CO129-590-11 Commission of Enquiry into irregularities in Immigration Departments 22-4-1941 - 19-12-1941 — Page 79

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A.

A.

MR. POLLARD.

Chairman:

Mr. Pollard, we have had the advantage of hearing Mr. Pudney at

some length and Mr. Barton on his own visit to the office; and I

think you as Auditor of the Colony can take the story up at the

point where Mr. Pudney ceased. You have in fact reported on

what you found of the financial system in force in this Office?

I knew that conditions were not very satisfactory there for a long

time and so I delayed attempting to audit the accounts of the

Immigration Department until later as I thought the rush may

then be over and conditions would become more settled.

When was that? When did you in fact begin the audit?

We never started the audit. We went over there with a view to

ascertaining whether an audit was practicable and that was on the

7th February, 1941.

Q.

That was a personal visit ?

A.

Yes, I went there myself.

Q.

Perhaps you will tell us quite shortly, first of all what the

upshot of that visit was?

A.

Q.

A.

I found a very large number of people in the office, and numbers

of clerks. I went round and asked the clerks what they were doing.

I could not get much information from them; I found a very large

number of people in the office and conditions seemed generally

to be chaotic. I came to the conclusion that an audit was quite

impracticable as there appeared to be no suitable basis.

Do you mean by that the ordinary fundamental books which you

would expect to be kept were not being properly kept?

There was a cash book kept, but I could not see any satisfactory

records that would be of any value for audit. I could not satisfy

myself that all money which had been received by the Immigration

Department had been brought to account.