6
of returning to the Exchequer and Audit Department on the completion of five years Colonial service, unless in the meantime they signify their willingness to continue to serve in the re-organized Departinent either as Colonial civil servants or (with the approval of the Comptroller and Auditor General and of the Treasury) as seconded · members of the Exchequer and Audit Department.
24. We consider that probably only a small cost to the Colonies will be caused by the existence of redundant officials at headquarters waiting for absorption into the main establishment of the Exchequer and Audit Department. With regard to the officers serving in the Colonies it is not anticipated that many will decline Colonial service nor is it thought that any difficulty will arise in absorbing any such in the Exchequer and Audit Department on the termination of their present engagements, but with a view of getting the new scheme into working order without delay the option should be offered to them as soon as possible.
25. The Committee recommend that the Director and Assistant Director of Colonial Audit should be nominated at an early date in order that the Director of Colonial Audit may be in a position to deal with the current questions arising out of the local audit of the new year's accounts which, so far as the Revenue and Store Accounts are concerned, has already commenced, and in order also that he may instruct the Local Auditors with regard to their future work and procedure. It seems desirable that they, as well as the other members of the staff of the new department, should remain at the Exchequer and Audit Department until the completion of the work in connection with the accounts for 1909 and 1909-10 is in sight, and that the new arrangements and appointment' should date definitely from the 1st of April, 1910.
26. It will be necessary to revise the Colonial Audit Regulations throughout in order to bring them into conformity with the new system; and this question should receive early consideration when the new department has been constituted.
27. In conclusion the Colonial Office members of the Committee desire to express their strong sense of the value of the services which have been rendered to the Colonies and to the Colonial Office by the Comptroller and Auditor General and by his Department, and of the assistance which has been afforded to the Committee by the Assistant Comp troller and Auditor. The Committee have to express their acknowledgments to their Secretary, Mr. J. F. N. Green, for the assistance which he has rendered in the consideration of the matters referred to them and in the preparation of their Report.
G. V. FIDDES.
H. J. GIBSON,
H. J. READ.
CHARLES STRACHEY.
A. E. COLLINS,
W. D. ELLIS,
-+
A. E. STEPHENSON.
J. FREDK. N. GREEN,
Secretary',
12th February, 1910.
}
A
247
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
15 TO 18 12
C.O.885
Reference :-
21 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
}