16

show a decrease of £598 13s. 4d. compared
with last year, but are counterbalanced by the
Land Revenue, which shows an increase of
£1726 14s. 10d. No doubt the sale of sections
in some of the townships in the County has
caused a decrease in the amount received for
Business Licences, which was not altogether
unforeseen. With regard to any decrease that
may have occurred in the amount received
for Miner’s Rights, the great difficulty ex-
perienced in the collection of this Revenue is
sufficient explanation as to its cause. I am
glad to find that the amount received for
Spirit Licences exceeded that of the previous
year in the sum of £9 19s.—£5054 10s. having
been received against £5044 11s. in 1870.
The difference in the receipts of the other
items are immaterial, and require no further
comment from me.

In addition to the Local Revenue collected, the sum of £7500 (advanced by the
General Government on the security of the
released sinking funds on the Canterbury
Loans) has materially assisted in reducing
the liabilities of the County; which, beyond
the amount owing to the Bank on the 1st of
January, 1972—£6288 4s 2d, are of no
import.

With regard to the Expenditure for the
half-year, I beg to report that the provisions
of “The County of Westland Act Amendment Act, 1869,” have been complied with.
The new system adopted by the County
Treasurer, in granting orders for all supplies
on a requisition approved by you as County
Chairman, has been found to work satisfac-
torily, and to keep the expenditure under a
proper control. In the course of my audit,
it has occurred to me in examining the
vouchers (and perhaps I may be allowed to
suggest) that tenders should be called for all
supplies required by the County Government.
Hitherto it has only been the practice to call
for tenders for such items as—fuel and light,
forage, rations, and printing. As large sums
are expended every half-year in the purchase
of other supplies, such as stationery for
various departments, bedding and clothing,
tools and materials, medical comforts for the
Gaols and Lunatic Asylums, I think a
saving could be effected if the practice of
calling for tenders for all the above articles
was adopted, and the public better satisfied
by having the matter thrown open to com-
petition.

I have not had time to audit the account of
Public Property belonging to the County
Government, as the returns, which officers
were instructed to furnish half-yearly, had
not all been sent in when I applied for them;
and, in order to prevent such an occurrence
in future, and also to bring this portion of the
service under better control, I would suggest
that some officer of the Government should
be appointed storekeeper, whose duty it would
be to keep an account of all the stores belong-
ing to the County Government in such a
manner that, at any time, an account of all
Public Property in charge of each head of
department could be obtained. If a store
ledger were kept, and a list of all articles
supplied to each officer entered therein, and
all articles transferred from one department
to another, condemned on survey, sold, lost,
destroyed or expended on service, accounted
for in a similar manner, no difficulty would
be experienced in future.

The only other matter to which I wish to
draw your attention, is that in preparing the
Estimates and voting the Expenditure, two
services should not be included in one amount,
for instance, such as forage and saddlery,
tools and materials, bedding and clothing,
forage, keep of horses and harness, printing,
advertising and stationery, but should be
entered on the Estimates separately, and in
only one item at a time, together with the
amount to be expended on each item. My
reason for referring to this matter, is on
account of Section 5 of “The County of
Westland Act Amendment Act, 1869,” bearing
so strongly on the subject as to the purpose for
which money is to be expended, and also, as
to the amount.

I have the honor to be, Sir,
Your most obedient servant,

EDWARD PATTEN,
County Auditor.

STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES FOR THE HALF-YEAR
ENDING 31st DECEMBER, 1871.

ASSETS.

By Estimate of County share of Sinking Fund ... £10,000 0 0
Nelson Government ... 225 0 0

£10,225 0 0