✨ Financial Audit Report
In the class Public Plantations, under Fencing, £129 10s. has been paid in excess of the Vote. It has been necessary during the progress of the year to find work for a number of men who would otherwise have become a burthen upon the Charitable Aid Fund, and the Government directed their employment in the Domain, at the rate of 5s. per day.
The deficiency in the Harbour Department calls for no observation. I pass therefore to the Department of Public Works: here the only departure from the Vote of the Council of any moment is that for the Gaol, upon which £669 3s. 10d. appears to have been expended in excess of the vote, but this amount has been paid to Mr. White, for stone, all of which is in store. One-half of the whole expenditure on this Account has been paid back to the Treasury in part liquidation of the £5000 advanced to Mr. White by the Provincial Government on account of the Tramway Works.
Under the Provincial Government Works, there is only one item in excess of the Vote—clearing the Avon in Hagley Park. Here, as in the Domain, the work has been done by men who would otherwise have become chargeable to the Charitable Aid Fund.
Class General Miscellaneous, shows an excess of expenditure over Vote of £254 11s. for the purchase of the buildings at the Rakaia Ferry; the whole amount was fixed at £554 11s.—£300 was paid on account in July and omitted from the Appropriation Act. £96 7s. 11d. has also been paid in excess of the vote for the erection of the Godley Statue.
... to the individual, and a material benefit to the district; but he should be under heavy sureties, and should be made liable for all damage, and bound by a moderate maximum rate of charges. By the returns submitted to me while inspecting the Harbour Master’s Account, I observed that the exports during the past year in wool alone amounted to nearly £155,000. There is about £1700 due to the Government on this Service, and unless some person is sent down with full authority, either to make allowances where required, or to enforce payment, there will be a difficulty in collecting it.
The last item of this Schedule is that of the Sea Wall, Lyttelton. Here there has been an expenditure of £3596 in excess of the Vote; occasioned solely by the necessity for winding-up the Contract, and the amount in question was declared to be due to the Contractor. The total excess of this department is £4127 11s. 8d.
Schedule D.—In the department of the West Canterbury Gold Fields I regret to say there has been a very considerable Expenditure in excess of the Vote of the Council. The greater portion of it had however been incurred before the new Audit Act came into operation. It was the practice formerly to grant money to the Commissioner in sums of £5000 and upwards, under Imprest, and the Expenditure incurred there was defrayed under his direction without audit; and as no Appropriation Act was passed until January of the present year, there had been payments made, not only considerably in excess of the subsequent Vote of the Council, but also for purposes for which no Vote had been taken.
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Canterbury Provincial Gazette 1867, No 35
✨ LLM interpretation of page content
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Auditor's Report for Quarters Ending Sept. 30, Dec. 31, 1866, and March 31, 1867
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💰 Finance & Revenue11 June 1867
Financial statements, Receipts, Disbursements, Comparative statement, Provincial Council, Unvoted Expenditure, Medical Comforts, Postage, Diseased Cattle Act, Pastoral Associations, Governor’s Reception, Canterbury Bond Stamps, Public Plantations, Fencing, Harbour Department, Public Works, Gaol, Tramway Works, Provincial Government Works, Avon, Hagley Park, Charitable Aid Fund, General Miscellaneous, Rakaia Ferry, Godley Statue, Harbour Master, Wool exports, Sea Wall, Lyttelton, West Canterbury Gold Fields, Audit Act
- White (Mr), Paid for stone for Gaol