WRITTEN OFF OR STOLEN.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 16174, 10 July 1923, Page 8

WRITTEN OFF OR STOLEN.

STATE’S ANNUAL LOSS.

BILL OF £40,000 ANNUALLY

(Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day

There is to be submitted to Parliament by the Auditor-General a statement of amounts-"written oft the.public accounts owing to losses in trading, defalcations, or other causes. This year’s total is nearly £40.000, the Auditor-Genera* remarking that there has been a considerable increase in the number of prosecutions of public servants on account of defalcations, though considering the number of public officers handling money, the proportion of fraudulent employees is not large. The report adds: "It is commonly supposed that the number of prosecutions of Government officers indicates that the standard of business morality in the service is lower than that which obtains in outside employment.- . I am, however, satisfied that such is not the case. The provisions of tlio Public Revenues Act regarding prosecutions of public officers arc mandatory. The Audit Office lias no option but to prosecute in every case of a- defalcation. lit is thus obvious that in all cases of misappropriation, in the service the particulars must come before, the public, whereas in the case of private employers there, is no corresponding obligation to, takelegal proceedings against offenders, and prosecutions do not always follow offences. ’’ .......

The report shows that as such a large proportion of offences are accompanied by fraud, it is difficult to discover them bv audit. The schedule of losses, or deficiencies, in cash stores., or. supply, for which Parliamentary authority is required before it can be written,off, is attached to the report, the total amount being £39,545.

The principal items are: Department of Agriculture balance, amount advanced to Nelson District Fruit Packers, Ltd., irrecoverable, owing to company having •been dissolved, £971; . Defence Department overpayments by the Financial Assistance Board to soldiers after, discharge, owing to dislocation of arrangements at Yrentham . and... Feathe'rston arising from the influenza Epidemic, £775; value of articles in Military Hospital depots broken, lost, or destroyed, £1798; stock deficient on'completion of sale of surplus military stores, at Wellington, for which responsibility cannot be attached to any individual, £505; value of stores and equipment qf. Various units found deficient at' stocktaking in respect to which responsibility cannot he traced, £3982; petrol,, supplied, to the New Zealand Aero Transport Co.. from the '‘lmperial Government gift.:stock, in consideration of flying operations carried out whilst in receipt of< a subsidy £1185; Health Department amounts owing by patients treated 9-t Rotorua, Pukeora, Otaki, Trentham, -Hanmer hospitals -arid sanatoria, and at the office of the Assis-tant-Director of Medical Services, Wellington, £11,337; Mines Department, balance, principal arid interest owing by Taranaki (N.Z.) Oilwclls, • Ltd., £1714; rent owing on coal leases by the. .Seaford Coal Co. in liquidation,' £640; shortage of firewood stocks and- various, articles at the Government firewood depot, articles worn out or stolen, £3297. .When the wood was all sold out, a shortage in stocks was revealed of cords. It was impossible to account .for the shortage The Coal Control .department, commenced operations- ip July, 1919, and the yard was taken over by .the Mines Department on September 1, .1921., It was closed down on September 28, 1922. The shortages therefore occurred before the Mines Department took over control The coal control officers are not now in the Government service. , £>hdrtago in coal stocks at Wellington and Christchurch State coal depots, due to lassos in handling, evaporation, and , stono, £683 f Post and Telegraph Department, value of materials deficient at, stocktaking, damaged, or condemned as: useless, £5925; Repatriation Department, loans granted to discharged soldiers, upder Repatriation Act, irrecoverable by Teas on of debtors being bankrupts, wasters, or deceased, £3454. - ■ • .