Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1897-07-15
Furth.r Exclamation Necessary.


On February 10th, last, Collector George
Evans Reading, sent communication to
City Council explaining the matter of bis
assessment and collection of taxes and
failing to credit same to the city. The
entire Communication is exceedingly inter-
esting at this time, but for present purposes
the closing paragraph will suffice =
"The city also has been made to suffer
from this action of the member from the
Third Ward, as it has had, upon several
occasioDs,to borrow money and pay interest
for it, when if the member had brought up
this matter. borrowing could have been
avoided or a less amount borrowed, thus
saving to the City the interest upon this
amount This occurred upon the same
night that his original resolution was
offered, when the city borrowed $1,000, only
half of which would have been necessary
had the member OF the Finance Committee
from the Third Ward not kept his knowl-
edge of the commissions upon the duplicate
of 1894 until nearer election when he
thought it would do more good to himself
and more harm to me.p
The real object in quoting the above
paragraph is to show the solicitude which
the Treasurer had for the city at the time
of early discoveries of his malteasance, and
to suggest that his opinion of the revelations
made by Accountant Dell would be ex-
ceedingly Opportune at this time.
Mr.. Dell says in the matter OF rebate of
l per cent. that he finds much of credit
of 1854 55 taken by Mr.. Reading incorrect,
and in his table charges him with the whole
amount until such time as he can demon
strate the correct amount
That portion of the Accountants report
demands explanation by Mr. Reading
And if he is now as SOLICITORS for the city
as he wrote himselfon February ! 6, he will
write letter to Council and tell Just how
much of this credit was honestly his, and
how much was incorrectly taken,
Whatever portion was incorrectly"
taken, the city has lost the interest on since
1893.
The ex-Collector's private account will
also show for Just how many years the city
lost the interf st on the $40 Is involved in
the shortage on license fees. 1t would be
very pleasant to have this item explained,
and the interest computed to date of its re-
payment to the city.
The matter of interest being one on
which the ex-Treasurer dwelt with special
emphasis in his letter of Feb. 16, we suggest
that when he pays over the shortages of the
various periods, he do so with interest fully
computed, and added, because his structures
on the motives of the member of the
Finance committee from the Third Ward
will fall if he fails to practice what he
then played as a trump card.
There are many points that the ex-
Treasurer could bring into his next report
to Council, and we suggest few: The
Accountant finds that in 1892 his official
profits were $4O9.S2. How happened it
that SO early in his official life he learned
that it was safe to withhold money which
he collected from his annual reports.
The duplicate of 1892 is mutilated, cyl
IDENTIFY by design, while the duplicate for
1898 is lost The Accountant finds that the
outside profits of the Treasurer were less
in those years than previous examinations
show they were during the years 'a4
'A5 and 'a6. 1t would be interesting to
know if the findings of the Accountant
would have been greater had he possessed
those books,
Another thought comes in right here
After the '96 audit, the Collector accepted
the result of the Auditors findings without
question or investigation; he came promptly |
and unhesitatinglv forward in February
and March last, accepting the figures OF
auditors without investigation. This inda-
Gates that the ex-Treasurer has another
book that hasn't been examined. If that
book hasn't been mutilated or destroyed ,its1
contents would be very interesting to the
people.
We have only to add, that the, people |
have been very patient and will appreciate
any courtesies on the lines indicated above
which the ex-Treasurer feels is due them
along with his check of $1513 49,
About People. III
Josiah c. Chew, the old stand by of the
Eirat National Rank ia taking his annual |