Pago 5.
Secretary of State prepared by the Director referred to in paragraph 8 bove, I expressed the opinion that the Secretary of State should be informed of the matter.
18.
As a result of the original query, referred to in paragraph 16 above, it came under notice that the gross proceeds received by Government from the sale of the flour, and the rice received in exchange for flour, appeared to be less than the cost to Govenment of the flour and rico. The inttor has been brought to the notice of the Director with a request to be informed of the authority for the loss to be borne by public funds. 19.
Under the terms of the agreement made between the War Office, the Colonial Office and the Treasury in the United Kingdom for the hand- over fra the Military Administration to Civil Governant, it was provided that the proceeds from the sale to the public of all stores purchased from United Kingdon funds should be paid over to His Majesty's Government. was also provided that after the 1st of May, 1946, all bills presented for It Payment should be not from civil government funds irrospective of the period to which they related, and similarly, with the exception of the proceeds from the sale of the stores referred to above, that all revenue received subsequent to the 1st of May, 1946, should accrue to the civil government. Owing to the delay in the rendition of the Crown Agents accounts and the presentation of invoices, considerable difficulty was experienced in ascertaining which storos had been paid for frai United Kingdon funds, but it was recently observed that proceeds from the salo of such stores and supplics handled by the Marketing and Rice Sections mounting to $18,620,716.27 were credited to a deposit account in the Accountant General's accounts in the name of His Majesty's Government in March, 1948. The mattor is being kept in view.
20.
With reference to paragraph 8 above, and the manner in which prices wore fixed for disposal of a wide range of camodities handled by the Marketing Section, which were principally those taken over fra the British Military Administration or received in completion of procurement programes, an attempt was made to discover a proper basis on which a satisfactory audit of prices could be undertaken. The Director was unable, however, to supply approved price lists in respect of goods sold in 1946-47 and price lists were available only to a limited extent for 1947-48. If the audit had been undertaken for 1946-47, it would have bec necessary to accept duplicato unsigned danand notes, the originals of which (issued to the purchasers) were stated to have been signed by the head of the Marketing Section, as the authority for the prices charged, and this part of the audit was accordingly abandoned. of this decision, it was pointed out by my predecessor that, in view of
When informing Government the special circumstances than obtaining, it was appreciated that it would probably have been impossible for the Director to fix or authorise individual selling prices for all comodities, but it was, nevertheless, considered that there should have been some form of price directive or policy laid down by the Director, and that the apparent delegation of authority to the head of the Marketing Section to fix prices could not be considered satisfactory from the point of view of control over revenue. 21.
In connection with the purchase of a large quantity of hardwood from Indo-China, which was arranged during the period of the British Military Administrati m, it was observed that the cost of the freight and handling charges amounted to over four times the cost of the timber at the port of shipment. It appears that this purchase was arranged m behalf of Government by a local fimm who received 5; on the cost, plus freight and handling charges and it was agreed that the firm concomed would take over half of the consignant for sale locally and that Goverment would take the balance. On the arrival of the timber, however, the fir offered and Government accepted the whole consignment the cost of which was charged to the Unallocated Stores subhead of the Stores Department.
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