126 pairs of slippers of varying sizes. The requisitioning officer had been required to state the exact number of each size he required. The. chairman made the point that the patients for whom the slippers were wanted* had not then arrived at Hanmer, and how could the requisitioning ofh'ivr tell tho exact sizes required ? Captain White said it was held that the sizes required must be stated definitely.

Pointing out again that the patients for whom the slippers were needed had not then arrived at Hanmer, the chair man asked whether it Mould' not be easier for witness to obtain in Christchurch an estimate of the sizes required. He could see the officer responsible for sending the patients on to Hanmer. A MATTER. OF CLOTHES PEGS.

Another of the items which had caused the requisition to he. returned was a request for clothes pecs for laundry work. This had been held up because clothes pegs did not figure in any of the official schedules. After a long period' of . effort to get the pegs from the department, the requisitioning officer asked the Red Cross for them, and got them. Sir Robert Anderson remarked that it was very good of the Red Cross to give the clothes pegs, but why should the officer have to go to those people? "Why bail the man up?" was another question asked by Sir Robert in regard to the returning of the requisition. He pointed out that under present conditions a quartermaster-sergeant wa» in charge of the stores at Hanmer for only a few weeks, and thei*e were constant changes. How could a man possibly learn the regulations in a few weeks? Certain items in the requisition he had referred to were said! to be governed by certain regulations, but the present quarter-master-sergeant had not been able to fine! those particular regulations, nor had the members of tho Commission. Would it not be better to let the requisitioning officer send down one list of what he wanted — order his supplies as he would from a .large store^ — and then for the Uifferent items to be put in different schedules, as required by the regulations, in Christchurch ? Would it not be wiser for Captain White to make representations on this point to Headquarters? Captain White replied' that the was quite a good one. The getting intc it by different people might cause trouble and delay, but in hi s opinion the system was a good one" because it meant accurate accounting for supplies and ;; minimum of waste

•Sir Robert Anderson again_pointed out that the quartermaster-sergeant at Hanmer Avas changed, every few months. He repeated his previous suggestion. Taking up another file,' Sir Robert^pointed out that on November 24, 1917. a request was made for carbons for filters. The requisitioning officer was told that he would have to get special authority for these. A diligent search of the regulations, had failed to show why. In the meantime the patients .had to use water that was not filtered, and the medical officers said that was a serious matter.

FALSE ECONOMY. Another case quoted by Sir Robert Anderson was one in which the officers at Hanmer had been unable to get fiullieieni charges to refill the fixe extinguishers in the hospital. The officers at Hanmei .had come to tho conclusion that, the idea of. economy was a false one, and they were fencing .round to see if they could get cei"tam things from the Red Cross and from local people. Captain White : That's .not what was meant.

The chairman : We're quite sure it's not what was meant.

Taking up another requisition, dating back to November 20, Sir Robert Anderson said this was returned because explanations were required in regard to several items. One was for blue hospital suits for patients. The officer at Hanmer had been told to send a copy of the authority for these. The reply sent to Hanmer said that, although the letter covering the 'requisition had stated that a copy of the authority wag attached, that copy could not be trnced. But the copy, which was on the file, showed that it had been received by tho Defence Department, Christchur'cih. The officers at Hanmer had got full up of the trouble in getting these suits, and had eventually quietly got them direct from Wellington. These were only little things, but their effect could be seen. Sir Robert again suggested that the requisitioning officer should be allowed to send down a- general list, and that Captain White's staff should then divide this into the different schedules, nnd N put .certain items on a pink sheet or a blue sheet, as required.

Captain White said that it was very hard to get inquisitions near to what was required. He was held responsible for issuing in accordance with the regulations.

Sir Robert : Are the regulations too stringent or too red tapey? Captain White said there was only one way of carrying, the thing out. and that ■was to comply with the regulations.

Wtness. admitted, in reply to a question, that it took pome time to learn the regulations, and that if the men were changed l every two or three months they could not learn the regulations properly.

The chairman .said the department was a good one so far as the commission had found it, but there were things, that could' be improved. Captain White snid he had mado representations drawing attention to the disadvantage a mnn was* 'under ' when he took up a position and then wan .shifted s«oon afterwards.' He thought that could

be rectified. He did not think a small requisition would require much looking un of the regulations. The chairman's suggestion regarding division ol" a. requisition would need a big staff being kept in Christ church to check the requisitions and draw on fresh ones.

The chairman : It would not take anv more staff than does tho conduct of thSt correspondence.

In further discuss : un of t!c mutter, Sir Robert said th.it tb,o oonnni.ssion hart brought down onlv tlu-oo matters, hut probably 33, or 333, enuld be found it! Hanmer. There was not a word against Captain White personally — the oanunissioners hnd heard nothing but tinnicest things s :>icl of him- -but il ua.« the svstem !

I Captain White r The system must be adhered to if it is (o be workable. Sir Robert, smilingly, asked if Captain | White had ever heard of the laws of the Medes and Persians, smd their disastrous results? .Captain White had not. . * The chairman : Oh, well. I'll look them up for you and let you have them. After n, little further discussion of the system. Sir .Robert remarked that a famous English official had . once said that ho would rather be governed by a rod of iron than by a rod of sealing wax. The Commission handed over the three files from &n.nmer to Captain White, foi v him to look into them and to return to tlie hospital. — Christchiirch-Sun.'