The Permanent Head of the Treasury

Responsible Government had provided for the Ministerial portfolio of Colonial Treasurer. This title applied until 1959 when the Cahill Ministry deleted 'Colonial' removing what was considered an anachronistic reminder of British imperial history.

The titles Director of Finance and Under Secretary for Finance and Trade, and Under Secretary and Comptroller of Account were all interchangeable over the ensuing years. In 1911 John William Holliman was referred to as the Under Secretary for Finance and Trade, Chairman, Stores Supply Committee and Commissioner of Taxation. By 1914 the Under Secretary was also designated Member of the Housing Board.

The Permanent Head and Under Secretary in January, 1922 was Arthur Pearson, however, when John Spence, B.A., LL.B. assumed office in April 1923 he was again titled the Under Secretary and Director of Finance, Department of Treasury. This became necessary because, in certain Acts, the permanent head of the Treasury was designated Under Secretary to the Treasury or the Under Secretary of Finance and Trade. The permanent head was therefore appointed as Under Secretary to the Treasury and Under Secretary for Finance and Trade for the purposes of those Acts.

Senior positions immediately below the Under Secretary at that time were the Emergency Under Secretary, the Chief Accountant and Deputy Director of Finance, and the Comptroller of Accounts. After Andrew Lynch had retired from this latter position in January 1925, the position was subsequently abolished and the title subsumed.

This title would attach to the Permanent Head of Treasury until 1986 when Percy Allan issued directions for the appellation Comptroller of Accounts be removed from the Chief Executive's title and Secretary of the Treasury becoming the accepted title for the Permanent Head. The present incumbent John Pierce was appointed as Secretary of the Treasury in April 1997.

Little known aspects of the responsibilities of the Head of Treasury included the obligation to keep secured in his office a spare set of lottery marbles. Precautions also included the secure keeping of a spare lottery ladle in case the lotteries ladle was broken.

Treasury was also responsible for the introduction of a prototype computer on which the Treasury, ultimately, processed the payroll for virtually the whole of the Public Service. This computer facility was in its infancy and was part mechanical and part electronic and was the source of a great deal of trouble.

This prototype was located in the basement of the old Treasury building in Macquarie Street and developed into the central pro¬cessing bureau, the ADP Bureau, which was later transferred to the Public Service Board.