NATIVE TRUST OFFICE.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19159, 16 November 1927, Page 11

NATIVE TRUST OFFICE.

DECREASE IN PROFIT. ADMINISTRATION ATTACKED. [THE PRESS Special Service.] WELLINGTON, November 15. A strong attack on the administration of the Native Trust Office was made in the Legislative Council to-day by the Hon. Mr Reed, and vehemently replied to by the Leader of the Council (Sir Francis Bell). Eefcrring to the annual report of the Native Trust Office, Mr Reed made allegations of extravagance on the part of the Public Service Commissioner, pointing out that there had been no change in the personnel of tho office during the time the Native Trust Office had been in existence. If what was happening in the Native Trust Office was typical of what was occurring in other Departments, he said, there could be no question that, far from effecting economies, the purpose for which he was appointed, the Public Service Commissioner was allowing gross extravagance to take place in. the Public Service. The facts in regard to the administration of the Native Trust Office, he said, were most glaring. The balancesheet spoke for itself. The speaker went on to analyse the figures in the balance-sheet. The revenue of the office last year, he said, was £17,404, and the cost of administration £8677. The office had operated for six years. In the first year the revenue was £19,208, and "last year it was £17,404, a decrease of £2OOO. The total expenditure in the first year was £5729, and the .last return showed that it was £11,877. The net profit six years ago amounted to £13,473, and it was £5228 for last year. Mr Reed made a calculation to show that, whereas the net profit for the first year's operations was £13,000, last year it was only £ISOO. While the operations of the office had not increased one iota, the cost of administration had gone up from £5729 to £11,877. The trouble was that under the present system the Minister had no power over the office, which was entirely in the hands of the Public Service Commissioner. Summing up, Mr Reed said that the net profits of the Department had decreased by 59 por cent., notwithstanding £68,000 additional capital invested, while the cost of administration had increased by over 100 per cent. In a somewhat heated reply, the Leader of the Council said that in all his experience in the Council he had not heard such inconsiderate comment. The Native Trustee had vested in him the whole of the Native reserves on the West Coast and throughout the Dominion. It was easy to misrepresent the administration. The Department was under the control of the Board created by the Native Trustee Act, of which the Native Minister was president. Its functions could not be performed by a staff consisting of a clerk and a boy in the office. The Trustee himself must be decently paid, and he must have a staff competent to deal with the many problems invested in his office; Sir Francis pointed to the large sum collected in revenue and invested by the Department, amounting to nearly £BO,OOO, and asked the Council to. compare that with the salaries paid. Mr Reed said that nothing had been Baid by Sir Francis to explain why the expenditure should have mounted up in such a manner since the inception of the Department in 1921. Salaries had been from year to year as follows: £4566, £4960, £5386, £6128, £7864, and £8678, and the estimate for the current year • was £ 9720. The case he submitted was so glaring as to bo disquieting. The expenditure of the Department had been.allowed l to increase under the very eyes of the Public Service Commissioner to such an extent that he considered the matter should be enquired into. A motion by Mr Reed that the report be referred to the Native Affairs Committee for" consideration was defeated on the voices.