The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-01-22
MAJOR BROWNS ANSWER
Regarding the Discrepancies in the Cit.
 Accounts

1 heSdIulliS tHe DlsclepdHCleS III lle St'y Accounts
 x-Controller B. F. Brown has filed ] with Controller Rowe his answer to the
 report made by the city's expert, and | which places the ex-controller debtor to the city
 MT. Brown planes Henry l.. Hill, his
 bookkeeper, alleging clerical errors and
 failure to report matters that should
 have been recorded; and he says fur
 ther that vouchers are missing and re- plies from memory regarding several items charged against him. Major Brown further says: During my term of office of four and
 one-half years neither the books nor &C., counts of the department have been au-
 dited by either one of the auditing com
 mittees of the honorable court of com-
 mon council, although l was notified several times about two years ago that the committee were liable to call at any time for that purpose Sincere in my
 belief that both books and accounts
 would bear the closest inspection, I re-
 ported that I was ready for an audit at
 such time as would best suit the con-
 venence of the committee.
 In February, 1899, I also made an un-
 official request for the audit of my ac
 counts, and when the public press In
 May, 1899, published an interview with
 my bookkeeper, H. l.. Hill, attacking
 ing me, I at once demanded an audit and full investigation.
 After replying at length in detail re- garding certain alleged discrepancies, Major Brown concludes as follows.
 Expert says that in his opinion the difference is made up largely of old er- TOTS that do not indicate anything more than errors in keeping accounts. Until lately the report of the treasurer was generally for different periods of time, and this unwise and awkward system must have greatly hindered just com parison of these two related reports.
 Answer-The receipts and expendi- lures during my term of office have, I believe, practically agreed. The bal ance carried forward for many years prior to my administration Is prob lem that should be solved, but it is one of very great difficulty, from the fact that the foundation or starting point Is so indefinite For many years no record was kept of the unpaid checks, which should account for the difference.
 l respectfully refer you to exhibits "A" and ''B" attached to this report, which show that from 1860 to 1894 when assumed office, very few checks were dated, or showed any evidence of hav- ing been examined. None of them foot o,,1 i,, the stubs any record of deposit or balance.
 After great labor and expenditure of time I arranged all of the check books in chronological order, and as far as possible relied old vouchers to corre- spond. Many vouchers during those years were missing, some of which were found later on. filed by mistake with the papers of the city clerk
 In conclusion, I wish to again empha- size that the absence or loss of vouch- CTS and important memoranda for which I can neither account nor have any knowledge of how or why they are renders the task of complete examination impossible. If errors had been reported to me, as they should have been, but were not the report of MT. Kendrick would have been much | shorter.
 Early and late during my term of 1 office I have worked honestly and faith fully for the city of New Haven and have the satisfaction of at least believ- Ing that my effort succeeded In saving | to the taxpayers many thousands of | dollars.
 Corporation Counsel Robertson said | Saturday evening relative to his action In the case of ex-Controller Benjamin E. Brown that he hadn't had an oppor- tunity to look into MT. Browns report | and therefore couldn't state what would be his course.
 Ex-Assistant H. L. Hill was seen at his residence on Maple street He re- fused to state anything concerning Mr. Browns charge that he was responsible for the trouble, further than to say that if Corporation Counsel Robertson want sd him he would appear as a witness in court against MT. Brown.