The Dominion SATURDAY, AUGUST 29, 1942. THE MORAL OF A REPORT

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 284, 29 August 1942, Page 6

The Dominion SATURDAY, AUGUST 29, 1942. THE MORAL OF A REPORT

Commenting on the position of affairs in army stores accounting the Auditor-General, while acknowledging that "a decided general improvement” has been effected since his last report, finds that there are still grounds for adverse criticism. The instances he quotes are indicative, in his opinion, of either inefficient accountancy or laxity in supervision. Where- supervision is lax the remedy is obvious, and should be applied. There appears, however, to be some difficulty, in finding enough qualified men to ensure that the army’s bookkeeping shall be kept up to the mark. An appeal to the Public Service Commissioner 'for store-keeping staff men from other civil departments brought the reply that those departments had been so depleted by army call-ups that no men were available. The position thus revealed points to the. demand for an all-round recognition of the need for practising economies not only in regard to military stores but also in every department of the country s public administration. The fact, pointed out by the Auditor-General, that a total sum of £67,100 will have to be written off the accounts of the Navy, Army, and Air Force in respect of stores “lost, broken, or deficient,” may seem a small matter when compared to the huge sums that are being expended on the national war effort. But if inefficiency in accountancy and laxity of supervision exist to greater or less degree in other departments the aggregate loss may be serious. A nation at war is brought face to face with prodigal expenditure. The emergency calls for a multitude of things to be done in a hurry, oftentimes regardless of cost. The atmosphere thus created is apt to be infectious, and to spread everywhere. It is in this atmos- . phere that waste and extravagance are fostered. The only effective counter to these evils is the exercise of the strictest economies and the sharpest supervision. The Government has made frequent appeals to the public for the practice of systematic economies, but to obtain the right response it must give clear evidence that these are being enforced in the Services and other departments. The Auditor-General is concerned simply with matters of accountancy, but in the larger field of national economies there arise many questions touching ways of doing things that result in unnecessary expenditure and overlapping, questions which possibly could be effectively dealt with by a competent supervising body charged with a periodical review of administrative methods and expenditure. Such /a stock-taking would clearly' be to the advantage of the country in times like the present when the tendency to hasty improvisation and lavish spending is all too evident, /