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A (2) 18.
97. Post Office-Specimen Stamps.
Specimen postage stamps of British possessions and of foreign countries belonging to the Postal Union, which are sent to the Postmaster-General from time to time by the authorities at Berne, have now been classified and mounted in albums. In accordance with instructions from the Director of Colonial Audit these stamps and albums will be subjected to audit examination.
L. OUTSTANDING QUESTIONS ON 1936 REPORT.
non-
98. Estate Duty. With reference to paragraph 37 of the 1936 Audit Report, regarding acquisition by Government of a property in lieu of payinent of Estate Duty and the recording of the transaction in the Colony's accounts, it appears that no progress has been made with regard to the sale of the property in question. The assessed duty on the estate amounted to $20,384 and the corresponding revenue head has not yet received credit for this sum. The matter has again been brought to the notice of Government.
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99. Suspense Accounts. Shing Mun Locomotives.
The detailed statement of Suspense accounts as at the 31st December, 1936 which was submitted with the Audit Report for the year 1936, included a Debit balance of $609.62 in respect of the above. This represented expenditure held in Suspense incurred in reconditioning locomotives, ex Shing Mun plant, which were taken over by the Railway. The account was ad- justed in January 1937, the Resident Engineer in charge of the scheine accepting the debit.
100. Audit Report 1936.
The Audit Report for the year 1936 was laid before the Legislature on the 15th December, 1987.
101. Outstanding questions not affecting the accounts.
There are no outstanding questions of importance, other than those mentioned in the report, which do not affect the accuracy of the accounts.
102. Kowloon-Canton Railway.
A copy of the Manager's report for 1937 of the British Section of the Kowloon Canton Railway which was received by Auditor on 28th July, 1938, is forwarded (Enclosure R.). The accounts have been regularly rendered and satisfactorily kept.
103. The final division sheets of Through and Joint Sectional Traffic Receipts have been audited to the end of September, 1987. These have been accepted by both adminis- trations.
A (2) 19
104. The October Division Sheets have only recently been received from Canton and have therefore not yet been submitted for audit, while those for November and December have not yet been received. The delay in rendering these statements can be attributed to the difficulties which have to be contended with by the Cantonese Authorities.
105. Surveys of the Cash Balances etc. at the Railway Head Office, Railway Stations, and Stores, were made during the year and call for no cominent.
106. It was brought to notice by Audit that in some cases money owing to the Railway had been treated as revenue as soon as it had been earned, but in the other cases it had not been treated as revenue, until collected. It has now been agreed that all revenue will be credited in the Railway ledgers when earned, thus enabling a complete reconciliation to be made with cash payments and amounts outstanding.
107. The net profit on the Operating Account of the Railway for the year was $436,935.30 while that for the previous year amounted to $454,733.00. This shows a reduction of $17,798.00 as compared with 1936, but is due to the fact that $80,883.12, being the extent of the damage caused to the Railway by the Typhoon of September 1937, was charged to the Operating Account of the year 1937.
O. MISCELLANEOUS.
108. New Form of Colonial Accounts.
The new system of Colonial Government Accounting as described in Colonial Circular despatch of 25th November, 1937, has not yet been adopted by the Hong Kong Government. It is understood that the matter is under correspondence with the Secretary of State.
109. Staff.
Mr. P. L. Collisson, .B.E. Auditor proceeded on leave on 20th March, 1937, and retired on pension as from 26th November, 1937.
Mr. T. Dan, acted as Auditor from 20th March, 1937 to 26th April, 1938.
28th July, 1938.
A. POLLARD,
Auditor.
Desk
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