3480
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 78

ACCOUNTING OFFICERS.

7. Every accounting officer shall be subject to the Act and the regulations and shall perform such duties, keep such books, and render such accounts as are prescribed by these regulations or as the Treasurer may direct.

8. Every accounting officer shall, if so required by the Administrator, provide security for such sum and in such manner and form as the Administrator directs for the due accounting for and payment of all moneys which come into his charge, custody, or control.

9. No accounting officer shall open any public or official account in any bank, except as authorized by these regulations, without the authority in writing of the Treasurer, and no bank shall permit any accounting officer to have an overdraft on any public or official account.

10. On the death, resignation, or removal of any accounting officer the balances remaining at the credit of his public or official account in any bank shall on the appointment of his successor vest in and be transferred to the public or official account of such successor at the said bank, or otherwise dealt with as the Treasurer directs; and on the death, bankruptcy, or insolvency of such accounting officer such balances shall not constitute assets of his estate or be in any manner subject to the control of his legal representative, assignee, or trustee.

11. The Head of each Department shall notify to the Treasurer the name of every person who by virtue of his appointment to any office, or otherwise, becomes an accounting officer within the meaning of the Act or of the regulations in or under the control of that Department. Any communication to or other step taken through the Treasury preparatory to such person carrying out any function as an accounting officer shall be deemed to be due notification. The Treasurer shall advise the Controller and Auditor-General of every such notification.

12. Where the services of any accounting officer are dispensed with or where any accounting-officer receives leave of absence, or otherwise is relieved of his duties, the Department concerned shall immediately advise the Treasury of the fact, and also of the name of the officer (if any) who has been appointed to act in his place.

13. If any accounting officer fraudulently applies any public moneys or property, or causes or permits the same or any part thereof to be applied to other than public services or is a defaulter in respect of any such moneys or property, or if any person illegally obtains possession of any public moneys or property, the Head of the Department concerned shall, upon discovery of such misappropriation, default, or malfeasance, immediately report the matter to the Auditor and to the Treasurer.

14. Every Receiver, Imprestee, or other accounting officer on being relieved of his duties shall make up to date, and duly transmit to the Treasury, all returns and statements required from him under these regulations at the close of an accounting period or otherwise. He shall also hand over or transfer to the relieving officer all cash whether in the bank or in hand, stamps, license-forms, books, stores, and furniture in his charge belonging to the Administration, with a return of the same signed by himself. A copy of so much of the said return as relates to cash, stamps, and receipt, license, and other forms of money value, signed by the outgoing and by the incoming officer, shall forthwith be transmitted by or on behalf of the outgoing officer to the Treasury, by whom it will be referred to the Auditor. When the officer is being relieved temporarily, this regulation shall apply only so far as the Treasury directs.

15. Every accounting officer or other person dealing with public moneys shall be entitled, on demand, to receive from the Controller and Auditor-General a certificate of discharge for so much of such moneys as he appears, upon examination of his accounts, to have received and duly accounted for; provided that when any account, not being an account current, has been signed and passed by the Controller and Auditor-General showing a balance due to the Administration, he shall not make out or grant such a certificate until the accounting officer satisfies him that he has discharged or been discharged from any liability for or in respect of such balance.

16. Every accounting officer or person into whose hands or under whose control any public moneys come shall be deemed to owe to the Administration all such moneys for which he does not receive a certificate of discharge from the Controller and Auditor-General; and all such moneys, together with full costs of suit, shall be recoverable in any Court of competent jurisdiction as money due to the Administration.

COLLECTION OF MONEY.

17 (a) All public moneys are the property of His Majesty and shall, except as herein otherwise provided, be kept in one account at the bank, called the Samoan Treasury Account. Provided that Samoan public moneys may be held by the New Zealand Treasury on behalf of the Administration, and any such moneys shall be paid into the Public Account and credited to a Deposit Account to be known as the Samoan Treasury Deposit Account. There may be paid from this account such payments as may be approved by the Minister, or any person authorized by him.

(b) All moneys paid into the bank to the Samoan Treasury Account shall be deemed to be public moneys, the property of His Majesty, and to be moneys lent by His Majesty to the bank, and may not be removed therefrom except as by these regulations provided.

18 (a) Moneys received by way of deposit on account of Customs duties or otherwise on public account, moneys paid into Court in virtue of any statute, rule, or authority whatever, and all moneys deposited with any person in the Samoan Public Service pending the completion of a transaction whereby the same may become payable to the Administration or repayable to the depositor or other persons, shall be deemed to be public moneys within the meaning of these regulations.