THE AUDIT INQUIRY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIV, Issue 13889, 25 October 1905, Page 8

THE AUDIT INQUIRY.

SITTING OF THE COMMISSION. 1 [Per Press Association.] WELLINGTON, October 24. Tbo Audit Commission resumed this morning- ■■ c,. -■.. ■ _ , ... , T Thomas Francis Urey, Acting unaerKcereiarv’ lor Defence, said that for the balance of 1903, and to September 30, 1904 he was exclusively the -qfficer who upnroved and authorised payments on behalf of the Defence Department. No payment' for reorganising the defence stores had been made during that request to the- Com mission that the liobks of the Department should bo pro- ’ to test the accuracy of the witS was refused. • Witness, under cross-examination as to whether . fraudulent authority for payment might nob be obtained, said ho could not conceive of a fraud happening in connection with the public service of the colony. ,•. ;jf r 'Jellicoe proceeded to refer to recent happenings in. New South Wales, *ud to ask questions thereon, but was ruled out of order. Witness, continuing, said that the five officers commanding districts, and .the defence storekeepers, had authority to.certify to claims. ’. During the cross-examination of Mr (frey by Mr Jellicoe, the President of the Commission several times rebuked jlr'Jcllicoe, and accused him of wasting the time of the Commission. 5 ' Mr Jellicoe denied wasting time. V Mr Justice Denniston, with warmth, ■aid that tho Commission would have to 'take I strong measures if Mr Jellicoe persisted. . , Mr Jellicoe said he was not to be . intimidated. ; >. Mr Justice Denniston: “Tho language you use ,is .insulting to the f Court.” . , U '■i Mr Jellicoe: “No, your Honor, hut i the language used to me is.” -.The Commission ordered Mr Jellicoe A to- proceed with his cross-examination. • ilr Grey, further cross-examined by bMr Jellicoe. said that he could not say, ’'.’without reference to the books, whether •’ Colonel Porter had certified to payf- ments to Captain Seddon of Imperial % moneys. ■ * , . b Dr Findlay (for Captain Seddon) ini', timated that every voucher and every payment made to* Captain Seddon would Be .produced to the court. Mr Jellicoe: “But that doesn’t satisfy me.” ; y Cross-examination was continued at -great length as to the possibility of .evading .the ordinary, checks on pay!:>nient, by fraud or otherwise. , Tho witness' said that he had sent a memorandum to the' Defence Minister «n'August 3 last, to the effect that -'■careful search of the Defence and all ’■Treasury books had been made, and ’ that no trace of receipt of a claim or payment to Captain Seddon df any sum ■ whatever for .reorganising Defence stores could be found. That was in •. answer to a memorandum from Mr ; Seddon asking whether a voucher for ■ between £7O and £BO, in favour of -.‘ Captain Seddon, had been passed ■ through. Mr Jellicoe: But could not a forged voucher be passed through as a genuine . one ■ ■

Witness: I could not say, but I don’t . think so. . Mr Jellicoe: Say that the voucher for which we are looking was substituted . for some other voucher in your books? V- Witness: It would be impossible. Mr Jellicoe: Could not a voucher in the possession of the countersigning officer be substituted, for, a voucher that ■had gone through your office? Witness: No, because the Treasury : would detect it as soon as if came back ■ to Wellington. ■ , Cross-examined by Mr Willis: Captain Seddon joined the Department on March 31, 1903., A voucher, to obtain the signature of the authorising officer, . would have to pass through witness’*; Department, because he (witness) was authorising officer, hut if all the offices were fraudulently acting in .collusion it would, of course, be possible for fr.audu‘leht vouchers to be passed through, but it would be discovered ere long. Considerable time was' taken up during the examination of this witness by heated controversies between the Bench and Mr Jellicoe. Frederick Silva, assistance Defence ■ storekeeper, said that he was familiar with the records of the Department for 1903 and 1904. There bad been no re- . organisation of Defence stores during that period. No payment was made • to Captain Seddon-for supplies or services in connection-with Defence stores. -If such service had been rendered by Captain Seddon it would have been entered in witness’s hook. . [From Otra Coerespoxdext.] The investigation of the morning in the Supremo Court was a