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A (2) 6
27. Authorities for 31% "Dollar Loan" Expenditure, 1937.
The total actual expenditure incurred during the year 1937 under the items detailed in the Schedule has been covered as follows:-
(1) $1,673,731.37 by Resolution of the Legislature on 29th September, 1937. Approved by Secretary of State vide Telegram No. 280 of 24th December, 1937, and
(2) $50,454.49 being excess expenditure on the Gorge Dan received the approval of the Legislature on 7th July, 1938. Secretary of State's approval not yet seen.
28. Expenditure on additional works to be charged to a Proposed New Loan.
On the 29th September, 1937 the Legislative Council passed a Resolution approving the carrying out of certain additional works at an estimated total cost of $3,396,000 of which $176,000 would be chargeable to the accounts of the current year. It was agreed that the expenditure should in the first instance be charged as advances from the Colony's Surplus Funds pending the raising of a loan. The Secretary of State's approval for the above was obtained vide his telegram No. 280 of 24th December, 1937.
29. The actual expenditure to the 31st December, 1937, on these works was $56,783.30.
E. AUTHORITIES FOR EXPENDITURE 1936.
30. Recurrent.-Notice of non-disallowance of the Suppie- mentary Appropriation Ordinance in respect of expenditure for the year 1986 (Ordinance No. 10 of 1987) was published vide Government Notice No. 787 in Gazette No. 52 of 5th November, 1937.
31. Loan Expenditure.
An excess expenditure of $239,103.69 in 1936 on Head 2, Shing Mun Valley Water Scheme b (3) Gorge Dain, which was reported by the Director of Colonial Audit to the Secretary of State as not having been authorized by the Legislature, has now received the covering approval of that body by a Resolu- tion on 7th July, 1938.
32. All 1936 expenditure is therefore now covered by the requisite authorities.
F.-COLLECTION OF REVENUE.
33. As far as has been ascertained the systems employed for the collection of revenue have proved generally to be satis- factory, and moneys becoming due to Government are being promptly and efficiently collected.
Appendix “C”
A (2) 7
34. Royalties payable by Transport Companies.
Head 9. Miscellaneous Receipts. Under Licences issued by Government to certain private Transport Companies, royalties or percentages becoine payable, which are based upon the gross annual receipts of the companies concerned. For the purpose of verifying the accuracy of the payments made, monthly statements of gross receipts and royalty payments, each certified by a firm of Auditors approved by Government, are submitted to the Accountant-General.
35. For a considerable time, however, the Auditor's certi- ficates in respect of the returns rendered by one Company have been qualified owing to the non-production for audit of essential book of account viz. a Cash Book. The matter is receiving the attention of Government.
36. Arrears of Revenue.
an
According to returns rendered by Departments, the total arrears of revenue, as at 31st December, 1937, amounted to $302,635.71 of which $291,550.22 was collected by the 31st March, 1938. The previous years' figures were $676,542.43 and $513,126.93 respectively. The 1937 figures therefore show a substantial improvement when compared with those for 1936.
37. Of the 1937 arrears the sum of $3,599.52 has been either written off or cancelled, leaving a balance outstanding as at 31st March, 1938 of only $7,485.97, as against $53,571.42 at the same date last year.
38. A detailed statement, showing the arrears of each class of revenue as at 31st December, 1937, and the 31st March, 1988 respectively, appears as Appendix C to this report.
39.
'Writing off" of Revenue.
Under General Order 296 (2) the Treasurer is authorized to write off arrears of revenue not exceeding $50 in each case, but it has been brought to notice by Audit that hospital fees, and in some instance fines, have been written off by the officers responsible for their collection; and that the requisite authority for this could not be traced. The matter has now been referred ƒ to the Secretary of State.
G. EXPENDITURE.
40. The control over expenditure appears generally to be satis- factory. It was however necessary on one occasion, for audit to bring to notice that the estimated provision for the cost of postage stamps had been considerably exceeded, and, contrary to the provisions of Colonial Regulation No. 265 (b), it was not until several months after the excess expenditure had been included in the accounts that steps were taken to obtain the
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