THE COUNTY AUDITOR'S REPORT.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1432, 4 March 1873, Page 2

THE COUNTY AUDITOR'S REPORT.

The County Auditor, Mr Patten, has submitted to the Chairman of the Council his usual report and accompanying docn. mehts, including the Treasurer's statement and balance-sheet for the half-year, a comparative return of local revenue, and a statement of assets and liabilities. In his report, the Auditor says : —

With regard to the statement of ex-

penditure in consequence of some of the accounts not having yet been paid, I cannot attach my final certificate. At the same time, I am satisfied that this statement includes all transactions for which expenditure. has been incurred under the authority of the late County Chairman and votes of the County Council, but

which, owing to the embarrassed state of the finances of the County, could not be j paid. The result has been that a large number of unpaid vouchers accumulated in the Treasury, for which cheques had been drawn, in which on the 3lst December last, amounted to L 5917 2s. I conclude, therefore, that this method was adopted by the late County Chairman and the Treasurer in order to prevent the re- voting of supplies for which provision had been made at the time the expenditure was incurred by the votes of the County Council for the service of the last half-year, although at the time there was not sufficient funds to the credit of the County of Westland Account to liquidate the same. A great number have now been paid, and on this date the unpaid vouchers remaining in the Treasury for which cheques had been drawn, amount to L 1415 lls lOd. Although the course adopted was perhaps unavoidable in the present embarrassed state of the County, I beg respectfully to submit to

your information, that, as a general rule, I consider that I am not justified in countersigning any cheques unless there are With regard to "therevenue of thtfpast half-year, on reference to the comparative return it will be found that the decrease is very considerable. The gold export duty paid into the County of Westland account amounted only to L 4074 6s 6d, showing a deficiency of L 4168 4s lOd, as compared with the corresponding period of 1871. This I can account for to a certain extent in the following manner : —Ist. That the sum of L 666 8s 3d, was paid iuto the public account by the. Collector of Customs to complete the debt of L 3331 19s 4d, due by the County to the General Government, of which L 2665 10s Id was deducted from the Gold Duty of the previous half-year as alluded to by me in my last report. 2nd. That during the months of November and December last, no gold was exported, owing to anew Gold Duties Act having been passed by the Legislature at the last session of the General Assembly, under which the gold export duty was reduced, to 2s per ounce. The result was, that the banks held over their gold until after Ist January, 1873, the day on which the new Act came into force. During this month— January, the gold duty collected amounted to L 2529 Is 9d, viz:— at Hokitika, LI6OB 2s 7d; at Greymouth, L 912 193 3d. 3rd, That owing to the stoppage of the Drainage Company at Ross, and the shifting of the flume of the Greenstone and Eastern Hohonu Water Race Company, several large claims could not be worked, and consequently the yield of gold fell off. I estimate the loss to the revenue thereby to amount to LI 500, being export duty on 15,0000z of gold. I append a statement in explanation of the above. The next items, miners' rights, business licenses, &c, amounted to L 4452 10s, showing also a decrease of L 269 19s 4d. In a former report, I drew attention as to the advisability of having this source o

revenue more carefully supervised, and I ara now still of the same opinion, which is, that the law is evaded to a very great extent by a large number of men engaged in mining operations. Assuming such to be the case, I greatly fear that if the proposed reductions, in the number of the gold receivers, as recommended by the Departmental Committee of the County Council are carried out, that the loss to the revenue under this heading will be very greatly increased, owing to the distance which men would have to travel to obtain miner's rights, business licenses, and registrations. The only plan that seem 3to be at all feasible or likely to meet the exigencies of the casa would be to have an officer appointed as inspector of miner's rights, business liceuses, &c, whose duty it would be to visit, on certain days, each district, and ascertain and see that all rights, &c, were regularly renewed. I feel sure that his services would be thoroughly repaid by the additional revenue he would be the means of collecting. Spirit licenses amounted to LMS3 10s, showing also a decrease of £602. The loss of population caused by a number of all classes having left for gold discoveries in Australia and other parts will no doubt have affected this source of revenue, at the same time, I have good reason to believe that sly grog selling is still carried on, and that constant vigilance is required in order to stop the same. As this is a portion of the police duties, I fear that, considering the other duties they have to perform, and the n«w duties to be imposed on them by

tne before-mentioned proposed reductions, that a falling off in this revenue may be also expected. The revenue derived from the sale of land and pasturage licenses (independent of land given in payment for public works), amounted to LI 282 2s 6d, which, compared with the amount, received during the corresponding period of last half-year, shows a decrease of L 847 3s 2d ; yet, it must be borne in mind, that 2048 acres have been disposed of on account of public works, and which represent, so far as the County is concerned, L 2048, therefore, this amount, added to the cash actually received for land, would give a total of L 3330 2s 6d. The other items of revenue require no particular comment from me, with the exception, perhaps, that the amount received for tolls, punts, and ferries, shows an increase of LI 841 6s sd, which clearly proves that, to whatever causes the other deficiencies are attributable, the traffic throughout the County has not decreased. With regard to the expenditure during the half-year, I beg to report that none of | the votes have been exceeded, and that the provisions of " The County of Westland Act Amendment Act, 1869," hare been complied with. I must again bear testimony to the beneficial results that have been effected by the introduction of the Storekeeper's Department into the County Service, and the very efficient manner in which this officer has performed his duties. lam now in a position to certify that the expenditure for supplies to all departments has been brought under public control, at the same time enough are granted for carrying on the public service, with due regard to economy, and at any time an account can be obtained from the Storekeeper's books.