tedious, _un- ■ sportsmanlike hunt for- a supposititious .' voucher. After Mr Skerrett had examined his witness, Mr Grey, of the ■ Defence office, devoting a ■ useful ten " minutes, to the same, Mr Jellicoe took him up by way of cross-examination - and started the'imaginary voucher for him to hunt.' His object was, of course, to show that there might he loopholes - in the system of keeping the accounts’.through which a voucher might escape, ' leaving not a trace behind. If he could * prove an imaginary voucher to have got through, that was the road of the ■ Willis voucher. It was quite surprising that he put that unhappy, imag--1 inary voucher through so many turns, ' - doublings • and windings. The_ Court got tired several times’, was, in fact - tired very early, and was very often angry. At such 'times the demeanour of "Mr -Jellicoe bordered on the ridiculous when it did not border on the sublime. The presiding Judge found a name -for it by felling Mr Jellicoethat his remarks at one point were an impertinence. The first occasion on which the Court and the counsel came into collision was when the latter was drawing his witness on the subject of the change in •the system' of auditing the Imperial - accounts of moneys paid ' - to New Zealanders. The counsel was labouring the point, making heavy weather of the chase after that supposititious voucher, splitting straws all the time'as he' laboured,) making insinuations as is his wont, and the wont ' of p.ll counsel who fight an uphill fight against an’ enemy well prepared, i'he j udges were ohserved to - be looking up at the clock with just a shade of impatience. such as is permitted to the Bench when th© Bar begins to demonstrate that the -law is not always the perfection of human wisdom. At last there was explosion, i Youi- are seeking to prove. Mr Jellicoe, boat rhe system of auditing these Imperial {honeys was changed at a certain date from pre-audit to post-audit. I remind' vou that that was proved- yesterday, and that there is no . use in Proceeding further in that- direction. ’ The counsel smiled superior, assumed a- tone of affability, extended his arm in a patronising attitude to the witness- “ Don’t answer the question, please, until their Honors say that ' you mav.” Mr Justice Denniston dc%cended” upon him sharply, -reminded him that he must not waste ti.e time of the Court, -roundly -insisted that the very, fact of his addressing that warning to the witness was proof that he was transgressing the ruling of the Court, and knew it. Mr Jellicoe was blandly unconscious of any expression which could have excited the - displeasure of th© Court. He had said “your Honors,” and if that were an expression derogatory to the Court or «in any way insulting he had yet to learn it. The President couldn’t - believe his ears. , Ho fiercely asked him what expression was that lie referred tG a£ having bqpn asked by the Court

: to withdraw. The expression “your Honors,” repeated Mr Jellicoe, with calmest smiling front. “ Sir, you arc guilty ’ simply of an impertinence, said the-Court, in its very bitterest tone of severity. “ None was intended, hut if your Honors think eo_ I am very sorry.” “You say so, nv torruptod the Judge, throwing himself back in his chair and telling the counsel to proceed. Not long after this episode came another, and tho climax was reached. Mr Jellicoe, in his hunt after the- imaginary voucher, in its course through various Departments, arrived in front of tho Imperial pay office in the colony. He lapsed into facetious_ “What a wonderful label this of Imperial pay»office!” He had a multitude of questions to ,ask#ahout this wonderful label, waxed infinitely fanny, over the label, badgered the witness, who could not understand half of what' he said about the label, the Judge all the time watching him with 'twitching mouth and restless air. Presently tho climax came. , “ When iVas it painted, this wonderful label P” he asked the witness. ' Down came the 'Judge upon him with a sharp demand of the meaning of his remark.