The Sun.
London, England, 1854-09-15 00:00:00

POST-OFFICE ACCOUNTS.

According to the report of the Post-office Canmis-
sioners, they have caused most important alterations to
be made in the mode of keeping the Post-office accounts.
In consequence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer hav-
ing determined that the gross receipts of the Post-
office should be paid into the Exchequer, and the ex-
pet:ses of collection voted by Parliament, a careful esti-
mate of the latter is prepared and voted. This esti-
mate pre,ents the various charges in as condensed a
form as the great number of agents through whose
instrumentality the service is conducted will admit
of. The charges for conveying mails are paid
direct from the Accountant-General's office; the
salaries of postmasters, clerks, and letter carriers are
paid out of the local receipts. In the Receiver and
Accountant-general's office two cash-books are kept, one
for revenue and the other for the Parliamentary grant,
and these books are made to agree with the pass-books
of the Bank of England. The audit commissioners are
now furnished with monthly accounts, which was never
done before. Every postmaster in the kingdom sends
to the General Post-office weekly statements of receipts
and payments, accompanied by vouchers for each. The
whole of these accounts are collected and condensed
previous to their contents being passed through the
journal and ledger. This collection and condensation of
the accounts give every facility for ascertaining the
punctuality of remittances, stocks of stamps, and ba-
lances of postmasters. The accounts of foreign post-
masters are rendered monthly direct from vouchers for
each item of revenue and expenditure. All postings in

the Post-office Accountant General's office are now
monthly instead of quarterly, as heretofore. Postmasters
are debtors' to revenue for revenue charges and receipts,
and creditors fer remittances and charges of collection.
Formerly the Receiver-General of the Post-office was
the treasurer of the Post-office. He held his office by
patent under the Privy SeAl, and gave security for
12,0001. His income was 1,0001., a year, and he ap-
pointed his own clerks, nineteen in number. The late
Receiver was Mr. Thomas Young, the well-known pri-
vate secretary to Lord Melbourne during the passing of
the Reform Bill. .The Receiver-Generalship, as a dis-
tinct office, is now abolished. The Postmaster-General
is held responsible for the proper conduct of the busi-
ness of the united department of that of receiver
and Accountant General, for the due collection of revenue,
and for the proper application of the vote of Parliament
to the expenses of management. Two distinct accounts
are kept, one of the gross revenue, the other of the appli-
cation of the grant for the expenses of collection ; and
two corresponding cash accounts are opened with the
Bank of England. The business of the Receiver and
Accountant-General's department is divided into three
branches, viz., cash, examining, and book-keeping. The
Postmaster-General grants two deputations, one to the
cashier, the other to the examiner, to sign all drafts on
the Bank of England, and to endorse bills. All cheques
are signed by the cashier, and countersigned by the chief
examiner. The cheque books contain 100 cheques with
counterfoils, numbered in a continued series. The blank
cheque-books are in the custody of the Receiver and
Accountant-General, and are issued to the cashier as re-
quired. At a certain hour at the close of each day the
cashier sends in his lists of receipts and payments, with
vouchers and cheque book, to the chief examiner, who
examines them and passes the lists to the principal book-
keeper and returns the cheque book to the cashier. The
revenue of the Post-office is about 2,500,000/. sterling ;
the expenses of collection about 1,500,000/. The charges
for conveying mails by foreign steam-packets is not in-
cluded in the Post-office expenditure, nor is the income
derived from newspaper stamps included in Post-office
revenue.