AN AUDITING SCANDAL.

Inangahua Times, Volume X, Issue 1512, 20 February 1885, Page 2

AN AUDITING SCANDAL.

EXTRAORDINARY THiEVIXG. When accident or design leads to a change of official auditors it not unfieqneutly happens that well-disguished knavery in the keeping of public accounts is unmasked ; although, as will presently appear, thi>re are forms of official pocnlation which baffle the strictest vigilance to detect and punish. A corporation of no less magnitude than that of Mancbest«r has recently been th« cynosure of scandals connected with the nialadminstration of its funds, so flagrant as to show that unless every voucher is narrowly examined by the auditor of a public insti ution or company, at least when the periodic balance is struck, an official audit is nothing better than an impudent sham. The supreme desire of the uld auditors fur the City of Manchester, who bad retained their position for many years, evidently was to make things pleasant for the aldermen and couiiciluicMi, and by force of habit th«-y came, like uot a few auditors still in other parts of the world, to treat their duties lightly ; but Messrs Scott and Hollies, the new audi I tors, who received their appointment otily a year ago, where, uot to be deterred by the august devotees of turtle soup and champagne from doing their work conscientiously. Not satisi fied with formally acquainting the Council with the Augean stable of robbery and corruption into which the financial department of the Corporation had beeu transformed, one of th« partueis of the auditing firm has been publishing a series of articles in a Manchester contemporary entitled " Leaves from the Diary of a Citizens' Auditor," which will he found very lively and instructive reading. The extent to which these sleek municipal dignitaries have been lawlessly dipping their hands into the pockets of their fellow townsmen for pnrposes connected with their individual and i domestic gratification would be simply j incredible but for the unimpeachable j source from which our information is derived. Mr Scott discovered in the accounts of the "consolidated stock," a sub-department of the finance committee for 1882-3, an item of £677 Is 7d for miscellaneous expenses On demanding particulars for this vague disbursement a mutilated invoice book was produced in December 1883, but not until the auditors' patience was almost exhausted in oft-repeated application for it The defaced record however, only enabled him to trace how LBB9 Os 7d of the above-mentioned total had been expended and it need hardly be said that he found the payments exceedingly miscellaneous and unsatisfactory indeed. Bm} from that date a wholesome dread of the auditors' pryingiUpriosity has prevailed, and uot a single penny has been spent since on the articles enumerated in the mutilated invoice-lists. The real truth I*3 that in every instance these payments were of a personal and private nature, which could not, by the most distorted ingenuity, b« made to rank under the head of >ffice expenses. The marvellous fas idioushess with which the Corporation teems to have consecrated themselves G the toilet appears from the enormous imounts charged for combs, hair i washes, looking-glasses, and sponges. Phat their bodily temperature wasatxo in anixous consideration with th >n is »lain for the quantity of thermometers \ >f which they possessed themselves at

t!ie r.-ite of 12s (?d ea«\j. Picture fr.imes vii.l numerous magMzines showthat they, or possibly their families were uoe impervious to the influence of culture. The " Nineteenth Centnry" *nd" Temple Bar" openly figure in the amount paid out of this convenient miscellaneous fund, and are described as being intended for the wife of » leading official. But it should b» stated that Mr* X., who thns cultivated magazine literature at the expense of the ratepayers, refunded the money on Warning thai Mr Scott declined to certify the accounts unless she did so. These interesting facts afford us a clue a* to the (Winy of 16 volumes of the « Encyclopaedia Britannica," charged for at 30s per volume ; and it goes far to strengthen ttw suspicion that since this •nsparing investigation bega» the*, books have mysteriously stand their way to a secondhand bookseller's shop. The raoaey drawn for " deputations," or, a» the auditor calls them, •• pio^nien." proves the activity of this distiuguised body in that direction. The cost of conveyances and refreshments to the alderman is set down at £MQ, to the | councillors at £196, and to official* at I £348. Besides absurdly excessive railway and cab fares, they charge a large sum for personal services. One committee performed the feat of smoking 850 eigrres, at 6d each ; and the wine bill amounted to £895. This is bnt a | specimen of what turns out to be a j boundless system of jobbery. As th* | Police Court accounts were absolutely j withheld, it may fairly be conjectured I that their production would not coni duce to the comfort or the repute of i the authorities, especially as it has j transpired that the clerk to the justices ! in addition to a salary of €800 a year, ; receives about £250 a year from "fine* ; inflicted in the Police Court.