Committee Reports > List of Committees > Dáil > 1947 > Committee of Public Accounts > Report - Appropriation Accounts 1945 - 1946

APPENDIX V.

MANUFACTURE OF MAIL BAGS IN PRISONS.

The prisons could have manufactured a great many more mail bags than they did in fact manufacture if they could have got contracts and material (canvas) at an earlier date. Canvas was not obtained until October, 1945, about the middle of the financial year. Even with this handicap, the estimate would have worked out with approximate accuracy but for the fact that the canvas, when it was obtained, was of a cheaper type than that formerly used—less was paid for it and less was received for each completed bag than had been anticipated when the estimate was framed. The figures for expenditure and receipts would, in fact (owing to this factor) have been down, compared with the estimate, even if the contracts received and executed had been considerably greater, in quantity, than was anticipated.