§ 32. Mr. Swinglerasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies why, in the accounts of the Supplies Department of the Seychelles for the year 1954, transactions which actually resulted in a loss of Rs.29,887 were shown as yielding a profit of Rs.74,291.
§ The Secretary of State for the Colonies (Mr. Alan Lennox-Boyd)This discrepancy arose from two errors: (a) the inclusion in the 1954 account of exceptional receipts of Rs.108,899 arising from trading in previous years; (b) an accounting error of Rs.4,719.
§ Mr. SwinglerIs this not an extraordinary and disgraceful state of affairs? Is it not also extraordinary that the right hon. Gentleman's Department, which has been in possession of the auditor's report for six months, has so far taken no action whatsoever to find out why half the departments in the Seychelles should not have their accounts audited and why such exceptional discrepancies and extraordinary fiddling of the books has been going on?
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydThe hon. Gentleman's assumptions are quite incorrect, but I will deal with the matter in the debate.