B.—l [Pt. ll].

7

Departmental Balance-sheets. Practically all Departments have prepared Income and Expenditure or Revenue Accounts and Balance-sheets during the year, and, with few exceptions, they have been examined and certified by Audit. In addition a large number of special accounts have been dealt with, and many statements of receipts and payments have been examined and certified for inclusion in annual departmental reports for Parliament. The total number of balance-sheets certified was seventy, as compared with forty-six last year, whilst six statements were not completed at date of this report. I am glad to be able to report that considerable improvement has been shown in the preparation of these accounts, which aro much more uniform than was the case last year, and, in nearly all cases in which a Department is controlling subsidiary undertakings, separate Profit and Loss or Working Accounts have been prepared on commercial lines. It is anticipated that next year separate accounts will be provided for all such undertakings. 1 would like to emphasize the fact that, in cases where separate activities arc carried on or where separate institutions are being controlled by one Department, a general statement showing the total net result of the working of the Department as a whole for the year would be of little value as a guide to administrative efficiency. Each separate subsidiary account should be complete in itself, so that it can be separately analysed, otherwise it will be impossible to compare the results obtained in similar establishments carried on in different places with a view to the adoption of the most economical methods of administration in all of them, and it would be equally impossible to disclose to the country the actual cost of these separate undertakings. The question of payment for interdepartmental services has been determined, and it has been decided that the services of the Audit, Crown Law, Internal Affairs, and the Treasury Departments shall only be charged in the case of trading Departments and special accounts. While simplifying the accounting of Departments, the value of the various Income and Expenditure Accounts, and the possibility of economies arising therefrom, are to a certain extent reduced. Owing to the varied nature of the work of some Government Departments, difficulties are still met with in dealing with the balance-sheets. The actual value of land held by some Departments is difficult to apportion in the " Assets " column, owing to the fact that land set aside for specific purposes has in course of time been utilized for other purposes. The detection of duplication of assets is thus in some cases a difficult matter. Misappropriations op Public Moneys. Defence Department. Captain M. R. Walker, N.Z.S.C., Invercargill, at the time his accounts as a Receiver were under review by the Audit Inspector, was found to have failed to account for sums totalling £77 10s. received by him for rent of various drill-halls in the district. At the Supreme Court sittings he was found guilty of theft of £25, and sentenced to pay a fine of £50. Restitution was made of the shortage of £25 remaining after allowing for cash in the safe. He was dismissed, from the Service. W. F. Harrison, formerly a temporary clerk in the Defence Department, was referred to in the annual report of 1921-22 as having obtained marriage allowance to the amount of £39 lis. 3d. by falsely representing that he was a married man. At that time his whereabouts could not be traced by the police, but recently he was located, and sentenced in the Magistrate's Court to one month's imprisonment with hard labour. The amount will require to be written off by authority of Parliament. Justice Department. T. H. Joyce, third clerk in the Magistrate's Court, Wellington, was discovered by the Audit Inspector to Save failed to account for various fines and costs for which he had received cash amounting to £136 4s. 3d. He pleaded guilty, and was sentenced by the Court to a term of reformative treatment not to exceed two years He made restitution of the amount stolen. Dismissed from the Service. John Bennett, a temporary employee, when working in the jury-room of the Westport Court on the compilation of the electoral roll prior to the last election was discovered by the Audit Inspector to have removed certain pages of the Court's Criminal-record Book for the purpose of obtaining the cancelled stamps, which he sold to a dealer. He was charged with theft of the stamps to the value of £88 17s. 6d., and fined £20. Labour Department. John Craig Neil], whilst the Audit inspection of the accounts of the District Office, Labour Department, Wellington, was in progress, surrendered himself to the police and admitted the theft of moneys belonging to the Government totalling £103 16s. He was placed on probation for two years. Restitution was made, and Neill was dismissed from the Service. Lands and Survey Department. Maurice Domb, an agent appointed by the Lands and Survey Department to collect landdrainage rates on its behalf, was, as the result of audit, convicted of the theft of £84 3s. 3d., and placed on probation for three years and a half, and ordered to pay £2 a month restitution and £10 costs. E. S. Braithwaitc, a clerk in the office of the Chief Drainage Engineer, Auckland, was discovered, when the accounts were being audited, to have embezzled £51 17s. Id. He pleaded guilty, and was placed on probation for a period of two years. The amount will require to be written off by authority of Parliament. Braithwaite was dismissed from the Service.