185 (175)
1819:21
Q. I put it this way:-You could not run the smallest petty business in Hongkong with this book alone.
A.-We have all the cemeteries fees books and the receipt book.
Q.-You keep nothing in the shape of a daybook or journal ?
A.-Nothing in addition to that, except what you might term the subsidiary books.
The Chairman. The total expenditure of the Department is a quarter of a million dollars a year, which is a very large sum of money. Is that the only book you keep?
A. The only books I keep.
Q.In the case of disinfectants, where are all these dealt with?
A. In connection with the monthly accounts. Treasury---
Each month I receive from the
Q-We will say the Sanitary Department buys $30,000 worth of Carbolocene, and they distribute it, in what form would it appear in your book?
A. The bills would be attached.
Q.-We will take last month?
A. Each month's bills are sent down to the Treasury, and a cheque will shew how much money is expended. I simply have a cheque every month for $30,000 or $40,000 from the Treasury, and I pay it into the Bank, and I have to send down to the Treasury every month pay sheets which shew how that money has been expended.
Q. Where is the record of this?
A. They are made out in triplicate, two copies are —
Q.—$31,000, or whatever it is, is merely a cheque on account of current disbursements?
A. Yes.
Q. Dont you keep a daybook shewing how that money was used?
A.-No, I dont keep any book to that extent. That is checked by the bills and sent down to the Treasury.
Q.-Practically you dout keep a caslibook, a daybook, at all?
A. No.
Q. I notice that every month you get a large sum of money, and against that you pay it into the Bank?
A.--Yes.
Q. How do you know, in the middle of the month,-supposing you yourself personally, wanted to know that that $31,000 has gone to the right people? Have you any records to shew? You have received that money, and against that you have salaries, and different people you have bought stores from. How do you know the two accounts balance ?
A. The only thing is the pay sheets.
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