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Q.-I want to know the check for balancing the pawnbrokers account. Do you get a list from the Colonial Secretary's Office?
A.---Yes.
Q.-So that in each case you can have a balance of the book?
A. Yes, the pawnbrokers licences are payable yearly; the spirit licences are payable monthly, $10.
Q.-If all these books were balanced that would be a sufficient check against fraud?
A.—Yes, of course the totals of the licences book must correspond with the totals in the ledger.
Q.--And you think that if the books had all been balanced regularly that fraud would have been impossible?
A. I should think so.
The Chairman.--But it would not have prevented the fraud during the course of the year?
A.-No.
Mr. Thurburn.-It would be sure to be found out in a short time.
The Chairman.--When there was no regular Treasurer, did not you think that you had complete control over the clerks?
A.-I should think so.
Q.-Yet had you no knowledge that Alves was receiving money every day?
A.-No.
Mr. Thurburn.--Was it not your duty to see that the books were balanced? It usually is the duty of the head of an office.
A.—I always went after them to balance as soon as possible but they always gave some excuse, I could see that my own book was balanced immediately after the month.
Q.-You had authority over the other clerks?
A.-I had.
Q.-Was it not your duty as head of the office to insist upon the books being balanced?
A.-The auditor was supposed to look after that.
Q-That is not according to the practice of an ordinary commercial office.
A.-We had no written instruction as to the particular duty of each officer in the department.
The Chairman.---Did you never complain to Mr. Lister that the books were not balanced?
A.-No, but I understood from one of the clerks in the Audit Office that Mr. Freire complained. He reported the fact to Mr. Lister.
Mr. Thurburn.-And what did Mr. Lister do?
A. I think Mr. Lister told Mr. Freire to mind his own business. That is what Mr. Freire told me.
The Chairman.-You say Ribeiro used to do it sometimes?
A. In the absence of Ribeiro, Freire would do it. Freire reported to Mr. Lister that the Rent Roll was not balanced.