-' Mr Jellicoe, referred to the title painted up outside this wonderful office. That remark his Honor thought proved conclusively that. Me Jellicoe wanted to delay the Court,.'and was systematically trifling with the Court. “If this sort ’of thing continues the Court will have to take some very strong measures for putting an end to it.” Mr Jellicoe was to take this as a last warning. Mr Jellicoe needed no warning, begged the Court not to worry on his account, patronised the Court with soothing words. The Court repeated its warning in shaap tones with much exacerbation, and Mr Jellicoe calmly said: “I am hot at all intimidated.” The Court said the language was insulting. “Yours to me is,” retorted the counsel. “ Hold your tongue,” shouted the Court, “ when the Court is speaking to yon, and'understand that, the Court is determined to prevent'any further waste of the Court’s time such as you .caused yesterday and are causing to-day.” A pause, which Mr Jellicoe filled in with a slight blush. “ Proceed with ypur cross-ex-amination.” And the hunt after tho imaginary voucher was 'leisurely resumed, the counsel bowing, “With pleasure.” The object' of. the cross-examination was to prove that it might he possible for vouchers to go astray and be lostsight of for a long time. The witness, Mr Grey, of the Defence office, who | stood fire all day with the coolness and wary imperturbability of a veteran, j was kept going from one book to an- . other of all the books which Mr Sker- | Tett had on the day before indicated ; would be at the disposal of the other ; side, under the direction of the Court, j until the Court, wearied out, took a, band in the game, finding many dhort cute for the weary and badgered officer. At one time Mr Skerrett objected that the hunt was being carried back farther than the order of reference permitted, as that was limited to tlie period of Captain Seddon’s service in the forces. Dr Findlay then intervened, stating that, to prevent any misunderstanding or waste of time m searching, he would 1 produce every voucher In that Court which had over been paid to Captain Seddon during his period of public service. By dinner time tlio energetic counsel had in proving that the Defence Department, when it gets a voucher addressed to it in error, when meant for some other department, sends it to that department without any intimation to the certifying officer who has passed the same, and without following up its course during the voyage between, the two departments._ Tho vouoher inay be in an envelope or it may not; it may be the subject of a covering letter or it may not; it may repose in pigeon-holes or it may be in more secure places or in less, the final point being that if the department made a mistake and took as intended for another department some voucher intended for itself then would the Defence Department lose sight of one of its own vouchers. But there was no attempt to show that this voucher payment would not be recorded in the other department or in the Treasury books. There was a great fuss about tho abstract book and about the cash imprest book, the imaginary voucher going through vast mazes in its passage through these two. It appeared at lasi that a dishonest person would not enter the voucher in either one or other, and that if he then wants the money without leaving a trace of his passage through the treasury, he would nave to forge a cheque, but how the record of the forged cheque was to be kept out of the bank’s books deponent said not, and was not asked to say. At a given moment, Mr Jellicoe demanded what there was on a certain\date in one of these books, and on the G'-ourt asking him why he fixed on one date rather than upon another, _ when merely seeking illustrative instances, lie . ©aid shortly, he would tell their Honors that later on. The Court, after the examination on that lino had run on some time longer, again asked the question, and this time the counsel said he would not give tho reason. “Very well, the Court would place its *. own reason upon the course adopted at the proper time.” Tills reference to the, strong measures the Court intended to adopt against the further waste of time and tho threat somewhat shortened the proceedings .on that line. There was a great deal of sparring and wrangling and probing and pressing about the officers and other authorities charged with the duty- of approving and certifying, chiefly with a view to get- out a ..position .in .which tho Defence Minister and Captain Seddon might figure alone, the one as certifier, the other as payee, but no ‘such position appeared. Also, a, long weary, time was devoted to get- ,- ting at the way in which imprests on Imperial account might get through moneys without leaving any trace, but , the steadfast witness always showed tho ; traces unmistakably everywhere.