Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-28
English Public Money
Wasted by Incompetence

| From a Staff Correspondent.
LONDON, November 49, 1909
A MERICANS are accustomed to look
| ~ on the English public services as
models of economy and efficiency,
and Engishmen are in the habit of prid-
ing themselves on the fact that the graft
scandals which are SO frequently heard of
in connection with American cities are
unheard OF here, but both Americans and
| Englishmen will find their belief in En-
glish efficiency Of administration at least
rudely shaken by the revelations which
have just been madesin evidence taken by
the committee of public accounts. This
| is committee appointed by the house of
commons to look into the general system
| Of administration In what are known as
the spending departments" OF the gov
| eminent, and it has been finding out
things that are surprising and, in many
| cases. amusing.
| there has been no evidence to indicate
4 that anybody In the government service
made any profit out of it. but what is
nearly as bad. there was lots Of evidence
| that a good many OF the government
servants allowed the government to be
| cheated and wasted the public money
| simply because they knew nothing about
| the work which it was their duty to per-
| form.
| AS usual. the army came off worst.
| Every one will remember some of the de-
| lightful stories told at the investigation
| after the South African war. During that
| campaign, for instance, one commissariat
officer sold condemned food supplies to
contractors and then bought them back
| again two days later at four times what
he sold them for. All that could be said
| for him was that he didn't know any
| better. He hadn't even sense enough to
get a rake Off, the contractor e
| profits.
After these disclosures everybody
| thought that things would improve. Ex-
| perts were employed and an elaborate
| new system Of checks was invented. but
| it seems now that they failed to work.
| One Of the funniest stories which has just
| been told to the committee of public ac-
| counts concerns a manure heap at Bull
| ford. the great cavalry camp on Salisbury
Plain. When going through the accounts
| the committee came across an item OF
| nearly $1,000 for removing this heap, and
1t Immediately sent for dozen or more
| of the officers who had to do with this
department. One after another declared
| his entire ignorance of why this heap
| should have cost $1,000 to remove, and
| why so much refuse from the camp sta
| bes had been allowed to accumulate.
| Finally one was found who had been at
| Bulford for some years, and he cleared up
| the mystery. He said that the heap had
really been forgotten and that 1t even
w
growth of grass, wild flowers and weeds,
SO that the new officers coming down
| thought it a permanent and not unpleas-
| ing feature of the landscape. Even he,
| however, could not explain why in a
closely farmed country like England.
| where manure is worth about 81 % load,
it should have cost $40 load to remove
1t. The fact is that the officers who had
charge of this department did not know
that the stuff had any value and knew
still less that fair price for carting it
away would have been anything between
% and 80 cents load If 1t had been to-
| tally worthless.
| Then there was story about a farm
| in South Africa which the army bought
| for a remount center during the war.
| Incidentally it was stated that the price
paid was about three times the real
value, but that was thrashed out at the
| former investigation. 1t was the subse-
| quent history of the farm that was In
| teresting this time. The war Office let 1t
| four times in succession, each time at
a lower rent than the last, although the
| first tenant offered to guarantee the rent
| for term of years. The officers on the
spot did not think it necessary. however,
| and the outcome was that the country
! lost about $1,000 up to date.
| Coming nearer home, there was the
story of farm near Athlone. Ireland
which the government wanted for caval-
| ry purposes. The army valuer said it
! was worth about $4,000 1t was found
! necessary to go to arbitration, and the
arbitrators award was $Ji, 900 plus SIS. 500
| costs and fees.
Even in London the army authorities
seemed to have a genius for doing things
wrong. When the new war Office was
| being built it was found that some tenn
porary premises would be required and
the treasury authorized the lease for
! three years OF some premises at Buck
| ineham Gate at an annual rental of
$500 What was done was to sign
/ lease for seven years at $1,000 and the
war office now has these buildings on its
| hands and can't get rid of them
| But the army had not all the glory.
| The navy, which even in England Is
| supposed to be much more efficient than
| the army, came in for its share There
! was one little item OF the loan Of two
| dredgers to the Egyptian government
which cost the navy $1,000. 1t turned
out on inquiry that the dredges were
wanted for improving the commercial
port of Alexandria, one of the richest In
| the world but the astute Egyptians per-
suaded the English admiralty that a deep
waterway there would be of strategic
value to England.
The amazing part of 1t all was that
| in none of these transactions was there
the slightest suspicion of graft 1t was
| just sheer childish incompetence and no
/ one seems to suggest any better system
| 1t doesn't seem to occur to the Englisn
people that few business men in charge