CO129-548-1 Annual reports from various government departments 3-4-1934 - 11-6-1935 — Page 11

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is of course another matter; but, if this were

forbidden by the Secretary of State now, it would

involve a considerable upheaval in the accounting

arrangements of most Colonies, and many of the

Treasurers would, I think, require a lot of

persuading.

3. The prompt payment by the Treasury of sums

which are due and properly authorised presents, so

far as I am aware, no difficulty as a rule, (the

other

only case in which I have come across any diffi-

culty is in that of Trinidad, regarding which I am

now in correspondence with the Auditor). In most

Colonies, the payments due, if not paid in cash,

are made by means of cheques which are signed and

despatched within the month, and by this means the

rule of date of payment is properly complied with.

In the case of Hong Kong, however, according to

the Treasurer, this method cannot be followed owing

to the local circumstances fully explained by the

Accountant's Memorandum enclosed in No.20 herein.

There are several alternatives which might conceivably

be adopted to meet the difficulty.

(a) As proposed in Mr. Bader's minute above.

This is quite orthodox and complies in

every way with both Home and Colonial

rules. It is true that it does not secure

the charges being made in the year to which

they relate, but the reason for deferring

the charge until the next year is that it

is not possible to make the actual payment

within the year; and the last sentence of

*Col. Reg.288 is qualified by "as far as

possible", while the rule in the first

sentence of the Regulation

the date of

payment