The Daily Telegraph. MONDAY, APRIL 23, 1883.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3673, 23 April 1883, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph. MONDAY, APRIL 23, 1883.

On the subject of illegal civic expenditure the AVcllington Post has a xevy sensible article, and its remarks are, probably, applicable to the administration of municipal finances all over the colony. Our contemporary says it ' has always been deemed permissible to ignore or evade the restrictions placed by law on the Council's dealings AA'ith public money if any temporary advautago could be gained by so doing,_ or if a convenient short-cut out of a passing difficulty could thus be obtained. But it may not unnaturally be asked—Hoav is it that these legal restrictions can be thus ignored or evaded or defied ? Can they be of any real good or indeed be accurately termed " restrictions " at all, if they have no restrictive effect ? If they do actually exist, Avhy does not somebody enforce them r" Exactly so ; those are very pertinent questions, and unluckily no satisfactory ansAver can be given. The law is too much in tbe position of the '' man-of-Avar without gun!*," because no adequate means arc provided for compelling obedience to its mandates. These latter, too, are in many respects hazy and indefinite. The City Council could not have laid A-iolent hands on the drainage loan to pay off an illcg'al overdraft had there then existed proper provisions for the separate banking of special loans. And all the irregularities that have ever yet been committed by our Council could have been prevented or rectified by a proper system of audit. No system of audit can be pronounced efficient or adequate Avhich does not embody the power of confining the disbursements of public money rigidly Avitliin the provisions of the law. It Avould be absurd to pretend that tlie existing system fulfils this imperative condition. An understanding has been gradually alloAved to grow up that if the city auditors compare the accounts of receipts and expenditure Avith bank books, vouchers, ke., and find them tally, they have done all that can reasonably be expected of them. But even these limited functions are often performed in a Aery perfunotory manner. And tho folloAving story is told by the Post:—"The Government Auditor detected an error of £20 in the addition of one account submitted to him, the result being that the city Avas charged that sum in excess of Avhat Avas justly due. AVhen Aye (Post) asked what tho city auditors were about to pass such a mistake as this, we Avere indignantly informed that the auditors could not be expected to go into all these details for the small remuneration they received, and were asked angrily if Aye expected the auditors to add up the items in every account which had been paid during tlie year i To tlii* -\ve replied that -w-e did not care hon- the auditors arrived at accuracy so long as this irtm attained, but most assuredly avo did expect, and tbe citizens had a right to expect, that at least absolute correctness in regard to the mere figures should bo secured. Nobody cares by Avhat arithmetical or mathematical process the auditors attain tlie goal of accuracy, Avhothcr by me c addition, or quadratic equations, or differential calculus, or Napier's logarithms, so long as they do get correct results, but these avc havo a right to demand. AYe admit it is hardly reasonable to look for any crucial analysis of the municipal financing, at the hands of the auditors, until they aro invested Avith the restraining poAvers they ought to hold and until they arc made independent of annual election. Some years ago the AVelliugton auditors did clraAV pointed attention to the laxity and irregularity, indeed, the absolute illegality of some of the Council's financial proceedings, but the only result Avas that they Avere rudely snubbed by the Council and by the Mayor of that day, and told to mind their oavu business." Tho Tost then maintains, and Aye think every one Avill agree Avith it, that audit ought not to be confined to the mere casting up of accounts and comparing of bankbooks and vouchers, but ought to carry with it the power of making councillors personally responsiblo for any illegal dealings Avith the public funds. There aro two methods of effecting this, namely, the pro-audit Avhich reguircs the auditor's certificate that the payment is legal and regular before any public money can be paid aAvay, and a postaudit coupled Avith not only the power but the compulsion on the part of the auditors to surcharge councillors Avith all sums illegally or irregularly disbursed, and to compel" tlie prompt refunding of such moneys out of their private purses. Either plan constitutes a complete check. Both have long been iv use at Home Avitli very satisfactory results.