CO129-364 - Public Offices & Others - 1909 — Page 38

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test examination by the Local Auditor or Assistant Auditor, it is difficult to see how he can be profitably employed. He proposes, however, to consult the Local Auditor on this point, with a view to obtaining from him a more detailed

precise statement of tñe/nature of the duties performed by the Clerk.

4. With regard to the observations contained in Mr:. Phelips's letter of the 4th liay as to the submission of a diary I am to state that the Comptroller and Auditor Gene- ral does not interpret them as signifying disinclination to carry out the Governor's wishes in this respect, but rather as an incidental reference to the fact that such a record, although kept and submitted by him, was no longer required by regulation. The Comptroller and Auditor Gene- ral understands that when the Colonial Financial Instruc- tions were revised and embodied in the Colonial Regulations the rule which required that the Auditor should keep a diary, which should be open to inspection by the Governor, was eli- minated for the reason that it was considered to be a matter of departmental organization to be decided by the authority to whom the Auditor was directly responsible for the due performance of his official duties.

5. On this assumption the Comptroller and Auditor General has not hitherto required of his officers the maintenance of a record which so far as this Department is concerned is rendered unnecessary by reason of the departmental re- quirement, as laid down in Rule 160 of the Colonial Audit Regulations, that Local Auditors shall forward to the Compt- roller and Auditor General Monthly Returns showing the pro- gress of examination on all the accounts for which they are responsible. Copies of these Returns are furnished by the Local Auditor for the information of the Officer Adminis- tering the Government in each case, who has thus the oppor- tunity of ascertaining how far the work of audit is progres-

sing.

6.