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Q.-The CHAIRMAN.-Will they be sent on at once?
A. Yes, they have been sent to the Audit Office to pass and pay at once before
China New Year.
Q. Hon. A. LISTER.-These are all contract works?
A.-Mostly contract works; we have passed some measurement works..
Hon. A. LISTER.-A bill can be passed for payment at any time, but it is more convenient to do it once a month, and that is the general system.
The CHAIRMAN.-More convenient to the department?
Hon. A. LISTER. More convenient to everyone. I will take the Post Office as an example. I let the bills accumulate for a month, and pass them all together through the Audit Office and Treasury, and get payment; but at the same time, if a man were leaving the Colony and wanted payment I could get it for him, but I should have to take a good deal of trouble about it, and give other people a good deal of trouble, whereas by doing it once a month the whole thing goes on in routine.
Hon. F. B. JOHNSON.-But you see there is room in this system to fee some one to make things easy.
Hon. A. LISTER.-True; but what I want to get before the minds of the Commis- sion is this: The general rule is a monthly sheaf of bills. I fancy an exception has grown up in consequence of the great amount of bills sent in by the Public Works Department, and the urgency of passing bills at any time.
Hon. F. B. JOHNSON.--That only applies to bills for measurement work, but in the case of an amount to be paid for contract work there is room to pay some one to get it passed.
Hon. A. LISTER.--Certainly..
The CHAIRMAN.-With regard to the payment of bills monthly you said it was convenient for everyone. I can quite understand it is convenient to the officers of the departments, but not to the man who has to receive the money.
Hon. A. LISTER.-No, certainly not to him.
The CHAIRMAN.-You mean all the paying parties?
Hon. A. LISTER.-Yes.
The CHAIRMAN.-What I don't understand is why all the things that happen to a bill between the time it is made out and the time it is paid-why one thing cannot go on to another without delay.
Hon. F. В. JOHNSON.-Especially when the money is requisitioned for a month before. I cannot see why a bill cannot be sent in and be passed and paid at once.