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were given on 20.5.47 to the Assistant District Officers that they were to "read through General Orders covering accounting", and "go through the account books" in their offices and to "familiarise" themselves with them. Later on they "should from time to time inspect the books to make sure that things are being done as they should". The report refrains from dealing with the duties of Assistant District Officers and District Officers but there seems to be no doubt that before the war they were required "to check all accounts with the Shroffs everyday and lock up the money over- night" as mentioned in Appendix 3 and there appears to be no reason why this procedure should not be followed now. This view is supported by Finding (C) on page 6 of the report, which points out that no senior officer had checked the accounts, and also Finding (I) on page 8 of the report.
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5.
The report mentions at paragraph 7 that Mr. Au-Yeung Man was aware of the instructions referred to in Appendix 5 of the report and it only needed one inspection to be made by the District Officer, or Assistant District Officer, of Mr. Chung Tse Chuen's accounts for it to be seen that Mr. Au-"eung Man had not checked his accounts. An inpsection was made of the accounts by Kr. Wakefield on the 12th September, 1947 (presumably in accordance with the instructions of 20.5.47) but it is not reported whether Mr.
Wakefild observed that Mr. Au-Yeung Man had not checked the accounts, and if he did, whether any action was taken by Mr. Wakefield in the matter. I suggest that Mr. Au-Yeung Man was justified in thinking that as a result of this inspection Mr. Wakefield was aware that he was not checking Mr. Chung Tse Chuen's accounts and that the apparent silence on the part of Mr. Wakefield gave consent. I do not think, therefore, that Mr. Au-Yeung Man can be held directly responsible in any way, for the loss, especially as he had not only pointed out to the District Officer the correct procedure for dealing with the bash balance and accounts (Appendix 3), on which no action was apparently taken, but on asking to be relieved of his accounting duties (Appendix 4), his application was refused (Paragraph (7) of the report refers).
6.
With regard to Finding (B) on page 6 of the report, I think that the account books should have been brought to the Treasury for inspection by the Accountant General's Department, but it may prove to be the case that this would have caused considerable inconvenience to the District Office, in which case it becomes more important than ever for the accounts and the cash to be constantly checked by the District Officer or an Assistant District Officer.
7.
Findings (E) and (F) on page 7 of the report refer to the practice of not issuing receipts to Un Long and Taipo for the amounts of collections, shown at items (ii) and (iii) of paragraph 1 above, taken by the Head Office Shroff for payment to the Treasury and hold the Un Long Shroff responsible for not demanding receipts for the Un Long collections. I understand that the officer carrying out the duties of Throff at Un Long is an inexperienced Temporary Clerk who should be always under the strict supervision of the Assistant Tistrict Officer, Un Long. In view of his lack of experience and in the absence of any instructions on the matter, I don't suppose it ever occurred to the Shroff at Un Long that he "should have insisted on an immediate enquiry into the disposal of this money" seeing that it was the experienced Head Office Throff who took the money from him. However, the absence of the support- ing receipts must have been apparent to any one checking the accounts and in view of the Shroff's inexperience and temporary appoint- ment, the Assistant District Officer should have checked the accounts and must be held responsible for not reporting the matter of the receipts to the District Officer in accordance with paragraph 3 of Appendix 5.
8.
A somewhat similar position occurs at Taipo in onnection with item (v) at paragraph 1 above. The imprest is apprently issued to the Assistant District Officer and it
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