I
:
were considered.
221
Of the 48 officers who originally applied
for anistance, 17 no longer required assistance or had
left the Service, 1 was rejected on the grounds of great extravagance and 30 appeared before the Board and were recommended for advances from Government. These 30 officers,
whose names, etc. are shown on Schedule A, disclosed debta amounting to $17,077. Several officers put before the Board revised schedules of their debts, some having decreased
and others increased their indebtedness. Debts to the value
of £2,320 were disallowed by the Board; they were for the most part long standing debts from former generations to the ancestral property and the Board were unable to make recon- mendations in such cases. For these 70 officers, debts
amounting to $13,699 were settled for sume totally $10,298,39
In the consideration of applications received
after the commencement of the Board care had to be taken to prevent the Goverment from being defrauded. de reret to inform you that one case of fraud has been discovered, Bishen Singh, Assistant Warder, Victoria Gaol, having reccived an advance of £320 upon a forged promissory note. The case in being dealt with by the Superintendent of Victoria Geol in conjunction with the Deputy Superintendent of Police.
Of the 85 subordinate officere who applied only
21 members of the subordinate staff, who were indebted to Indian money-lenders were called before the Board, while two deserving cases of indebtedness to Chinese were allowed. Debts amounting to a nominal value of 26,046 were settled for 84,219. The names, etc, are show on Schedule B.
The total sun, therefore, advanced by the Board amounts to $14,517.39. Under Advance Yarrente loe,134 and 171 of 1917 sums of 10,000 and 85,000 respectively were authorised, so that a balance is left of 8482.61.
The repayment of these advances to subordinate