(b). Allowances in reimbursement of public expenses. Although as a rule allowances drawn by Officers in reimbursement of public expenses are regular in amount the Auditor at home has no means of knowing when an Officer is on or off duty and is ignorant of his movements generally. The certificate of the head of department must therefore be accepted without demur.
(c). Other (Departmental) Charges. Most serious objection to a Home audit attaches to this subdivision of expenditure. Such audit can scarcely certify to anything beyond mere clerical correctness. In small departments where expenditure is limited to mere office expenses this is not a matter of the first importance but in the large spending departments, such as the Post Office, Harbour Master's, Police and Prison, Medical, Sanitary and Education, clerical correctness is only one and that not the most important - of the examination necessary to effective audit. Certificates as to rates (of the reasonableness of which no auditor at home is in a position to judge) must be accepted without criticism and charges of waste or extravagance would be invidious, and could not be substantiated without local knowledge. It is even open to grave doubt whether cases of actual fraud are possible in many