THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN, CROSS. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1877.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIV, Issue 4748, 3 February 1877, Page 2

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN, CROSS. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1877.

Accurate account keeping is a necessary adjunct to the monetary transactions of all public bodies. . It is acknowledged that the book-keeping of the City Council has not for some years been in a very intelligent condition; nor is it now, though greatly improved, in that state of perfection which should characterise it. Acute and competent auditors, however, have examined the accounts, have established a new set of books, and have set on foot a system which enables the City Treasurer to place his department in a more satisfactory position. Yesterday we published the wain portions of a report by Mr. Henry Wright on the present state of the books of ths City Council, and the mode in which they have been kept, and Mr. Brodie's reply to the statements.. The original intention of the Council was that another person should be associated with Mr. "Wright in the examination of and report on the books ; and Mr. Frazer, who has acted as City Auditor for some years, was: asked, but refused to be so associated. The work was thus left to Mr. Wright himself, and we think unfortunately so, for the tone of the report would, we feel assured, have been very different, and the real facts made more apparent, had not Mr. Frazer I not declined to work with Mr. Wright, who is charged by the City Treasurer as being his "avowed"enemy." That something like personal animus lurks, if indeed it does not openly display itself throughout the whole report, must be apparent to all who read it in a frame of mind free from bias. It seems to us, therefore, that it would have been far better had the Council, instead of placing the work into the hands of one man, employed the long trusted and well-known City Auditors to perform the work. That there aro errors of form in the books is evident. These are shown by the report, and some of them are admitted by the City Treasurer. But the reporter, at the outset of his report, acknowledges, what we presume will not be denied, that the auditors "have already certified in the most distinct manner as to the correctness of these accounts, and such certificate from year to year must place beyond all doubt the accuracy of the cash records." Yet, in' the face of this admission, Mr. Wright deems it his duty to repeat and, as he says, "confirm"—which latter ho totally fails to do —"that somo of the largest and most important items were absolutely not shown at all in the Corporation's books, leaving many thousands of pounds totally timtecouniedfor." The inference left here is clearly an unfair one, and is not borne out by facts. Indeed, lie admits that the books are at the present time "undoubtedly much more complete than they were, on 30th October, 1870 ; but it must not be inferred that they are now by any means correct." Here is a jumble of contradiefciona and a confusion of lan-

"uage, not surprising, perhaps, when the hieh-flown style of several portions of the report, which is what Americans call "hi«h-falutin," is taken into account. How books can be "much more complete" now, than they were in 1876, w.uld bo puzzling to most readers. This is not the strictly accurate language which should mark official reports dealing with monetary aflairs. It appears that the new accounts to which Mr. Wright refers in . a tone implying blame, as having, been opened in the ledger in October, were so opened in terms of the instructions given by the Council; and these are the entries to which he alludes in ..a quotation respecting the waterworks loan, which, we shall presently make. ; ___ And now, is it really the fact as Mr. Wright distinctly reiterates, that " sums amounting to many thousands of pounds arc'totally unaccounted for?" If it is, then the auditors must have made most egregious blunders, which they ought to be called on to explain. If it is untrue, thin Mr. Wright has allowed himself to be. betrayed into the reckless repetition of an unwarrantable statement. Let' us take an example of this recklessness of assertion. Mr. Wright says :—"

On 31st October, 1575, the annual printed accounts show tfiat £100,000 lias been received for "Waterworks Loan, but at that time there was nothing in the books whatever to show that any such loan had been negotiated or such sums received, and no record of the transaction was made in the books until 31st October, 1870, after a lapse of one year.

Mr. Brodie's reply to this will be reassuring to those, if there are any such, who might have been led to believe from the tenor of Mr. Wright's language that many thousands of pounds had disappeared, for that is really the construction which is usually put on the statement that moneys are " totally unaccounted for." Mr. Brodie says, with directness of language for which perhaps there is some excuse : —

What Mr. "Wright states hero is utterly false. The whole of the money received from the loan was properly and regularly entered in the "Waterworks Loan cash-book; and here I beg leave to draw your attention to the fact that jl r . "Wright does not seem to understand the purport of these cash-hooks: tins oho, for instance, is in fact equivalent to a ledger account, it showing iti detail the position of thia Loan Account. There are no cash accounts in the ledger, the only phico for them, according to Mr. "Wright's idea, of doing without a cashbook.

' Regarding the printed letter of Mr. King, containing certain charges which. Mr. Wright undertook to answer, it is sufficient to say that the information on which Mr. King founded the questions and assertions his letter contained, were supplied by Mr. "Wright. Practically, every question put in the letter is an inferential accusation against the Treasurer and his mode of keeping the books. Yet, although it is notorious that Mr. "Wright is the author —it is said the confessed author —of the charges in that letter, he nevertheless admits in his report that, with reference to these charges and implications, he has no means of knowing or ascertaining their accuracy. We should have thought that before getting such statements promulgated, and made the prelude to his appointment to report on the accounts, Mr. Wright should have been sure of his ground, and able to prove the assertions he contributed to set abroad.

Some portions of Mr. "Wright's report aro characterised by extraordinary extravagances, which aro really insulting to the common sense of the Council, and are in singularly bad taste. We pass the bombast about the archives of the Tower of London, and their comparison with the city records, which is simply childish. But we cannot help quoting the following sentences regarding what, at the worst, is a merely formal error in the entry of the Mayor's salary : —

There is still a debit of £131 5s outstanding against F. L. Prime, which should bo collected or written off; and I regret to find that this distinguished Councillor, after having devoted himself with such disinterested zeal, and preeminent ability to the affairs of the city, should now be brought in a debtor to this extent for the privilege of filling the olfice of Mayor for one short year. It in, indeed, a sad reflection that honour and greatness cannot be attained in Auckland without being charged for at so much per week ; and if future Mayors are to be treated in this way, they may, perhaps, be led to believe that the game is hardly worth the caudle.

lii sober English, is the man who can intrude rubbish like this in an official report on the accounts of a Corporation, and who exhibits such a personal animus as his report undoubtedly shows, is he a fit and proper person to be entrusted with work requiring a clear head, sound sense, a freedom from prejudice, a strict knowledge of the meaning of language, and a reasonable mode of treating his subject, and describing fairly and judiciously its details? The question will not be difficult to answer. We desire to see the books of the Corporation put in a state at which no man can cavil ; but surely that can be accomplished without the public being treated to a series of attacks and recriminations conceived in bad'taste, and carried out in a manner which seems as if the main object sought to be achieved were made subordinate to the gratification of personal antagonisms.