MR DEAN V. AUDITOR GENERAL.

Thames Advertiser, Volume XX, Issue 6156, 25 July 1888, Page 2

MR DEAN V. AUDITOR GENERAL.

WHO IS RIGHT ? A statutory meeting of the Borough Council was held in the Borough Chambers yesterday at noon for the purpose of considering the balance sheet. His Worship the Mayor (A, Brodie Esq.) presided, and there were also present Councillors MoGowan, Renshaw, Reid. Wood, Crawford, Danby and McAndrew. The Town Clerk read a letter from J. E. Fitzgerald Esq., Auditor-General, thanking him for h : s full explanation in regard _to certain details in the balance-sheet which hafl l)3en misapprehended by the auditors, and stating in reference to a particular item of £111 that the Town Clerk had no need to have submitted to the auditor's opinion, as that opinion - was Bhown to be erroneous. Mr Lean then drew attention to the balance sheet, which had been returned to the Council by the Auditor General, and which was certified to as being correct except in one detail, viz, a repayment to the Borough Fund Account from the Water Supply Account of £296. which according to the auditor's balance sheet is made £40S 03 sd, Mr Dean produced his books which showed that £296 was the correct sum paid during the past year. What he now asked the Council was that they would give him permission to argue the matter with the! Auditor-General, as he felt convinced that the latter was in error. His Worship the Mayor said that Mr Fitzgerald's letter was very complimentary to Mr Dean, and it was highly satisfactory to know that-tho corporate funds had been expended in aoeordancc with the law. The balances were correct but for some spccial reason the balance sheet did not agree with the books. Cr McGowau :—Some explanations tana to make matters clearer, but I must say that after hearing Mr Dean's, I am no wiser than before. I should coneludo that the Auditor General was correct. The Mayor:—Whafc difference do the alterations in the balance sheet made by the Auditor General make to the Council considered as individuals ? Mr Dean Not a pin difference to the Counoil-

Cr Dauby Unless the accounts are kept henceforth in accordance with the balance sheet—the balances will be wrong next year again. There seems to be something wrong in the Government Audit Department. One officer (Mr Durrieu) examined the books in Auckland and certifies to their correctness, and another highly paid official who examined the balance sheet made from those books, and sent to Wellington, and makes alterations which tend to show that there is an error somewhere, One must be right and the other wrong.

Cr McGowan: I don't see that as a person might make a balance sheet from a set of books, which might be perfectly true ,and yet which would not clearly explain how the accounts stood 1

Or. Danby: That can't bo. Either the balance sheet is right, or the Auditor'.Gencral is wrong. The Mayor then read the section of the Act bearing upon the question. Cr, McGowan; I think both the balance sheet, and the books, should be examined by the same Auditor who would be then in a po ition to certify to the correctness of both. The Mayor: Gentlemen, at this rate we shall be here all day. I beg to move " That the balance sheet be referred back to the Auditor General for further explanation in regard to the sum of jC-lOS 9s sd" Cr fieid seconded and it was carried without dissent. The statutory meeting was then adjourned untirthe balauce sheet had been returned by the Auditor General to the Counoil. This was all the business.