Sessional_Paper_1893 — Page 556

[iv]

From this total some abatements have to be made, but Mr. BRUCE SHEPHERD is of opinion that a sum of $5,000 would cover these.

6. Taking then the amount which should have been received for Crown Rent during the above mentioned years at........

$936,153.44

and adding thereto the balance of arrears outstanding on the 31st December, 1887, taken from a Rent Roll of that year, the last which has been added up and audited,

we arrive at a total of

whereas only the sum of........

has been paid into the Treasury in respect of these collections, leaving a-

balance of...................

which should be outstanding on the 31st December last, whereas the Rent Roll balanced on that day shows arrears amounting to

the difference

84,192.51

$1,020,345.95

"3

873,888.29

$ 146,457.66

· 83,639.93

$62,817.73

being the amount which we fix as the total of the defalcations, and we beg to report accordingly. The sum appears to have been taken as follows :-

1888 and 1889

1890

1891

1892

$29,480.07

12,900.98

11,053.49.

9,383.19

$62,817.73

7. In answer to the second question, viz. :-By what person or persons they have been committed, we beg to state that all the evidence points to ALVES, the second clerk and accountant, as the only guilty party.

8. With regard to (c) what other person or persons, if any, may by neglect of duty, or otherwise, have directly or indirectly contributed thereto, we report as follows:--As stated above, the only defalcations have taken place in the Crown Rents, a branch of revenue respecting which there was an absolute check, as the exact amount which the collector should have received and accounted for was known every six months.

9. The system of collecting or receiving Crown Rents was supposed to be or should have been as follows:-

Mr. ALVES was the second clerk and accountant in the Treasury; his duties being to make up the Crown Rent Roll and the Journal, to close up the Colonial Accounts, the Yearly Accounts and also the Crown Agents' Accounts, which Mr. MITCHELL-INNES says was a complicated matter, and he had also to make returns for Somerset House. This last duty we presume was only since the new system of auditing has been in force.

.

10. The Rent Roll was made up from a return received every six months from the Land Office. It gives the number of the Lot, the name of the Lessee, the amount of the arrears on the 1st January, the amount due for the current year, the amount paid in the course of each half-year, the dates of payment, and the amount outstanding on the last day of the year. This book it was ALVES' duty to make and keep up and balance at the end of each

year.