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The Commissioner of Audit refers to the case of the Loch Hospital that is similar to the water works, but in which the expenditure is nevertheless borne, not by a specific appropriation, but is noted year by year in the Financial Estimates. But the cases are different. In the Balin Hospital Ordinance a sum of £30,000 from the general revenue of the Colony was appropriated for the completion of the undertaking without limitation as to the period within which the expenditure should take place.
In the Loch Hospital Ordinance, on the other hand, no appropriation to meet the expenditure was made, nor could be made, because it was impossible to estimate the cost of an establishment the expense of which must fluctuate with the number of inmates, and in such a case the expenditure was necessarily left to be voted in the annual Estimates. The object of the Ordinance being mainly to legalize the existing Institution, and to provide for the imposition of fines, fees, and penalties, with a view to defraying the expense of the undertaking.