INFORMATION NEEDED.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1280, 8 November 1911, Page 4

INFORMATION NEEDED.

Sir. —As an doctor of -Sew Zealand. I would feel bbliged for information on tho following. Time was when the f' o " so passed the Estimates for Public Works, etc , and any excess of expenditure over tho sum voted was notified to the House by tho Auditor-General, in his report on it hv a tag attached to it. The lass appearing so often caused information and explanation by Mr. Seddon to be Then, through his largo majority in tno TIoi'SJ, he made nine alteration pf the duties of the Auditor-General, whereby the Government got a' nower over that officer which they did not formerly 7)c« w p < s, he hoiiiK responsible to )arhamentonlv. Tf the foregoing he correct, then the rights of tho people as electors havo been taken away, the retention of the office being but the shadow for the substance iji tho safeguarding 01 public rights and duty. „ , „ Then I understand also • that Mr. Seddon passed a clause in an Act time anv sum voted by tho House for public works in any electoral district could bo taken l>y the Government and spent in anv other electoral district, as long as if: was tho same sort of public work as that for which tho original vote was intended, thus ovor-nilinff tho decisions of Parliament —an insult 1o the House and to those who havo elected them as their representatives. I havo no doubt but that there are other matters needing to bo exposed, the euro being to do as Canada has done—turn them out. Their record for twenty years is a bad onc.—l am, oto., * AN LbhOiuK. [Power to attach "togs" still remains to the Auditor-General, but our correspondent is correct as to the interference with the powers of that important official, and also as to tho grossly improper usurpation of the rights of Parliament in the matter of diverting money appropriated bv Parliament for a particular work to some other work. .Section 5« of the Public Picserves Act, IHftS, provides that in case of a difference of opinion between the Audit officer or the Treasury as to anv particular expenditure, the Minister shall determine the matter, and may overrule the Auditor-General. This clause was first introduced into the Act of 11)00 by Mr. Seddon, as mentioned by_ our correspomlont. Iho Minister o\errules the Auditor-General, the facts must be placed before Parliament. As to the power to transfer money voted by Parliament for a work in one district to another district, this was given in tho same °™ It will 1)0 found in tho Public Revenues Act, 1!I08, Section -It. It is an iniquitous law. but suits tho purpose of the present Administration very well.]