AUDIT INSPECTOR

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19900, 30 March 1939, Page 7

AUDIT INSPECTOR

MR. WYLIE TO RETIRE 30 YEARS IN AUCKLAND Comment on the changes in the Auckland Province since his appointment to the Audit Department in Auckland 30 years ago was made this week by Mr. H. Wylie, chief Government audit inspector at Auckland, who is to retire shortly. Mr. Wylie, who joined the Government services in 1895, said that when he first went to Auckland as the successor to Mr. J. H. Fowler, now Controller and Auditor-General, the province had only started its period of development and many of the present local bodies did not exist. The Main Trunk railway line was not through. Extensive District One of the three officers to cover the whole of the province, Mr. Wylie’s work extended through the Waikato, King Country and as far as Rotorua in the east and Ohura in the south. Much of the travelling was done by horse coach and journeys which took, from 12 to 14 hours over unmetalled roads could now be done with ease in two hours. The present Auckland staff is 18, while the department has centres at Hamilton, Rotorua and Gisborne. Mr Wylie was born at Pukekohe, and joined the Government Insurance Department in Wellington in 1895, going to Auckland after four months as a cadet in the same department. In 1900 he returned to Wellington and seven years later, when the Audit Office began to increase its staff, he accepted a transfer, having qualified as an accountant. After two years as auditor of the revenue branch of the railways, Mr. Wylie was transferred to Auckland as inspector in 1.909 and has remained there ever since.