The Newtown bee., 1891-10-02
resent their report BY the date assigned

present their report by the date assigned
by vote of the town meeting, it has SEEM
ed necessary to present what may be
considered q sufficient explanation for
the delay. First: The accounts of the
town close, September 6; the report is
ordered distributed by the 18th, nine
days time. We have been unable to find
any responsible printer who would I'M
dertake the work in less than week
and two days is not sufficient to COM
plete the work of auditing, no matter
how much of it may have been anticipate
ed. OF course, if, as has been the case
the report is to be presented without ref
erence to any actual cash balancing, two
days is more than ample, but if the work
is to be properly verified, it is not suffic-
lent. Second: The report cannot be is
sued until the several committees supply
their returns. Certain figures are not
yet in the hands of the school secretary.
The bank balances also were not supplied
us until September %, and then did not
agree with the stated accounts. Third:
The condition of town books makes an
audit within reasonable time an impos-
sibility. In the matter of this last, we
are reluctantly compelled for our own
protection to cite certain matters. With
the exception of the work done by the
special auditing committee, there has ex-
listed no set of accounts sufficiently &C
curate to serve as basis for statement
since September, 1888. A record, par
tial and incorrect, has been kept of re-
ceipts and expenses, but no statement of
the towns condition could by any math-
ematical ingenuity be evolved from them.
In some cases, the assessors books, the
basis upon which the principal source of
the towns income is estimated and col
lected, have shown large errors. Instead
of receiving balanced statement of re-
ceipts and disbursements with certificates
from the banks of the correctness of the
balances. we have been compelled to
construct a system of accounts by figur-
ing up the items one by one as shown by
the several deposits in bank and the en-
dorsed checks, comparing these with the
entries in the books to verify their cor
rectness. The amount of time and labor
entailed by such a process, when the per-
iod covers a year of busy work and fire.
quent entries, is difficult to Imagine and
impossible to perform within any reas-
enable time. The time consumed by
such labor should be given to other mat
tiers which have to be left unattended.
We believe the funds are handled with
scrupulous honesty, and the books, such
as they are, are kept with evident pains
taking; but they are not accurate. We
confess our inability to audit properly a
set of accounts kept in such way, with
in the allotted time and respectfully sug-
gest that it would be economical for the
town to cause it's books to be properly
kept and annually balanced. Expert
work upon tangled accounts is expensive
The school enumeration taken in OctO-
Der, 1890, returned 749 children. Five
hundred and ninety seven children were
registered in the schools; l54 in schools
other than public. Sixty did not attend
school. The expense of tuition per emu
merated child was $13 SO; per register
ed scholar, sly. During the Fall term,
the average attendance was 80 30; Win.
ter term, 81 40; Spring term, 30S 30
There were sos children registered dur
ing the Fall term, 4S3 Winter term, 43G
Spring term.