funded to the payer. At the beginning of the year the balance held on deposit, i.e. in respect of works not completed, was $6,500,725 and further deposits amounting to $10,034,203 were received during the year; from this total of $16,534,928 the amount taken to revenue in respect of completed works was $6,119,658, while $1,281,683 was refunded, leaving balances remaining on the deposit accounts at the end of the year totalling $9,133,587.
2.36 During 1971-72 the Government-financed Staff Welfare Fund came into full operation. Under this scheme the allocation of funds made available by Government is placed in a departmental deposit account to be used for authorized welfare purposes to assist lower-paid staff. During the year 12 loans totalling $6,748 were issued under the scheme and $2,190 was recovered in repayments. The balance available at the end of the year for all purposes was $45,442.
2.37 With the implementation of new laws concerning the apportionment of Crown rents and premia for buildings in multiple ownership it became apparent that the Colonial Treasurer Incorporated would in due course become involved to a considerable extent in the temporary ownership of portions of buildings and in the expenditure of large sums of money, subsequently to be recovered, which this would necessitate. In order to accommodate these transactions authority was obtained for the opening of a suspense account and a detailed accounting system was prepared for use by the Accounting Services Unit of the Crown Lands and Survey Office who are responsible for maintaining records in respect of individual properties. Only a small number of transactions took place in 1971-72 but it is expected that there will be a rapid growth in the number of properties to be processed.
Contracts
2.38 At the beginning of the year there were 315 capital works contracts in force and a further 357, with a value of $634.898 million, were awarded during the year; of this total of 672 in operation in the course of the year 300 were still in force at the end. No surety bonds were called in during the year, although $150,000 was recovered from sureties in respect of bonds called in during 1970-71.
2.39 Only one contract was re-entered during 1971-72, due to the contractor's financial difficulties. This further reduction may be regarded as being at least in part due to the practice of inspecting contractors'
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