ARMY VEHICLES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 11, 26 September 1944, Page 7

ARMY VEHICLES

QUESTION OF DISPOSAL IRREGULARITIES ALLEGED - -■ The whole of one sitting clay of the House of Representatives last week spent in discussing alleged ir-v regularities in connection with the sale of Army vehicles in the Southern Command and as ;i result, the j. ' matter is to be fully investigated by the Public Accounts of the House of Representatives. The matter was raised in a formal question asked by Mr R. 11. National, MidCanterbury, who asked the. Minister of Supply (Mr Sullivan) whether in view of the public, interest, occasioned by reports in the press, lie would make public the results of the. inquiry into the sale of motor cars to officers in the Southern Military District at prices alleged to be be%\v their market value. In nis reply the Minister said that the que&- I tion raised referred to a dispute which arose over the valuation of two cars, which were surplus to Army requirements and sold by the Ministry of Supply. The amounts in dispute being the. difference between the two valuations were £10 in the ease of one car and £20 in the case of the other. The matter was the subject of" Audit inspections and was finally settled by the acceptance of the higher valuations and the payment of the additional amount&. The matter was settled to the satisfaction of the Controller and Auditor-General. The line that the Opposition took was. that the reply was at variance with the report of the Controller and Auditor-General which referred to more than two cases, and that in one, an amount of. £100 was involved. The Leader of the Opposition (Mr Holland) said the Opposition was casting aspersions on the Minister but mem-, bers could not be blamed for referring to the matters mentioned by the Controller and Auditor-General,, and the Opposition was asking that all the facts, should be disclosed. The Prime. Minister (Mr Eraser) said that the Minister of Supply had replied honestly to the question asked him and his answer set out the position as he knew it. Mr Fraser pointed out that the Controller's report had been referred to the Public. Accounts Committee, and he hoped that the evidence taken would be available to members of the House and the public.