asked to pass a
supplementary vote
to allow expenditure charged to the vote
1
for being transferred to the Tytan Water Works on which the
expenditure was actually incurred. In
a return supplied by this Department in
November last in compliance with instructions received from the Secretary of State, it appears that
works have been charged against the
main drainage
and
Sanitary
vote which clearly ought not to be thus classified. Now although the Surveyor General is of course primarily responsible for these irregularities, I submit that a qualified Public Works Accountant
should call attention to these and
similar inaccuracies.
After my
arrival I
found complaints were frequently made of the
delay
in obtaining payment for work executed or
goods
supplied, and many accounts
have come in which have been
outstanding for one
or even
two
years, and it is
very difficult in cases to ascertain whether these
accounts have been previously
paid or not. I have taken steps to remedy
these abuses, but I feel
utterly unable successfully to cope with the difficulty without a stronger
and improved system of
staff and
accounts. The system which has hitherto prevailed has been that the Contractor (and nearly all the work of the Department has been done by Contract) should send in his account from time to time. The Officer in charge of the work (too frequently an Overseer) examined
and certified the account. It is then examined by the Assistant Surveyor General who should refer disputed points to the Surveyor General for any ...