CO129-590-11 Commission of Enquiry into irregularities in Immigration Departments 22-4-1941 - 19-12-1941 — Page 275

4 53

278

whether on the administrative or the financial side, sent down

to take a first hand impression of my office?

A.

Not as far as I am aware,

8.

A.

You have no reason, therefore, to contradict me if I should say that no person from the Secretariat ever entered my doors?

I do not contradict that. The Accountant-General - we knew he

was going there.

Q. Surely, it seems to me, when you had warning that things were

likely to go wrong in a serious way, when you had a report that things had actually gone wrong, would it not be the reasonable thing to send some person of considerable seniority down to see whet-

her things had gone wrong and to what extent, and what could be done immediately to remedy the state of affairs?

A.

In the way of accounting?

Q. Yes.

A.

..

The Accountant-General is the best person we have to give a report on any accounting shortcomings.

So far as reporting goes, but I am talking about the action to be taken on the report. The Accountant-General has told the

take no action when he saw things going

Commission that he could

wrong, except to report.

action?

Surely a report calls for further

}

A.

Yes. The action that was taken, very shortly, as far as I

recollect, after Mr. Fudney's report, was to call in Mr. Taylor and put him in charge.

Q. That was action taken by myself. No action was taken by the

A.

Secretariat?

In the way of supplying you with staff? I think we did our best to get you extra staff but it was not easy at that time. The War Taxation Department had taken the cream off most departments in the previous twelve months.

Mr. Forrest: This Mr. Taylor whom you have mentioned is an officer

of the S.C. and A.Staff. I have somewhere a minute in which he

is described by an officer of the Treasury as one of the best