1314

THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

[SEPT. 25

Order in Council, and the regulations hereby made,
shall have the full force of law from and after the
twenty-third day of September, one thousand eight
hundred and seventy-nine.

SCHEDULE.

SUPPLIES of stores shall be obtained by means of
contracts, tenders being publicly advertised for.
Contracts shall run for a period of not less than
one year, and not more than three years, at the
discretion of the Hon. the Minister for Public
Works.

The accounts for the supplies of stores sent in by
the contractors and others shall be passed for pay-
ment under the signature of the Stores Managers, or
in their absence by some persons duly authorized by
them in writing, who, if the goods are under contract,
shall certify that they are in accordance with the
contract, if not under contract, that the price charged
is reasonable.

Stores shall be issued by the storekeepers for the
use of the departments upon requisition signed by
the heads of departments, or by persons duly
appointed by them, and lists of the persons authorized
to make requisitions shall be furnished to the store-
keepers.

For accounting purposes for each stores depôt, an
invoice-book and a day-book of the issues shall be
kept.

A stores ledger also shall be established, in which
a separate account shall be opened for each article
kept in stock or purchased for use, and which shall
deal with values as well as quantities.

This ledger shall be opened on a given date with
the stock in hand of each article (quantity and value),
and the account shall be debited with the quantity
and value (as per invoice) of the particular article
received from the contractor or other source of
supply.

The credits shall be the total quantity and value
of the several articles issued monthly to the several
departments, as taken day by day in detail into an
abstract sheet.

A journal and general ledger by double-entry
shall also be kept, which shall embrace all the stores
transactions of the several depôts. In this ledger
there shall be a special account of stores, which shall
be opened with the value of the stock, be debited
with the amounts of the invoices of the stores
received from the contractors and other sources of
supply, and be credited with the monthly value of
the stores supplied to the several departments. The
balance of this account, at any given period, shall
agree with the sum of the balances of the stores
ledger, the two ledgers thus mutually checking and
corroborating each other.

An account in detail of the stock at each depôt
shall be taken annually in the month of December,
and the operation shall be performed by the Stores
Managers, and superintended by some person having
no interest in the result, preferably by an officer ap-
pointed by the Controller and Auditor-General. The
stock account shall be taken for the same period at
all the depôts; the ledgers shall not be balanced
until after the stock accounts are completed, and,
after such account has been taken, and has been
signed by the superintending officer, no alteration
shall be made therein without the consent in writing
of the latter.

The articles in the stock accounts shall be priced
at the contract rates, and the amounts calculated and
totalled.

A comparative statement of the money balances of
the stores ledgers and of the amounts in the stock
accounts shall then be prepared with two columns
headed respectively "Excesses" and "Deficiencies,"
into which the differences shall be carried. After
such discrepancies as are susceptible of explanation
have been adjusted, a balance shall be struck between
the totals of the "Excess" and "Deficiency" columns,
and if there be a balance of excess it shall be credited
rateably to the departments; if of deficiency it shall
in like manner be debited to the departments.

The balancing of the books at the stock-taking
shall effect the adjustment and final extinction of all
discrepancies, and the stores ledgers shall be re-
opened for the new period with the actual stock
as exhibited in the stock accounts.

The care and control of all articles issued for use
from stores shall be subject to such regulations as
the Commissioners of Railways may deem it expe-
dient to establish.

All the accounting of the Stores Departments shall
be done in the offices of the Stores Managers, the
duties of the local storekeepers being confined to
their more legitimate functions of receiving, record-
ing, and issuing stores.

All matters of detail in respect of the accounting
and management of the Stores Department not herein
provided for shall be left to the discretion of the
Commissioners of Railways.

The accounts and books of the Stores Department
shall at all times be open for such inspection and
audit as the Controller and Auditor-General may
consider it proper to institute.

FORSTER GORING,
Clerk of the Executive Council.

Changing the Purpose of a Reserve.

HERCULES ROBINSON, Governor.

WHEREAS by "The Public Reserves Act Amend-
ment Act, 1878," it is, amongst other things,
enacted that the Governor may declare his intention
to make, change, exchange, or alter the dedication of
any public reserve now or hereafter vested in Her
Majesty or the Governor for any of the purposes
named in Part II. of the Schedule to the said Act,
whether the same be granted or not; and, in the case
of any reserves made under the authority of section
one hundred and forty-four of "The Land Act,
1877," if it shall, in the opinion of the Governor, be
expedient to change the purpose of such reserves or
any part thereof from the purpose or presumed pur-
pose for which it was set apart to any other purpose,
or if it shall, in the opinion of the Governor, be
expedient to exchange any of the land comprised in
such reserve for other land of equal value, to be
dedicated to one or more purposes named in the said
Part II., the Governor may, by notice in the Gazette,
declare his intention to make such change, exchange,
or dedication, as the case may be, and in such notice
declare the manner and terms in which the same is
intended to be so made:

Now, therefore, I, Sir Hercules George Robert
Robinson, the Governor of the Colony of New Zea-
land, do hereby, in exercise and pursuance of the
powers and authorities vested in me by "The Public
Reserves Act Amendment Act, 1878," aforesaid,
change the specific purposes of the reserves described
in the first column of the said Schedule hereto to the
specific purpose set opposite such description in the
second column of the said Schedule, and such land
shall henceforth be deemed to be reserved and set
apart for such last-mentioned specific purpose, and
no other.