300 PER. CENT.

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 37, 7 November 1917, Page 8

300 PER. CENT.

PROFITEERS EXPOSED IN PUBLIC ACCOUNTS

MONEY SAVED UNDER COSTINGS SYSTEM

The relaxation of Treasury control oier expenditure in the various British Departments is noted in the Report t-f the Committee of Public Accounts issued recently. That control was waived in tho case of the War Office to some extent in December, 1914. Tho. Committee think that whatever may have been the necessity for this procedure in the early days of the war, estimates more nearly approaching those of normal timeß mould now bo submitted for war services. They point out that mmey extravagantly spent on naval find military services is in itself a weakening of the nation's power. They make interesting comments on individual items of expenditure. Attention is drawn to a case in which the Board of Inland Revenue, in apparent ignorance of the terms of Hie Treasury minute on the subject, paid tho At-torney-General (then Solicitor-General) a refresher fee ,£O3 in oxceas of the permitted maximum. . A contract for certain firms: gear was agreed at per set, with permission to sub-let.part of the contraot. The whole was sub-let. Then tho sub-contractor tendered for tho same article at .£l2 15s. 6d per set. Tho Admiralty in this case recovered .83000, the difference between the two prices. The committee think the acceptance of the first tender showed insufficient examination. With regard to cordite, they note that the Admiralty and tho War Office are now working in harmony with tho Ministry of Munitions, and are checking contractors' books, but they think thu Admiralty were slow in talcing action. Tho Eastern Command have made, through a central messing scheme, an estimated saving of about ,Cflb\(l'io in the cost of feeding the troops. Kirohen waste is being eliminated, and r:l!es, boots, ammunition, etc., arc salved, sorted, and, when possible, refitted at the base, a process securing large economies. Egyptian Army contractors, who before the war wero making from 46000 to Mil,(100 a year, were estimated !o have made during the first sixteen months of the war .£IIO,OOO, and possibly much more. The payment of a lump sum of .£3500, and a further balance of .£674, lo the W.S.P.U. towards the expenses i f a pocession of women in London in the. summer of 1915 is again raised. The Cmmi ttee think that vouchers for the whole expenditure should have been forthcoming before the money was paid. The initial estimate for tho Gretna projectile and filling factory was .£2,000,000, increased at various times, without Treasury control, until in March, 1917, it reached .£8,000,000. However, it is estimated that the savings effected, in crmparison with the charges of Anwrican producers, will amount to that emu in tho first year. The Committee report that instances wero given them of considerable economics effected by the- costing ivstfm amounting in the aggregate to several milifliio, costs being reduced in seme cas.'s by as much as 40 per rent, to 50 per cent. Tho total savings by this means ill the cost of munitions are put at .£43,000,000. '

The Woolwich housing scheme is estimated iit .£980,000 for 8326 workers, but the nfimbers in occupation in August wero 3730 only.