particulars of every bill sent from that Department to the Audit Office. These entries shall be made under the two heads "Salaries" and "Contingencies," and every such entry shall be made on the day on which the bill is made out, and sent into the Audit Office.

At the commencement of the Accounts of Expenditure for each year shall be entered the sums voted by the Provincial Council for the service of the Department for that year, under the two heads above stated.

At the end of every month the total amount of the bills forwarded for payment from the Department during the month, shall be summed up under the two heads above named, and an Abstract made, shewing the total expense of the year to that date, and the portion of the Estimate which remains still unexpended. A copy of this Abstract shall be forwarded by the Head of the Department to the Auditor on the first day of every month for transmission to the Superintendent.

No erasure is, under any circumstances, to be made in any public account: all alterations must be made by drawing a line through the error, and under-writing the correct entry.

The Ordering of Articles, or Work.

No Article shall be supplied, or work performed, for any Office of the Government without a written agreement signed by the person undertaking the same, and by the Head of the Department for which the work shall be required. And in all cases, if such contract shall have been issued without the proper authority, the officer issuing it shall be personally liable for the expense incurred. All such contracts shall be made out upon one of the printed forms, "Provincial Form, No. 2," or "Provincial Form, No. 4," as the case may be.

No Contract for any work to be done, or Article to be supplied, shall be entered into by any Officer of the Government, unless he shall have received authority to issue such order from the Superintendent. Whenever it may be absolutely necessary to issue such orders immediately, and before the authority of the Superintendent can be obtained, the Head of the Department shall, as soon as possible, bring the case before the Superintendent, in order to receive his sanction to the same.

Payment of Bills.

All Tradesmen, or other persons supplying Articles, or performing work for the Provincial Government, are required to apply for payment within one month after such work has been done, or article supplied, and all the Heads of Departments are to take care that the persons receiving their orders fully understand that such application for payment is considered to be part of the Contract into which they enter with the Government.

Upon the application of any tradesmen, or other persons for the payment of any sum due to them, the contract for the work or article must be presented at the Department from which it was issued. If the work has been properly performed, the Head of the Department shall sign the certificate at foot of the contract attesting the same. It shall be the duty of the Head of such Department, or Clerk authorized by him, immediately to make out the bill for the same in the printed form, "Provincial Form, No. 3," or "Provincial Form, No. 5," as the case may be, and to attach the order for the work to it. The applicant shall then be informed of the day after which the bill will be paid at the Treasury.

It shall be the duty of every Head of a Department immediately to transmit to the Audit Office, all bills for payment, with the contract for the work or articles, attached to each. It shall be the duty of the Head of every Department to take care that the authority for the contract shall appear on the face of it, and also on the face of the bill, before they are sent into the Audit Office.

It shall be the duty of the Auditor, as soon as such bills shall have been properly audited by him, to transmit the same to the Treasury, but to retain the contract in his own Office. It shall be the duty of the Treasurer to obtain the approval of the Superintendent to all bills coming to his Office, and then to pay them on demand.

Fixed days and hours shall be notified in the Government Gazettes, and in all the newspapers in the Province, upon which demands on the Government will be paid at the Treasury. Payments to all persons residing at Christchurch, or in the neighbourhood, will be made at the Superintendent’s Office.

Government Officers are hereby required to give every possible facility to all persons dealing with the Government, in the settlement of their accounts. And on no excuse shall such persons be required to perform journeys from one Office to another, in order to expedite what is properly the business of the officers of the Government.

Payment of Salaries.

It shall be the duty of every Head of a Department to send in the Salary Account for his Department to the Audit Office, on the first day of every month, in duplicate. If it is not received at the Audit Office on that day, the Salaries will not be paid till the following month.