C. 82756/31 [No. 20].
PROOF.
No.
HONG KONG.
THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
(Confidential.)
SIR.
(Received 30th November, 1931.)
[Answered by No.
.1
Government House, Hong Kong, 26th October, 1931.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your telegram No. 110 of the 11th of September, 1931,* on the subject of overpayments recovered and to confirm my reply No. 190 of the 2nd of October reading as follows:-
"Your telegram [see No. C. 82756/31 [No. 12]]
explain this.'
2. I enclose a list showing the principal receipts from this source during the current year.
It is, of course, inevitable that overpayments of this nature should occur from time to time and that in a number of cases the excess should not be recovered until after the end of the financial year in which the original payments were made. In Hong Kong it has been the practice in the past to credit with the amount received the sub-head from which payment was originally made: but such procedure, although correct in cases where payment and refund fall within one and the same financial year, is clearly improper where these do not so fall; the result of such a practice being to cause the sub-head so credited to show an excess over the amount sanctioned under the Appropriation Ordinance for the year in question. Accordingly, since December, 1930, all such receipts have been credited to general revenue under the head" Miscellaneous Receipts-Overpayments in previous years," and are thus in theory subject to assessment for military contribution although in fact they represent sums on which military contribution has already been paid.
I have, &c.,
W. PEEL,
Governor, &c.
72
Enclosure in No.
OVERPAYMENTS RECOVERED IN 1931 IN RESPECT OF PREVIOUS YEARS.
Principal Items.
$2,882.74 Various refunds for work done by Public Works Department during
1930 originally charged to expenditure.
$1,958.40 Refund by Miss W. E. Dakin, Nursing Sister, being cost of outward
passage on appointment originally paid in January, 1929.
$950.50 Refund by Linotype and Machinery, Limited, through Crown Agents, £50 at 1s. 0ğd. = $950,50, originally paid in August, 1930 (Crown Agent's Voucher No. 368).
$465.00 Refund of language study allowances by various officers originally paid
in 1929 and 1930.
$254.26 Errors in payment vouchers originally paid in 1930.
$74.19 Refund by Mr. E. H. Williams, £4 10s. 5d. at 1s. 2§d. of salary over-
paid by Crown Agents.
$106.67 Refund of cost of repairs to gauge-testing machines received damaged
originally paid in June, 1930.
$9,600.00 Refund of military contributions paid by Colony in respect of Postal Agencies' share of money order transactions, 1911 to 1922 (20 per cent. on $48,000). Reference letter dated 7th February, 1929, from Comptroller and Accountant-General, General Post Office, to Post- master-General, Hong Kong.
* No. C. 82756/31 [No. 11].
Straits Defence Con.-Gp. 6. 131/2963.
Ping.
24. 8/34. (18281) M. & S. Ltd.
trăng xong
from