Government amendment:—

New section. Before Section 18 to insert a new section as follows:—

18. The Minister shall cause to be kept, in respect of the undertaking, all proper and usual accounts, in such form as shall be approved of by the Minister for Finance, of all moneys received or expended by him.

I move the amendment.

During the discussion in Committee on an amendment moved by Senator Sir John Keane, I indicated a willingness to have introduced on Report Stage an amendment of this kind requiring that the Minister shall cause to be kept in respect of the industrial alcohol undertaking all proper and usual accounts in such form as the Minister for Finance may approve. These accounts will be submitted to and audited by the Comptroller and Auditor-General, and any comment he thinks necessary to make upon them will appear in his annual report.

I hope the Minister will not expect me to be very enthusiastic in my gratitude for this amendment. "Usual accounts" may mean anything. Many of our accounts are very unusual. In any event, I feel I am in the Minister's hands in a matter of this kind and, as the bankers say in a case of defective title, I take it q.v.