CO885-(20-21) — Page 205

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

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TLC.O.885

21 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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RECRUITMENT OF OFFICERS FOR SERVICE IN THE COLONIES.

15. In connection with the recruitment of officers of the Department for service in the Colonies we would recommend that, except in the case of candidates already specially qualified, candidates for the Colonial Audit Department should be selected with the proviso that their definite appointment will be subject to their undergoing a special training, usually extending over a period of three months (in which period may be included any other courses of instruction laid down for other candidates), and to their satisfying the Director of Colonial Audit, by examination at the end of the period of training, of their technical fitness to undertake the official duties that would be required of them. During the period of training such candidates should be attached to the home establishment of the Department as Probationers and receive an allowance at the rate of, say, £150 a year, the total amount thus paid to them being ultimately charged to the Colony to which they are assigned on appointment, in accordance with the arrangement which already exists in connection with the African Tropical Service. It is also recom- mended that, in addition to the candidates selected for specific appointments, the Director of Colonial Audit should be authorised to retain at all times one Probationer in reserve, to provide for emergencies. From the experience of past years it is not anticipated that any one man would remain in this position for more than three months.

16. It is anticipated that candidates already qualified by experience in the Exchequer and Audit Department or in Colonial Government Departments may be occasionally forthcoming, and we are of opinion that applications from these sources should be encouraged. In order to facilitate recruitment from the officers of the Exchequer and Audit Department, it would be necessary that the Comptroller and Auditor-General and the Treasury should be invited to concur in an arrangement under which officers desirous of undertaking audit service in the Colonies for a limited period, though unwilling to relinquish their posts in the Exchequer and Audit Department, may be lent to the Colonial Audit Department under conditions which will not prejudice their prospects or pension rights.

PENSIONS AND GRATUITIES.

17. We have considered a letter dated 11th of January, 1910, from the Treasury relating to pensions for mixed service which has also been the subject of verbal discussion with the Treasury, and have come to the conclusion that the Treasury proposals fully safeguard the rights (as regards their Imperial service) of officers who elect to be trans- ferred from the home establishment of the Exchequer and Audit Department to the new Colonial Audit Department. It will be necessary, however, that members of the former department now serving, or selected for service, in the Colonies should be informed when offered the choice between Imperial and Colonial service that, if they elect service in the new Colonial Audit Department, on accepting the latter, they will lose the prospect of choosing between the old scheme of pension and that provided by the Superannuation Act, 1909; for the reason that the question of applying the provisions of that Act to men in Colonial service is not settled. We understand that there are four officers who have been appointed to the Exchequer and Audit Department, with obligation for Colonial service, since the date of the passing of that Act, and we consider that if these officers elect to join the new department they should be treated as Colonial Civil Servants from the date of entering the public service.

18. In view of a recent decision of the Secretary of State, an assurance could be given that the service of all officers transferred would be continuous for pension purposes, the pension being based on the salary at retirement, and calculated on the total number of years' service. This procedure would leave the exact form which pensions should ultimately take in the Colonial Audit Department for consideration by, and recommenda- tions from, the Department itself after constitution, without prejudging the question whether or not the new system of eightieths plus a gratuity or bonus is conveniently applicable to the mixed service of Local Auditors.

FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS.

19. We recommend that these matters should be provided for as shown in the following regulations which we suggest in substitution for such of the existing Colonial Audit Regulations as deal with them :-

"The cost of the Colonial Audit Department, both effective and non-effective, will be a charge upon the funds of the Colonies, the accounts of which are audited under the supervision of the Director of Colonial Audit, and will be divided proportionately between them."

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"An annual estimate of the total cost of the Colonial Audit Department will be framed by the Director of Colonial Audit for the information of the Secretary of State showing in respect of each Colony (i) the local charges to be defrayed by that Colony, and (ii) the share which each Colony should bear of the total home expenditure calculated upon receipts and payments of each Colony for the latest completed financial year bears the principle of the proportion which the total of the to the aggregate of the receipts and payments of all the Colonies concerned during the same period. Subject to the Secretary of State's approval of the recommenda tions of the Director of Colonial Audit, the amounts estimated to be required during the year will be provided for in the Annual Estimates of the Colonies concerned.

"The local charges in each Colony in respect of the personal emoluments and other expenses of the local audit establishment will be defrayed in the same manner as those of other Government Departments.'

"To meet the charges in respect of the home establishment of the Department the Director of Colonial Audit will submit requisitions to the Crown Agents for the Colonies from time to time for the amount estimated to be required from the funds of each Colony towards defraying such charges, and the Crown Agents will pay the sums so required into the account of the Colonial Audit Department charging them against the respective Colonies and furnishing to the Treasurers, as vouchers, the requisitions of the Director of Colonial Audit. The sum so paid will be allocated in the accounts of the Treasurers direct to the provision for home expenditure in the Audit Vote. Out of the funds thus paid to the account of the Colonial Audit Department the Crown Agents will, on the authority of the Secretary of State, defray the salaries and other expenses of the home establishment.'

"The Director of Colonial Audit will furnish for the information of the Secretary of State an annual account of the home expenditure together with a statement showing the apportionment of the total amount amongst the several Colonies concerned, the respective shares of the Colonies being calculated upon the same basis as that upon which the Annual Estimate for the year was framed." EXAMINATION BY THE COMPTROLLER AND AUDITOR-GENERAL OF THE ACCOUNTS OF COLONIES IN RECEIPT OF GRANTS-IN-AID.

20. This matter will require special treatment, but the question is one for decision by the Treasury in consultation with the Comptroller and Auditor-General, and it does not fall within the province of this Committee to make recommendations on the subject. Independently of the requirements of Parliament and of the Treasury, these accounts will, of course, be examined in detail under the supervision of the new department.

METHOD OF EFFECTING REORGANIZATION.

21. The only points which remain for consideration are those connected with the transition stage from the existing arrangements.

If our recommendations are accepted,

the Colonies in which local audit is at present confined to the revenue accounts, viz. : Gibraltar, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, Northern Nigeria, Nyasaland and Seychelles, should immediately be instructed by telegram not to send home any expenditure accounts for 1910 or 1910-11, as the case may be, and to submit at the earliest possible date estimates of the additional staff required. The Exchequer and Audit Department will finish the audit of the accounts for the years 1909 and 1909-10, and it is considered that the provision already made in the Colonial Estimates for the cost of audit in 1910-11 will cover the home expenditure involved in clearing up the old and starting the new system.

22. At the present time there are in the Exchequer and Audit Department 16 officers employed on the audit of Colonial accounts out of a total authorised establish- ment of 18. Of these six are liable or are available (as volunteers) for Colonial service, and will probably be required to fill vacancies in the Colonies at an early date; and five will be required to provide the establishment of the new Departinent. With regard to the remaining five men, it is assumed that, pending their absorption in the main establishment of the Exchequer and Audit Department, their salaries will remain chargeable to the Exchequer and Audit Department Vote subject to repayment from Colonial Funds. 23. Serving in the Colonies there are (excluding eight men who did not adopt the conditions created by the amalgamation of the Colonial Audit Branch with the Exchequer and Audit Department, and who are therefore in the same position as regards the con- ditions of their service as Colonial Civil Servants) at the present time 32 members of the Exchequer and Audit Department, some of whom have the option under existing conditions