A.—l

118

These stores are purchased out of a suspense account —the Waterworks Stores Account —apparently without any special Parliamentary authority, and which is practically unlimited. Where practicable all stores are imported from England, printed indents being sent Home and tenders being called for by the Agent-General. An engineer is appointed in England to examine and approve all waterworks stores before they are shipped. All other goods are bought under local contracts entered into yearly. Orders on the contractors for stores are first approved by the Hydraulic Engineer, and are made out in duplicate, the duplicate being kept in the store. The contractors send the goods to the store accompanied by an invoice containing prices the contractors' bills are seat in monthly, accompanied by the orders, are checked against the invoices, and sent on for audit and payment. All stores received, whether from England or from the contractors, are entered in the Day-book or Journal, the English invoices having been first entered in an Invoice-book, and the contractors' accounts into a Detail-book. The waterworks stores are issued in various ways. Eor all services outside Adelaide they are issued on regular requisitions; in Adelaide and the suburbs, stores for construction are issued by order of the Hydraulic Engineer, and for maintenance by the weekly requisitions of the Local Board. All issues are made on the approval of the Hydraulic Engineer, excepting in cases of emergency, such as to replace a main that has burst, when they are issued at the discretion of the Storekeeper. The Journal is a current account of all goods.received and issued, with their values, and of all labour paid for out of the Store Account for fixing meters, &c. The entries in this book are abstracted on sheets both for receipts and issues, and are posted into the Stock Ledger monthly. The Stock Ledger is detailed under the head of each article severally, the price being put at the top of the page, the receipts and issues entered in monthly totals, and the balance carried into the outer column as often as necessary All articles not used from a previous issue, and returned to stock, are brought on the books as fresh articles. Stores issued in small quantities to the workshops are entered from day to day in the Mechanical Shops-book, are abstracted on sheets, and posted monthly into the Stock Ledger. All articles manufactured in the workshops are received into store as fresh goods, at a price determined from the original cost of material, and the cost of labour employed, with 10 per cent, added. The Store Ledger, which is posted from the Journal, is kept by single entry, and contains accounts against the waterworks of each town, against other Government departments, and against private persons to whom stores have been sold. The accounts of the separate waterworks are debited with the stores issued to each, and are paid for by transfers in the Treasury books, and stores returned unused. The accounts against other Government departments are debited with the stores issued to them and the cost of any labour employed for them, with 10 per cent, added to the latter, and credited as above. Private persons' accounts are debited with the price of stores with 5 per cent, added, and the cost of labour with 10 per cent, added. The store has a large quantity of tools and machinery, bought out of the Suspense Account, which are used on different works, and returned to store when done with, these tools, &c, are always accounted for as stores on hand. Ten per cent, on the whole cost of labour employed on any waterworks is charged, and credited to the Suspense Account by Treasury transfers. The General Store Account is credited with all the above percentages, and debited with the cost of preserving and improving the plant, and with the cost of repairs and renewals of all tools and machinery, whether in use in the workshops or out on issue on the various works.