H—29.

ACCOUNTS DIVISION. REPORT OF L. C. SCOTT, ACCOUNTANT. The budgeted position for the 1940-41 year provided for a net expenditure of £1,657,174. This was an increase of £624,220 on the previous year's net budgeted expenditure (£1,032,954), due mainly to provision for a subsidy on raw materials for superphosphate-manufacture. The year has been cleared with a net expenditure of £1,611,984, a saving of £45,190 on the budgeted total. This saving arose chiefly because of a reduction in the planned fertilizer programme during the last four months for the year, coupled with a buoyancy in credits. The principal credits are derived from fees based on butterfat, with the major portion of the remainder from sales of farm and station production, and, although the future outlook in the matter of credits will call for careful consideration, the 1940-41 financial year has been highly credit-productive. Since the outbreak of war expenditure has been somewhat restricted in the field of general agricultural progress, but essential advisory aids to agricultural production have demanded undiminished expenditure ; in fact, the activities of the Department, particularly in directions such as seed, cheese, and linen flax productions, have been considerably expanded. The following is a summary of the vote, with insertion of corresponding 1939-40 figures in parentheses for comparative purposes : — Expenditure p, , t Revenue Received appropriated. raid out. appropriated. iteceiveu. £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ Administrative services .. 534,553 (542,358) 523,887 (509,541) 116,510 (121,345) 138,163(128,982) Payments under statutes .. 105,500 (104,000) 102,916 (95,861) 2,500 (2,500) 1,437 (2,390) Miscellaneous advances, &e. 1,155,641 (523,191) 1,148,640 (515,921) 19,510 (12,750) 23,859 (19,614) Totals .. ..1,795,694 (1,169,549) 1,775,443 (1,121,323) 138,520 (136,595) 163,459(150,986) Less credits-in-aid.. 138,520 163,459 Net totals .. .. 1,657,174 1,611,984 The position arising from receipts (£163,459) and payments (£1,775,443) is £1,611,984 net expenditure. " Administrative services " called for payments totalling £523,887 and yielded £138,163 credits (net being £385,724); " Payments under statutes " required £102,916 and yielded £1,437 credits (net being £101,479) ; and " Miscellaneous advances, grants, subsidies, &c." cost £1,148,640 and yielded £23,859 credits (net being £1,124,781). Outgoings have always been much more substantial than incomings, but the miscellaneous section outgoings increased by approximately 120 per cent, over those of the preceding year. The total vote incomings increased by approximately 8-5 per cent. There are, however, other receipts (£112,748) not covered by vote figures (Nauru and Ocean Islands, £35,344 ; Meat Act, £61,514; Dairy Industry Act, £2,645 ; Orchard and Garden Diseases Act, £11,907 ; Sundry, £1,338). Administrative Services. —Remuneration for personal services, the usual major expenditure factor, absorbed £345,665 (£338,869 for previous year) and locomotion, an essential factor in the efficient functioning of personal services, absorbed £61,092 (£63,640 for previous year). Other working-expenses required £117,133 (£107,032 for previous year) to cover operations embracing three large farms and many small areas, three extensive laboratories, a seed-testing station, a publications section, numerous grading services, and a number of research and demonstrational services, together with provision of office accommodation, telephones, stationery, and staff transfers necessary in connection with a staff, exclusive of casual labour, of 1,020 persons (1,055 for previous year). The figure (1,020) excludes 80 officers on leave of absence for overseas service. Payments under Statutes. —Compensation for diseased live-stock (£36,2.11), subsidies for destruction of rabbits (£29,705), subsidies to encourage production of " remounts" (£4,000), and grants for educational purposes (£33,000) give a total of £102,916. This section of expenditure and the major portion of " Miscellaneous " expenditure mentioned in the next paragraph are outside the realm of regulative departmental administrative influence. Miscellaneous Advances, Grants, Subsidies, &c. —One effect of war efforts on the part of primary producers to increase production is reflected in carriage of lime, fertilizers, and farm produce at £480,987, an increase of £65,553 on the previous year's total. In absorbing increased costs of the raw materials used for superphosphate-manufacture as from the outbreak of war, £570,453 has been paid this year. Those costs (£81,510) for the war period of the previous year being " Unauthorized " did not appear as " vote " expenditure. The major portion of " Miscellaneous " expenditure thus totals £1,051,440, leaving £97,200 for noxious-weeds eradication (£59,075), assistance to cow-testing organizations (£14,355), and sundry other minor items (£23,770). As, in common with other sections of public service, the Accounts Division has been faced with staff shortage and change difficulties arising from war conditions, the increased volume of 1940-41 expenditure has provided an arduous year. The increasing tendency in the volume of problems of statistical and investigational significance, referred to last year, continued throughout 1940-41, and further emphasized how necessary it is to have a wide range of more or less specialized statistical information in readily available order. In the past the Statistical and Investigational Section has been mainly concerned in the prompt rendering of statistical outlines, but during 1940-41 it also provided substantial assistance in the " field " to ascertain town milk-supply costs in several of the main cities, and at the present time is planning on lines which will call for some of its staff to render service in this " field " type of activity by way of a cost of egg-production survey. As usual in recent years, meat and fertilizer industries have commanded a measure of investigational attention. The Publications Section, which also works under the Accounts Division, has experienced a steady demand for leaflets and bulletins, while in the circulation and advertising aspects of the Journal of Agriculture, with which the Division is concerned, there has been very satisfactory continuity in circulation and an increasing tendency in advertising. In this latter connection the effects from import restrictions and war conditions are well known as depressing factors, and it is indeed pleasing to envisage the comparative buoyancy of advertising demands as a most gratifying indication of the merits of the Journal as a publicity medium. My staff and officers associated with general accountancy matters have this year again rendered very willing service.

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