GOVERNMENT BY AUDITORS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2306, 21 April 1887, Page 2

GOVERNMENT BY AUDITORS.

Thk following copies of correspondence have been very courteously handed to us by Captain McPherson, clerk to the Waikato County Council. Reference is made to the matter in a Note Provincial District Audit Office, 14th April, 1887. Memorandum or report at audit of accounts of the Waikato County Council for the year 1886-7. An item of £35 paid on .account of a lawsuit with the Auckland Hospital and Charitable Aid Board is left in abeyance at this audit. From what information respecting the suit I can obtain (and none has been given by the council further than the entry in the minute book that the council decide upon entering into the suit) I am not prepared to pass the item. And as it is only at present a payment on account the question will come up again when the suit is further advanced or settled. I am firmly of opinion that a local body is not justified in expending public funds in legal proceedings unless there is substantial ground for resisting or prosecuting claims. Probably at next audit, such justification may in this case be established. (Sgd.) L. A. Duuuiku, Provincial District Auditor. Kirikiriroa, 20th April, 18S7. The Provincial District Auditor, Auckland. Sir,— I have to acknowledge the receipt of your memo at audit relative to legal expense incurred by the Waikato County Council. It will be laid before the council at a meeting to be held on the 22nd inst. In the meantime I have sent a copy to the local newspaper for publication, as it cannot be too widely known that, notwithstanding the fact that some forty gentlemen, representing the inhabitants of Piako, Waipa, Raglan and Waikato, together with the Boroughs of Hamilton and Cambridge, have, after obtaining the legal advice of Mr Hay, of Hamilton, and Mr Bell, of considered it their duty to resist payment of a most unjust claim, that it \vould appear to have been necessary to submit a history of the case to the auditor, and obtain his approval and consent before proceeding. —I have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient servant, J. McPherson, Treasurer.