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HEAD 28. STORES DEPARTMENT.
SUB-HEAD 12.—The large increase is necessary on account of the high cost of stationery and the increased consumption due to the expansion of various depart- ments and the establishment of new departments.
Needless to say, Government Officers have been instructed to exercise the stationery.
strictest economy in the use of
SUB-HEAD 27. In accordance with the instructions contained in the Secretary of State's despatch of 25th November, 1937, on the subject of Colonial Accounts, (published in Sessional Paper No. 9 of 1938), the financing of Unallocated Stores from surplus balances has been discontinued and any excess in the value of purchases of stores over the value of issues of stores on the operations of each financial year is to be charged to expenditure. Accordingly this sub-head first appeared in the Estimates for 1939 but the value of stores issued was equated with the value of stores purchased with the result that the amount of estimated net expenditure shown in the appropriate column was 'nil and it was necessary to take a supplementary vote of $270,836 at the end of that year to cover the excess. This incorrect procedure was unfortunately followed in preparing the Estimates for 1940-41 but the correct procedure has been followed for 1941-42 by setting out this sub-head as follows:-
Purchase, Freight and Other Charges
Deduct Value of Stores to be issued to other sub-heads
and Services
Net expenditure for 1941-42
$4,500,000
$3,000,000
$1,500,000
These large amounts are considered necessary on account of (a) the higher cost of stores, (b) increased consumption of stores due to expansion of services. and (c) the necessity of holding larger stocks in view of the difficulty in obtaining stores from the United Kingdom caused by delay in manufacture and the dis- location of shipping.
Personal Emoluments.
The Controller of Stores is the Government's chief purchasing officer and store- keeper and in view of the increasing scope and responsibilities of the post it is proposed to abolish the peculiar emoluments drawn by the present holder, namely a salary of £900 to £1,050 by £50 annually, a personal pensionable allowance of £100 and a residential allowance of £661, and to substitute therefor a flat salary of £1,250 per annum as is drawn by the Accountant-General, the Assessor and the Assistant Postmaster General and Chief Accountant. General Post Office. It is considered that the post of Controller of Stores is no less important than these three posts.
It is also proposed to amend the title of the Inspector of Furniture to Superin- tendent of Furniture Workshop and to increase the emoluments of this post from £440 to £575 by 1 of 15 and 6 of £20 annually to £475 to £575 by £20, then £600 to £700 by £25 annually. The main duties of this officer entail the supervision of a large and important workshop and the proposed new salary scale is similar to that of the Superintendent of Government Garages in the Public Works Department (Head 23A).
Part of the stores and staff of the Central Medical Store have been trans- ferred to the new Government Store at North Point where more modern storage facilities exist. The staff transferred includes the Storekeeper; this officer has been on the maximum of his salary scale for several years and is considered to be underpaid it is therefore proposed to amend his salary scale from £310 to £350 by £10 annually to £310 to £430 by 4 of £10, 1 of £20 and 4 of £15 annually.
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