New-York tribune., 1881-12-13
LOCAL MISCELLANY.
DOCK DEPARTMENT BOOKKEEPING.
A BEwuDERED COMMISSIONER AND f"''"
1ooKKEEPERs

pywuDERED COMMISSIONERS AND PRoNfliN"
BooKKEEPER'
r.o ,,,-os.,o,;on Of the affairs of the Dock De
partment was continued YESTERDAY az Williams and
Rrowning of tho Investigating Committee Teiof
present. benjamin A. Williams, stone Srord ~
st tAvenueA and siHtye'Egn'hdS dssred p to sH make
statement. He was present and t9e n,y' saS
hnsfness of the day to hear what nc hao 70 sS ~
Mr. Williams announced toat ne fact hat the pnb
lie piers in his vicinity were 0bstructed lhe PleL Nv
the foot of Sxty-thirdst, which Is pubic properly,
which uses it to the exclusion OF Offers a,Ss
Much other testimony of the same
kind was given by by c NJ Ta%s BaTa stone ae0 meF
chants in the same region. o....o.
Chairman Williams next said that Commissioner
Vanderpoe had signifed his desire 70 make
ment 20 the committee in regard to the deposllss
made by the Department. Mr Vanderpoei Mas ,GI SGi
for. he came in smiling, took seat at inc 'a"io
when Won asked me about the deposits of the
Department last Saturday, / was not feeling very
well and could not Tecolect about the mat,eri ouo
have since recolected that the facts OF tne case
were a. follows: We found trouble IN getting our
bills paid i asked Mr.. Whitney about IL, ana ne
said that there was no money in the treasury to our
acc mt so he was directed to deposit just DeloTe
our audit" r H. Io.oe;ts
made by you during the last fiscal year 7 he was
asked.
attention
reports of the expert by which appears that az one
time when it alleged that there was not enough
money in the treasury to pay the employees, IaiS
amount had been de JOsited over ana aboVe WhdI
had been drawn. hir. Vanderpoel explained that,
although any amount might be depOslted, yet ne
money was turned over 70 the uses OF the Guy anu
could not be drawn again by the Department. ms
seemed to disagree with the CommlSsioheTs eAi
planatiOn Of why the money was NOT dePosi, GU
daily but subsequent eIpan1boGb b bsnsrfent SnGT1% it
could be used TO take up bonds issued for IL Ilcin
the proceeds which the expenses OF the DePartemhC en-
are paid Mr. Whitney, chief bookkeeper OF the
Department was next callei In.
ION the 3Oth OF April, 1851" said Chairman
Williams there is an 5 sEtFy d} on your books OF an
THAT was for the bonds which were to be sold
for the Dock Department."
I" Had they been sold 7"
"No. But resolution had been passed by the
Board, ordering the sale of the bonds"
$50 as soon as the Board asks that the bonds be
sold You enter the amount on your books as caSnf"
"NO, not as cash-as funds on hand"
"You credit yourself with the amountT"
"Yes, of course"
bonds is desired before the requiAton goes 10
himS"
"And yet before the bonds are sold you credit
yourself with SO much on hand
The attention of the bookkeeper aud of the Com
missioner was called the fact that on the days on
which the Department books showed that money
had been deposited, large amounts were, acGorulhg
TO the books, left on hand. commissioner v iahucA-
poel could not explain it, unless 1t was IN cases
where they had taken the notes of persons WIN
the proviso that they should not be collected tIl
subsequent date. Being questioned as to what
par ocular notes he had taken in this way ne named
one but as there seemed to be by the books as re-
ported by the expert balance on hand aiier every
deposit he changed his mind. and thought that IL
must be that moneys had been PAID IN atter the
cash account had been made up. subsequently II
was stated by Mr. whitney that the cash account
would be made up sometimes several daS
before the money was deposited, and the
fact might be accounted for in that way. as money
could have been paid i'll between those dates
The chairman then asked the bookkeeper; 10
YOU recollect that from October to Aprll, 1881
there was no balance entered in your cash book T
al know there was a lapse. do not reconec'
when il was"
I" If your cash book was not written up you couId
not tell how much was on hand, could you r
presume not"
During the testimony of Mr Vanderpoel, Whitney
kept hopping about, now up TO the Commissioner,
and now back to the wall T; and whenever the worthy
COMMISSIONER became bewildeTed in the intricacles
OF Dock Department BOOKKEEPING he would prompt
him, till at last Chairman Williams had to say
- Please keep quiet, Mr.. Whitney We will exam
inc YOU by-and-by." Once the Commis ssloner was
completely lost and looking up helplessly he said
"Let Whitney explain"
The committee adjourned to meet on Thursday at