A (2) 3
year was over $200,000. The three comprehensive heads do not themselves estimate for the real cost of the section of the Service their titles represent and it is not easy therefore to realise what object is served by the Estimates in their present form.
12. As however they have been accepted by the Secretary of State in this form for some years the question has not been definitely raised with the Government.
STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES.
13. It has hitherto been the local policy that there should be no Sub-Accountants as defined in Colonial Regulation No. 204. Strict adherence to this policy results in certain features of the accounts which have a definite effect on the Balance Sheet upon which it is necessary to comment at some length.
14. The asset "Cash Balance, Treasury $550,145.77" represents only the balance standing in the books of the Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation to the credit of the Treasurer's Account. There are, however, over thirty Government Accounts kept by the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank and on 31st December 1930 many of these were in credit.
15. The reasons which allow of the existence of these balances without their being reflected in the Balance Sheet are as follows:-
16. All departments have one or more bank accounts and the Treasurer keeps them in funds by means of cheques corresponding in amount to vouchers submitted to him and the appropriate Votes and Subheads are at this stage debited in the Treasury Account. These cheques are placed to the credit of the department's bank account and the actual disbursement to the firms or individuals are made by the department's cheques. After these disbursements are made the vouchers are returned to the Treasurer and support the charges in his account, control being exercised by a return of "Outstanding Vouchers" which is forwarded fortnightly by all departments. Summarised, this means that "the date of the record of the charge in the accounts (Colonial Regulation No. 288) is not the date of payment to the firm or individual but the date on which the Treasury supplied the department with funds.
17. Thus it happens that, to take an actual example, the Education Department books show on 31st December 1930 a bank balance of $28,755, representing money finally charged to Votes in the Treasurer's books but which was not actually disbursed by the Director of Education until the first week of the financial year 1931.