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London, England, 1806-09-25 00:00:00

sand two hundred and forty-trot nnaghteen
shillings. In the quarterly book4f March.- 1406,
from which an annual accounifhaOmen side'but,
and is hereafter inserted, the. ialaaies fife laced to %A
at the rate of nineteen thou.:AN** 'OW Ind,
twenty-nine pounds fOur nd teri4ele par
annum ; the latter Increase is occasioned. partly, by
the augmentation of salary to some of;,the junioti
Clerks, and partly by ill:. necessik otleirmin* a dfo ,
tiny department, consisting tirlltt aegiontsneaut
1 three clerks, for the sole nhjeft oforrangingAta
Barrack Master Gener.Fs official accounts.
The contingent expellees of the Battok-OCce
have increased in similar proportion with the s4ia.
view For the year ending December, 1796, these
artinittred, as appears by the Relent of the Sete&
Comni•tsee, to seven hundred and ninety pounds
gee sl,illtags and eleven pence, and the travelling
allowances and expences, for the same period, to
two thousand seven hitnirad and fusty pounds five
shillings and eleven pence. But, ten the year end-
ing December, 1004, the cnr,:ingent expences ar-
. • !stated at three thousand and six pounds thirteen
. shillings and two pence, exclusive of one hundred
pounds extra pay to the law clerk, and one hundred
sad five pounds twelve codlings to the clerks for ex-
tra werk ; an .1 travelling Alb/mance' an.l expences,fnr
lie mitre netiosta at three tlionsand and eighth-eight
pounds thirteen shilling; Rad two pence ; and it is
to be remarked, that in the statement of 1796, the
rim of two thousand seven hundred and forty
pi-triads five shillings and eleven pence, includes the
travelling expences and conti agencies of the Bar-
tack Master General, but that the statement for
1804 is exclusie, of both, a circumstance which we
shall have occasion to notice again, in a subsequent
part of this Report. For the year ending Decem-
ber, IMO& the first entire year of the present Bar-
rack M toter Genet al's administration of the barrack
coocetne, the expences contingent, as well as those
atising from travelling allowances and expences.
hre stated to he Cs ir thotpand six hundred and
sixty-two pounds nine shillings and six pence, a sum
harnly three-fourths of the expenditure of the pre-
cechn4 year, notwithstanding that the expences of
the :Tarrack Master General are included in the ac-
assume.
Although the entingent expences of the Barrack
Office, for 1804,are stated to be three thousand ang
six pounds th:rteen shillings and two pence, we ag-
prehoutplin is note coned state mein of their amount,
and for the following reasons: in the account of the
general receipt and expenditure of the department
nanexed to our Fir -t Report, is at it:m of charge
far contingencies, consisting of office establishme
travelling expences, Sec. amounting in the total to
256 1491. 10s. 4J. in elucidation of which, an
acconnt was, at our request, furnished by the
Barrack Master General, detailing the particular
amount of the several heads of charge for each
year, an abstraft of which will be found in our Ap-
pendix (No. 3.) We had before cAll•el fora sepa-
rate account of the contingent expences of the Bar.
tack Office for the several years succeeding 1796, in
sonformity with that furnished fnialle Sete Com-
mittee on Finance, and were stuprieed, en collating
the items into one aboraft, (see Appendix, No. 2.)
to find that the same heads of charge, praduced,,in
the two abstratis, very different results; *be ex-
pences of coals and candles, for mstafiee, are wholly
omitted for several years in the firer abstraillt, and the
charge for furniture and rrpairs varies much in each
44 them. This diversity appears to arise from the in-
complete state of the Barrack Office books, and the
cause is explained by the late Assistant Accountant.
From his examination. we learn, that, for the satis-
*alien of the late Barra' k Master General, and to
in4wisite the great inconvenience arising from the ins-
petfea state .4 the books, the. Assistant Accountant
lied for *carrel years past wide rut an annual state-
ment of the application or all monies issued to the
Zare.kk Master G -iterate arranging the payments
in some instances, under the head of the service for
whislathey were made, and charging them, in other
instances. to as account with the patty to whom ibe
minty was tuned ; from the books in which these
annual staterhects of :he Assistant Accountant were
kept, the general acznunts of expenditure, as annex.
ad to LIU= First Report were, we are informed. ex-
;tailed I and as the balance in each year remaining
tinerpended by the statem.nr, agreed, as is stated,
w.:h the balance in the hands of the Treasurer at
the respeCtive periods, thc.e books must necessarily
accauut fur the expendittere of all the money in
a general way : but that they may not exhibit a we-
ren't:item...tit of the i....a.snsesicisehich money has been
Narked, the foi!owing observations will sufficiently
sinew: ..Ve have before stated, that no charge appears
in the account of contingencies, Ste. as exttaded from
these irons, fur coals and candles for the nffice, al-
thriub.h in the Ow account of contingent esprnees
of the Beseech Oif ce. the amount is considerable.
The EA is, that coals and candles were supplied to
the Odice by the Agent tor Supplies, in the same
manlier as to a Bars ack, and the atnount included
his general ac, 02413 ; in the account of contin-
gentle therelore, as extra led (tom the books we
11...tvg nantiatted, no charge of this sort appears, be-
'auto the .revise was not specifically paid for, but
is weluded under the head of bedding, Intuitive,
malt, and cA.tilies, le.:. and the same lad possibly
applies to furniture and rep-airs, if petfoinsed by
rsor•s having other i once: t.s with the Barrack
jepertment. roe account she contingent ex-
,peacrs of else Barnett Office. Wa intended to remedy
-these cannier:l.c by collet:11+1oz from the different
of the tr..J.•smim :attd others, each items
his sui.ght be co:leakiest contingent expences of the
Paisp. We have no reason to surpea any inten-
tralial incorrectness is this account, but the mode of
ill formation rendets it 1146113 to error.
We have n ticeil these circumstances in some de•
tail. because, though the tufts on which our obser-
vations have arisen are of themselves of small im-
portance, vet the examination of them, es far as it
ki.ts gone, leads ditedly to the conclusion, that other
errori of call greater importance may exist in the
general account of the expenditure of the Barrack
AS-penmen-, as inserted in our first Report, so far
as T. fates to the clsissitieatien 4•T a .peeve.
o.lrer items of the general a:en:tat. An. ve alit, l-
ed to, arid also of toe abstr-ated accoun.s, a trAcling
our a:oration, we deemed it rroper to hay: them ex•
plainrd. These wore c,rt.'in sums steoited under
the head of hslanc.s, ovet-paymenrs, oatmeal sold,
and oats supplied in North Britain, Ste. and other
sums debited u der the he.a!s of miscellaneous, ata-