PUBLIC LIFE.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 September 1922, Page 4

PUBLIC LIFE.

PROTEST AT RESTRICTIONS.

THE TE KUITI INCIDENT. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Te Kuiti, Sept. 12. At the installation of Mr. Hubert Hine as Mayor, who was recently compelled to relinquish the position following a prosecution by the Audit Department under the Municipal Corporations Act, Mr. Hine strongly criticised the methods of the Audit Department and. after reviewing the whole case, handed the correspondence which had passed between the department and himself tc the Press. The correspondence deals mainly with Mr.. Hine’s exception to ths department's methods of auditing the borough accounts. Te Kuiti, Last Night. Mr. Hine, commenting on the Audit Department, said: “It is a grave reflection on the law governing the audit of local body accounts that whilst such a disgraceful state of affairs should exist fqr years in this borough- without hindrance or discovery, yet I. who have been successful in cleansing the Augean stable, should be harassed and prosecuted by the very department whose unsatisfactory methods have, to a great extent, been responsible for our troubles. Little wonder is it that so few successful men of business and education are taking part in the public life of the Dominion. The present legislation empowering the Audit Department to prosecute members on the slightest; pretext can easily be converted into a weapon to stifle criticism. I don’t say it is, but I see a grave danger in that direction. At the same time it may be used as a. device to deceive the public into believing that the department is vjry’ efficient, whilst all the time, judging from the audit of the Te Kuiti borough accounts, the reverse may be the case. I make thid public protest because the matters I refer to are of national importance. The cost to the country of yearly defalcations alone runs into thousands, whilst the chief concern of the Audit Department appears to be the prosecution of members of local bodies for trivial an'd technical breaches of an absurd law, doing incalculable damage to local government.”

In regard to the recent case at Te Awamutu, Mr. Hine said he agreed with Mr. Armstrong’s remarks, except that he favored discretionary power being given to the courts. A department which should be open to criticism, as the Audit Department should be, should not have such powers, rs they might be used to suppress criticism. Mr. Hine does not intend to stand at the next elec-