Here are a few examples of Government trading revealed by a Blue Book issued recently, says a Home paper Loss of £94,101 on farm settlements for ex-service men. 2 £250,000 wrongly paid to a firm of importers of Chinese bacon and Jard owing to an "'oversight."
Loss of £143,000 on cattle feeding stuffs due to "a lamentable lack jof precision."'
Loss of £94,101 on farm settle-Bad debts of £200,000 for frozen Meats.
The full story is told in the report of the Comptroller and Audi-for-General on trading or commercial services conducted by Government Departments during the period ended March 31, 1921. The loss on farm settlements includes 432,257 on the Pembrey Settlenient, while though the Bosbury Settlement was valued at £16,050 when transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture, and £23,070 had been expended on the estate, its value in the open market when completely equipped is, in the opinion of the Ministry's principal valuer, £24,500.
With reference to the National Stud Farm at Fully, it. is stated that an independent valuer had valued the stock at £94,400, whereas the "book" value as shown in the account was only £29,026. Eleven yearlings, sold for £76,000 at Newmarket, stood in the books at only '5,000. The loss on Chinese bacon and lard alose through the payment of £40 per box instead of £30, an "oversight" on the part of two officers who are no longer at the Board lof Trade. The department is taking steps to recover the epees payment, Regarding ths write-off of the loss of £143,000 on cattle-feeding stuffs, the Treasury state: "The proceedings showed a lamentable lack of precision, for which it is impossible to relieve the officers of the Ministry of Food of responsibility." A further Joss of £122,009 on conserved cattle feed ing stuffs is attributed to the failure ci the administrative officer concerned to pass on to the consumer the charges incurred for storage and transport.
The accounts of the dried fruit section for re-control currants show 2 loss of £962,606 on stocks valued at £1,849,767. The reasons given for this loss were that the season was wet, that the packing of the currants in canvas bags allowed them to be crushed, and that deterioration was aggravated by unavoidable delay in unloading. While a profit of £3,000,000 was made on Australasian meat in 1919-20, during 1920-21 there was a loss of a corresponding amount, "due partly to the low prices actually realized for. the stock."
The first account for the Harrow Printing Works, covering a period of nine and a half months only, shows a trading loss of £32,839,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.