The Sun.
London, England, 1865-08-16 00:00:00

The Public Accounts.

The standing " Committee of Public Accounts,"
nominated by the House of Commons at the com-
mencement of every Session, for the examination of
the accounts showing the appropriation of the sums
granted by Parliament to meet the annual expendi-
ture, commenced last Session an inquiry into the
mode of accounting for the receipts in public de-
partments not forming part of the chief branches of
public revenue. Following the example of charity,
the committee began with the fees of their own
House, which have to be all paid over to the con-
solidated fund, the clerks and officers of the House
being paid by salaries and not by fees. The system
is explained clearly enough. From an examination
of the Votes, and from the daily returns made by
the committee clerks of business done, Mr. Broome,
the accountant and receiver of the fees, makes out
weekly accounts of the fees due from the several
Parliamentary agents, collects the amount every
Tuesday, enters the sums received in a cash-book,
and in the evening goes through the list with Mr.
Rose, the clerk of the fees, who takes a copy of it.
Next morning Mr. Broome takes to the Bank of
England the checks he has thus received, and
pays them into the account of the Commission-
ers for Regulating the Offices of the House of
Commons. Two days afterwards Mr. Rose,
who keeps the pass-book, takes it to the bank,
and gets the amount entered as received. The
weekly amount varies from £l,OOO to £lO,OOO. The
points to which the attention of the committee
seems to have been turned are these :—That neither
the money nor the account goes through any third
office : that there is no check upon the accuracy of
the committee clerks' return ; and that there is no
audit except that at the beginning of every Session
the Speaker goes through the accounts of the pre-
vious Session, and sees that the amount of foes
certified by Mr. Broome as received by him was
paid by him into the Bank. Another of these minor
branches of revenue comprises the fees received at
the Home-office. There are considerable fees on
the frocking of Bishops ; £7 13s. Gd. on the conge,
and again on the letter recommendatory, on the
Royal assent, on the restitution of temporals, arid
on the homage ; the same on the appointment of a
dean, canon, or archdeacon ; £l6l 12s. 6d. on the
creation of a Prince of Wales, £79 10s. on the crea-
tion of a duke, fees on the creation of every peer,
baronet, or knight ; £lO 2s. Gd. on a warrant for
change of name, £l3 12s. Gd. on change of name
and arms, and so on. The fees produce a little
over £l,OOO a year. They are received by Mr.
Knyvett, the chief clerk, and paid over by him to
the Paymaster-General at the end of every quarter.
Whey there is a stamp duty the parties hand Mr.
Knx*tt the money to pay for it, and he procures
it from the Stamp-office. There is a record
kept by a clerk showing every appointment,
and Mr. Knyvett states that it would be
easy to ascertain the correctness of his account by
seeing how many creations, &c., there had been in
the quarter. But he says, " there is no actual audit,
the whole matter is left to him." The passport
branch of the Foreign-office is another department
which engaged the attention of the committee. The
amount received for fees is brought at the end of
the day to Mr. Conyngham, the chief clerk, who
pays the office salaries and expenses. His accounts
are examined by Mr. Hammond, the Under-Secre-
tary of State, and he says, " The other day I ac-
counted to Mr. Hammond for the whole of the fees
received on account of the passports which had been
issued since 1856." •Formerly there was a large
surplus in hand, but it has been " worked down" to
about £BOO since the reduction of the fees on pass-
ports, and now the receipts are but about £7OO a
year, and it would seem are nearly absorbed by the
expenses. The Treasury do not recognise these
fees as public money, and refuse to give pensions to
persons employed in the Passport-office, as not being
paid out of public moneys. The Passport-office, its
expenses and salaries, do not appear upon the esti-
mates in any shape whatever, and Mr. Hammond
denies the right of the Exchequer to any surplus
from these fees. The Privy Council-office also had
some attention from the committee. Mr. Har-
rison, the chief clerk of the office and deputy
clerk of the Council, states that fees amounting to
£BOO or £l,OOO a year are received in the depart-
ment of the Judicial Committee, but it is a separate
department. At the end of every quarter the
amount is brought by the registrar in a lump sum
to him as the chief clerk of the office, and he pays it
to the Paymaster-General. Mr. Harrison says he
exercises no check or audit over the receipt, and he
holds himself utterly irresponsible for its being the
proper amount ; but he knows the accounts are very
carefully kept. There is no extraneous audit what-
ever of his own accounts. lie has to pay some
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but
that is all. The committee report that they are of
opinion, generally, that the system of accounting
for these receipts is not satisfactory; but they think
that their inquiries should be prosecuted further
next session into similar branches of receipt before
any general recommendation should be made re-
specting them. In the meantime they think the
evidence they have taken should receive the atten-
tion of the Government. There is a great number
of public offices in which moneys payable to the
Exchequer are received—the Gazette-office, the
police courts, the General Register-office, the Joint-
stock Companies Registration-office, the Judgments
Registration-office ; there is the Treasury solicitor
in regard to intestates' estates, the secretary to the
Lunacy Commissioners, the secretary of presenta-
tions to the Lord Chancellor, consuls abroad, the
directors of prisons, the Controller of the Sta-
tionery-office, and, indeed, such a list as it would
be wearisome to read.