NO IMPROPRIETY

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 25, 29 July 1939, Page 9

NO IMPROPRIETY

SYDNEY G.P.O. CONTRACT

FINDING OF INQUIRY

PRECIPITATE ACTION * BY MINISTER

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.!, (Received July 29, 9.30 a.m.) ; SYDNEY, This Day. The Royal 'Commission wLich inquired into the rival tenders for the ! remodelling of the Sydney General 'Post Office, concerning which there was much controversy some weeks , ago, found that the former Minister of Defence, Mr. H.-V.-C. Thorby, had acted precipitately but otherwise there was no departmental -impropriety and no suggestion of dishonesty or corruption. The Prime Minister, Mr. Menzies, expressed his gratification with the findings, and said that he-saw no reason why the successful tenderer should not proceed with the work. Among the findings was that the instructions issued by Cabinet that the contract was not to be signed did not reach the Director of Works in Sydney, Mr. Orwin, until after he had signed the contract. The Commonwealth Director-General of Works, Mr. Mehaffey, failed in his duty in not giving proper instructions that the contract was not to be signed, but ther-e was no suspicion of bribery or dishonesy of any sort among Commonwealth Ministers or departmental officers in the acceptance of the tender.

i Last month an inquiry was ordered into the signing of the contract for extensions of the Sydney G.P.O. at a cost of £400,000. The Prime Minister announced that an official of the post office had signed a contract binding the Government with a firm of contractors despite the instructions on the previous day that no finality should be reached pending an inquiry into the question of whether sandstone should be \\sed instead of terracotta. A Royal Commission was appointed to go into th* matter.