CO129-548-1 Annual reports from various government departments 3-4-1934 - 11-6-1935 — Page 54

Memorandum by the Accountant.

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Paragraph 22 of Auditor's report is somewhat bald

the Board of Survey did not so much find quantities of cheques

complete and incomplete as have them brought to their notice by

Treasury officials, who need not have disclosed the existence of

such cheques.

The completely signed cheques were in the custody of

the Accountant and the First Shroff, awaiting collection by the

payees, many of whom were actually waiting while the Board of

Survey performed its task, as obviously all work at the paying

counter had to be suspended during the survey.

For reasons which will be explained later, all payments

are made personally at the Treasury and no cheques are sent out to

payees either by mail or messenger.

The incompletely signed cheques lacked the Accountant's

signature which was withheld in the following circumstances.

Many of the vouchers supporting the cheques were received in the Treasury on the last working day of the year

allowing just sufficient time to draw cheques and pass the

requisite entries in the books. C.R. 275 requiring the certificate

of the head of department had been satisfied and the Treasurer be-

fore signing the cheques had complied with C.R. 279. These

vouchers were, therefore, ripe for payment in accordance with the

Regulations. Local experience has, however, convinced Treasury

officials that a rather stricter examination of accounts than that

demanded by C.R. 279 is necessary and it has been for many years an

invariable rule that contract rates, arithmetical calculations and

every detail contained in the vouchers shall be examined by the

Treasury before payments are made. Following the practice of

several years the cheques in these cases were detached and retained

by the Accountant whose signature was withheld as a further safety