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C. District Audit.
6.
The accounts of all local authorities except some Boroughs are subject to audit by auditors appointed by the Minister of Health. The District Auditor has the duty of scrutinising accounts to see whether expenditure is legal and reasonable, and of disallowing illegal expenditure and surcharging the amount on the person or persons responsible. (Section 228 L.G.A.1933) The Minister of Health has power to sanction expenditure, in which case it camot be disallowed by the auditor.
Provision is
made for an appeal to the Minister or the High Court against a decision of the District Auditor.
Default Powers.
There are no default powers giving a central Department power to give directions to local authorities who fail to discharge their general functions as a local authority.
Default powers
are contained in many Acts dealing with specific functions, to provide machinery whereby a local authority can be compelled to carry out its statutory obligations under the particular Act, or whereby the functions can be performed by some other body at the expense of the local authority. Thus the Public Health Act 1936 gives the Minister of Health power, if he is satisfied that there has been failure on the part of a local authority to carry out their functions under the Act, to make an order declaring them to be in default and directing them to discharge their functions. If the local authority fail to comply with the Order it can be enforced in the Courts, or the Minister may transfer the powers of the defaulting authority to the county council or to himself, the expense incurred being chargeable to the local authority in default (Sec. 3225, P.I.A. 1936). Similar default powers appear in many other hotse.g. the Education Act, 1944, Sec.93.
Default powers, and the power to reduce or suspend grants, referred to in 5(B) above may be regarded as the final sanction in the hands of the Central Department.