AUDITOR'S REPORT.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXI, Issue 1229, 30 April 1864, Page 4

AUDITOR'S REPORT.

Audit Office, April 28,1864. Sir,—l have now the honour to forward my comparative statements, shewing the over expenditure on the different votes of Council during the last nine months; as also schedules shewing the items of expenditure made without vote. The first head on which there is an apparent overexpenditure, is that for "Interest on Bank charges." This includes a sum of £625 paid to the U.B.A. for negociating £50,000 of debentures in London. Under the head " Administration of Justice" there is an over-expenditure in the expenses of Session and Gaol. These expenses being regulated by the Court are beyond the control of the Executive, and the addition is to be attributed to the increase of population and consequent increase of crime. The next item of over-expenditure is on immigration, and is very large, being not less than £4650 3s sd. It would have been satisfactory had this large over-expen-diture represented a corresponding increase of population; but this is, unfortunately, not the case, a large portion having been incurred owing to the necessity of placing two of the ships in quarantine. But, large as this excess appears, the immigration account is, in my opinion, properly chargeable with a still larger sum. The difficulty experienced by the Lancashire operatives in finding employment on their arrival, induced the Government to place a large number of them on the public works in the province. In answer to an application from the Immigration officer, I wrote the following memorandum on the Bth of October last, as to the mode in which I thought the wages paid to these men should be appropriated :— MEMORANDUM FOR IMMIGRATION OFFICER. " The Auditor is of opinion that it would be unfair to charge the whole of the rations or wages paid to the Lancashire operatives against the Immigration or Charitable Aid Fund solely. Neither would it be fair to debit the whole amount to any special public work on which they may be employed. Perhaps the best plan would be to charge a third to public works, and the remainder in equal proportions to the Charitable Aid and Immigration accounts. " "Wm. Thomson. " October 8, 1863. " The above rule, if approved of, would apply equally to all newly landed immigrants engaged by Government from want of any other employment.—W. T." I am still of opinion that this is the fairest mode of appropriating the payments made to unskilled labourers in Government employ; in which case the Immigration Account would be chargeable with a further sum of nearly £3,500, as the proportion of the sums paid from the Public Works Department under the heads of Immifrant Labour and of the West Coast Road, Mandeville >istrict and Waimakariri Defences, on which works they were placed.

The sum voted for tho Charitable Aid Fund would apparently have been sufficient for the year, except for the strain arising from the above cause. If this charge should be made, the expenditure would bo considerably in excess.

It will be seen from the General Miscellaneous list, that the vote for printing is still inadequate. The excess on the vote for fuel is also considerable. £267 15s. of this excess however, is for fuel got during the financial years 1682-63. The excess on the grants to Timaru and Akaroa is only apparent, not real, the amounts having been paid over to the Treasury and entered to the credit of the Province.

The details of the expenditure on Contingencies are given in full, and will no doubt be explained by the Executive.

The whole expenditure for the nine months, exclusive of that by the Public Works Department, is £204,020 95., of which it will be seen £94,386 lis. 9d., have been paid on Railway account. In the Public Works department it will be seen that there is a large sum paid without vote, and that considerable discrepancy exists between the Appropriation Ordinance and the expenditure under the head of Outstanding Liabilities. There is no doubt that many of the items which appear in the list of over-expenditure might fairly have been charged against some of the votes on which there are heavy unexpended balances. As Mr. Wylde, under whose inspection I presume the estimates were framed, did not continue in office above a fortnight after the publication of the Appropriation Ordinance, and an almost entirely new staff succeeded, and as the Executive by whom the Ordinance was carried through the House also resigned at the same time, the present Government have, I think, acted only with a common fairness to the House in giving the list of works done, in full detail, instead of attempting to reconcile them to votes to which they could not with certainty ascertain them to be applieable. In all cases where claims have been sent in for works not appearing on the estimates I have drawn the special attention of Government to the fact, and they have been warranted by order of the Superintendent ana his Executive. In an investigation I thought it necessary to make as to loss upon stores supplied to the workmen on the West Coast road, (and which was fully accounted for by the fact that they were issued at less than cost price and expenses), the cost of the works done there was largely overstated by Mi. Rich, from an error made by him m his calculations, and afterwards discovered. The real cost is that given in the Treasurer's account, and the real value of that work as estimated by Mr. Rich, tends to prove that the proportion of immigrants' labor chargeable to works on which they may be employed, as proposed by me in my memorandum already referred to, is a just one. Except in cases of extreme emergency, however, the system of carrying on public works by Government labor cannot be approved of, and must be less satisfactory in every way than ♦aat done by contract. I may be allowed, in conclusion, again to press on the Council the expediency of haviifg the Appropriation Ordinance passed at an early period of the financial year. Where a large portion of the expenditure is on imprest (and, in the present instance, the payments for nearly half of the period have been virtually so); bath delay and confusion are likely to arise before the several departments can get their accounts put into such a shape as to enable the auditor to report on them satisfactorily. I have the honor to be, sir, Your obedient servant, Wm. Thomson, Provincial Auditor. C. Bowen, Es^., Speaker of the Provincial Council, Canterbury.