CO129-629-4 Commerce and Industry Department- supplies branch. Includes a statement of accounts for May 1946-March 1950-... 1-11-1951 - 31-1-1952 — Page 43

LOWE, BINGHAM & MATTHEWS, HONG KONG

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ing and Rehabilitation Allowances".

No refund to the

Budget has been made in respect of this expenditure and

it has not been brought into these accounts; the amount

involved cannot readily be ascertained. For the three

years 1947/48 to 1949/50, High Cost of Living Allowance

has been included in the amounts refunded to the Budget.

MARKETING SECTION

The accounts and records of the Section were

found to be in a very unsatisfactory state. Without ex-

tensive and protracted investigation, no reliable yearly

accounts could be produced from the records and in our

view the results would not have justified the additional

time and expense involved. There was also an absence of

liaison between this and other Sections, since this Sec-

tion passed part of its transactions through the Flour

Suspense Account without notification to the Rice Section.

During the course of our examination of the re-

cords we noticed that a number of transactions in the

earlier years appeared to have been conducted in an un-

usual manner and the results were not clearly reflected.

Transactions involving quantities of piece-goods showed

sales at apparent special prices subject to accompanying

sales of tinned foodstuffs. We have been informed that

these foodstuffs were of relatively low value and it trans-

pired later that certain buyers were given credit for the

return of the foodstuffs and accepted in lieu thereof a

quantity of more profitable items, e.g. soap or salt.

Realisation Account

We were unable to be satisfied that all debit

notes issued in respect of past sales had been properly

recorded and as a result of investigation we drew atten-

tion to certain sales effected during November, 1946,