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Arrangements have subsequently been made for the employment of a permanent timekeeper for which the necessary provision has been made in the 1948/49 Estimates.
17. The condition of the stores accounting in the Colony during the period under review was generally unsatisfactory and cannot be said to have provided adequate safeguards against fraud. Further comments on this matter appear at paragraphs 140 to 146 in this report.
18. From the date of the liberation of the Colony, instances of losses of stores in transit from ship to storeroom etc. through pilferage have been numerous. The only effective remedy appears to be increased vigilance by officers entrusted with the safe-keeping of Government property.
DEPARTURES FROM APPROVED REGULATIONS
19. During the period of rehabilitation and reconstruction, regulations have not always been strictly adhered to. Certain of the more important departures from regulations which have been brought to notice are referred to below and elsewhere in this report.
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20. On a number of occasions audit officers conducting surprise surveys discovered minor irregarities in connection with the improper use of cash which was the property of Government. All such instances were brought to the notice of the Accountant General who dealt appropriately with them and also caused a Treasury circular (No.5 of 6.7.46) to be issued to departments. The circular warned all officers against the practice of making unauthorised payments of cash against 1.0.U.s, advances and miscellaneous payments from funds supplied by the Treasury for other specific purposes. In a Government circular (Secretariat Circular No.46 of 27.6.46) Heads of Department a were requested to restrict the movement of Government moneys as far as possible, but when movement was essential, a Police escort should be used.
21. The manner in which contracts were arranged for the supply of certain services to the Kowloon-Canton Railway appeared to be unsatis- factory. Two transportation contracts, for the handling and transport of coal and sleepers from ships to the Railway yards, were given to the same contractor without calling for tenders through the Tender Board. Both contracts involved substantial sums and in the case of the coal contract, the expenditure amounted to $92,250 during a period of twelve months. The failure to call for tenders, and the rate charged by the Contractor employed by the General Manager, were challenged by this Department in September, 1946, and after some correspondence, Government gave approval for the existing contract to be continued until August, 1947. Tenders were then called for through the Tender Board and a new contract arranged with another firm which quoted a rate slightly less than half of that charged by the original contractor. There seems little doubt that the failure to call for competitive tenders in the first instance resulted in an unjustified over-expenditure of public funds the extent of which cannot be estimated, but, in view of the total payments involved, may have been considerable.
22. Attention was also drawn by this Department to similar breaches of Government Regulations in connection with the contract for the supply of coolie labour on the Kowloon and Yaumati Stations for the handling of goods and baggage, and the agreements made for Railway catering and for the letting of advertising space. The contract and agreements were entered into by the General Manager without calling
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