Mr W. SULLIVAN ALLEGES MISUSE OF GOVT. CARS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 47, 5 October 1949, Page 6

Mr W. SULLIVAN ALLEGES MISUSE OF GOVT. CARS

(Special to Beacon) Wellington, Tuesday

During a discussion in the House of Representatives on the question of the use of Government cars by Ministers and under-secretaries -a subject brought up by the Opposition during consideration of the Estimates of the Department of Internal Affairs—Mr W. Sullivan (National, Bay of Plenty) said three members of the Opposition, • who were members of the Public Accounts Committee had asked for certain documents to be presented at the last meeting. That was four months ago, and they had not yet been presented. How could the Government justify an increase “of 325 per cent in 10 years in expenditure in the use of cars for Ministers and their secretaries? In 1933/39 the expenditure was £8366, whereas at present it was £26,500. Nine Separate Cars On one occasion he had nine Government representatives in his electorate, all in separate cars. He was not allowed a Government car but he had to fight those ni(ne people. Was that just? He would ask the Prime Minister to set up a Committee of the House to get all the documents and to make a report before the end of the session. Government cars were used on any pretense whatever. Any Minister was entitled to use a car for his work, but not for joy-riding. If the Government were not pared to set up the Committee he had asked for, it would be pleading guilty to the charge of abuse in the use of Government cars.

The seriousness of the charge lay in the fact that the taxpayers had to provide £30,000 a year to take Ministers around the country in motor cars, let alone the extra expenditure on the use of two aeroplanes.

Wholesale Misuse—Nonsense The Prime Minister (Mr Fraser) said if there were any misuse' of cars by Ministers, either purposely or in any other way, he would undertake to look into it. To say that there was a wholesale misuse of cars was just nonsense. “I cannot run my business —the work of the country—without a most modern form of transport,” he said.