CO129-590-11 Commission of Enquiry into irregularities in Immigration Departments 22-4-1941 - 19-12-1941 — Page 45

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(e) It is provided, however, that where the circumstances

are such that immediate payment is necessary without allowing prior reference to the Treasury, payment may be made from an imprest account granted to the Head of Department. Such payments are made on the personal responsibility of the imprest holder and are subject to review later by the Treasury.

In these Colonial Regulations no attempt is made to

prescribe detailed forms or procedure or to lay down precise forms

of receipts for money and the accounting officers of each

administration are given a free hand to institute such records

as they think fit within the framework of these Regulations. It

is, perhaps, hardly necessary to point out that these Regulations

merely give effect to elementary principles well known to all

accountants, the Colonial Treasury occupying a position in

Government corresponding to that of the Accounts Department in a

business firm.

Towards the end of October that is to say, more than two

months after the report of Mr. Middlebrook - the question of

accounts for the proposed new department was raised verbally and

on 31st October suggestions were made, copy of which is to be

found at (1) in Treasury file No.33/26/30, and a form of

departmental cash book devised.

(Mr. Pudney here read extracts from Treasury File No.

33/26/20 copies of which were laid before the Commission).

This cash book was not adopted, I discovered later, nor was

any other form of general departmental cash book instituted.

It is significant, too, that although it was admitted that

deposits would have to be refunded from imprest cash the

Immigration Officer accepted probably adequate an imprest of

$1,000 sufficient to refund, say, 20 deposits per day.

it was found when the department commenced to operate, that an

imprest of no less than $40,000 was necessary. In October, in

fact, it was not even thought that the number of deposits

anticipated justified the printing of a special form of deposit

receiptp

Eventually