SOME ACCUSATIONS

Taranaki Daily News, 31 July 1922, Page 5

SOME ACCUSATIONS

A MEMBER SEEKS INFORMATION. WHY A CIVIL SERVANT WAS RETIRED. ‘’There are too many cases of embezzlement in the Public Service,” said the Hon. J. A. Hanan (Invercargill) in the House of Representatives on Wednesday night- “There are cases of falsification of vouchers and so forth, that do not come before the public or before Parliament at all. The offenders are allowed to resign, and it is said that in some cases they even receive superannuation. There is stated to be a case of an individual who has committed a serious offence and yet to-day he is drawing superannuation. Recently, a man who holds one of the highest positions in the State service, was referred to in the newspapers as having been associated with or guilty of certain conduct. What that conduct is very few outside the Public Service Commissioner’s office are aware of. Certainly members of this House don’t know what the trouble has been. I am told he is resigning and is to receive superannuation. The public and the House have a right to know the facts in connection with that man’s resignation. A member: Which man ?

Mr. Hanan: A man who is the head of a State department in this country. I don’t want to bring up the name on the floor of this House- I say we ought to know exactly how that matter stands. If he has been guilty of falsifying vouchers or other improper conduct, we should know it. If he is innocent we should know it.

“Then we have a man appointed as Assistant Public Service Commissioner who was able to avoid going to the war. He remained here in a soft, cushy billet. Indispensable’ Other men were not indispensable. What do the returned soldiers think—the men who returned broken in body and to-day are seeking employment—of the man being placed in that position?”