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Details of the net expenditure will be found in the various tables on other pages. In addition, 121 credit vouchers for work done by the department, 541 applications for imprest advances, and about 1,200 letters, memoranda, returns, &c, have been dealt with or prepared. Two hundred and twenty-eight agreements (prepared in triplicate) have been issued, representing grants to local bodies of £53,950 Is. 7d.; and the payments under agreements amounted to £55,585 18s. 7d., including payments under agreements of previous years. A statement (71 pages) of the expenditure, liabilities, &c, in respect of each of the 1,112 separate appropriations, and a full statement from the commencement of the position of the Government Loans to Local Bodies Account has been issued, within the department, quarterly, and the various authority and expenditure registers have been balanced as between themselves. A large amount of work has been performed during the year in preparing returns for departmental information, compilation of reports, statements and tables for the last annual report, supplying information daily as to the condition of road and other accounts, preparation of Consolidated Fund, Public Works Fund, and other estimates under the direction of the head of the department, and general supervision of the accounts of the district offices, though press of other important work has prevented this supervision being carried out in a thorough and systematic manner. The comparative statement below shows to some extent how the yearly increase of work in the department affects this branch :—

Audit. Mr. Buncie, Auditor of Land Bevenue, reports as follows :— Attached herewith I forward you a comparative statement of receipts of revenue for the financial years 1896-97 and 1897-98. The cash balances at credit in the Bank of New Zealand and Beceiver-General's Deposit Account belonging to the various Eeceivers' ordinary depositaccounts on the 31st March last were as follow:— £ s. d. Auckland ... ... ... ... ... ... 742 7 6 New Plymouth ... ... ... ... ... ... 70 18 0 Napier ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 86 18 6 Gisborne... ... ... ... ... ... ... 33 14 4 Wellington ... ... ... ... ... . ... 1,447 1 11 Blenheim ... ... ... ... ... ... 163 7 8 Nelson ... ... ... ... ... 675 4 2 Sub-offices—Ahaura ... ... ... ... ... 9 9 0 Eeefton ... ... ... ... ... 49 19 0 Westport ... ... ...■ ... ... 104 2 3 Hokitika... ... ... ... ... ... ... 26 17 6 Christchurch ... ... ... ... ... ... 810 10 4 Dunedin ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 902 0 10 Invercargill ... ... ... ... ... ... 908 14 9 £6,031 5 9 The cash balances at credit in the Bank of New Zealand and Eeceiver-General's Deposit Account of " thirds " and " fourths " due local bodies in the under-mentioned land districts were, — £ s. d. Auckland ... ... ... ... ... ... 3,490 5 0 Taranaki... ... ... ... ... ... ... 5,332 8 8 Hawke'sßay ... ... ... ... ... ... 3,558 15 9 Gisborne... ... ... ... ... ... ... 33 14 4 Wellington ... ... ... ... 10,936 13 9 Marlborough ... ... ... ... ... ... 153 8 5 Nelson ... ... ... ... ... .. ... 931 10 4 Westland ... ... ... ... ... ... 28 14 3 Canterbury ... ... ... ... ... ... 1,129 13 6 Otago ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 2,429 15 7 Southland ... ... ... ... ... ... 1,195 311 £29,220 3 6

Year. Number of Vouchers. Gross Amount authorised for Payment, Credit, &c. Number of Appropriations. Number n , Amount toCal to Local Bodies Bodles - prepared. Payments to Local Bodies under Agreements. .890-91 .891-92 (9 months) .892-93 ... .893-94 ... .894-95 .. .895-96 ... .896-97 ... .897-98 ... 9,810 8,355 10,676 13,071 14,367 15,422 15,689 17,719 £ 152,775 177,903 260,498 353,772 420,531 578,778 711,660 587,422 210 219 252 440 592 682 932 1,112 80 87 108 181 215 203 248 228 £ 17,782 23,391 21,568 42,847 52,892 33,761 59,712 53,950 £ Not compiled. 13,448 20,388 22,704 45,302 42,813 32,419 55,586