The Treasury shall be charged with the administration of this Act, and all accounting officers and persons concerned in the collection, receipt, custody, and expenditure of public moneys shall, subject to the provisions of this Act and of the regulations, obey all such instructions as they from time to time receive from the Treasury in respect to the public moneys or to accounting for the same.

The Governor may from time to time, by Order in Council, make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act,—

Any such regulation may impose on any accounting officer or person subject to the provisions of this Act a fine not exceeding one pound for the breach of any regulation, or for any error in any account that he may be liable to render, and any such fine may be imposed by the order of the Treasury, and may be recovered either as a debt due to the Crown or by deducting the same from any money due or thereafter becoming due to the person incurring the fine.

All such regulations shall be gazetted, shall have the force of law from a day named therein, and shall be laid before Parliament within ten days after the gazetting thereof if Parliament is then in session, and if not, then within ten days after the commencement of the next ensuing session.

There shall be an officer to be called the Controller and Auditor-General, who shall be appointed by the Governor in the name and on behalf of His Majesty, and shall hold office upon good behaviour, and shall be removable therefrom only upon an address to the Governor from both Houses of Parliament.

The Controller and Auditor-General shall not be capable of being a member of the Executive Council or of either House of Parliament, or of holding any office of trust or profit in the public or any other service other than his office hereby created.

The Controller and Auditor-General shall be paid a clear annual salary of one thousand pounds out of the Consolidated Fund, which to the necessary extent is hereby appropriated accordingly.

The Governor in Council may, when Parliament is not in session, suspend the Controller and Auditor-General from his office; but such suspension shall not continue in force beyond the end of the then next session of Parliament, and the salary above mentioned shall continue to be paid to such officer, any such suspension notwithstanding.

In the event of the Controller and Auditor-General being unable to fulfil the duties of his office through absence from New Zealand, illness, or suspension, the Governor in Council may appoint some officer of the public service, or other fit person, to act as Controller and Auditor-General during such absence, illness, or suspension, and every such person shall for the time during which he so acts have all the powers and perform all the duties of the Controller and Auditor-General.

While so acting such person shall be paid a salary at the rate of eight hundred pounds a year out of the Consolidated Fund, which to the necessary extent is hereby appropriated accordingly:

Provided that if he is already in receipt of a salary from the Government this subsection shall apply only to the difference between that salary and the sum of eight hundred pounds for the period during which he is so acting.

No such appointment and no act done in pursuance thereof shall in any proceedings be questioned on the ground that the occasion for such an appointment had not arisen or had ceased, nor shall any such appointment prevent or affect the exercise or performance by the Controller and Auditor-General himself of any power or duty.

The Governor in Council may on the recommendation of the Controller and Auditor-General appoint an officer of the Audit Department to be his deputy to exercise in that capacity during the pleasure of the Controller and Auditor-General such of his powers and perform such of his duties as he thinks fit to assign to that deputy; and such deputy shall for the time during which he acts as such deputy have all the powers and perform all the duties so assigned to him.

The appointment of such a deputy shall not affect the exercise or performance by the Controller and Auditor-General himself of any power or duty.

The Governor may from time to time appoint to the service of the Audit Department only such officers, clerks, and persons as are recommended by the Controller and Auditor-General, and are considered necessary to enable him to exercise his powers and perform his duties.

Where by any Act in force anything is required or empowered to be done by the Auditor-General, the Controller of the Public Account, the Commissioners of Audit, or any Provincial or District Auditor, the same may be done by the Controller and Auditor-General under this Act.

It shall be the duty of the Audit Office to audit all accounts relating to the receipt, custody, or expenditure of the public moneys; and it shall be the duty of the Treasury and of all persons in the public service, and of all other persons whomsoever, to afford all such information as the Audit Office at any time requires, and to answer all such questions as may be addressed to them or any of them by the Audit Office touching any public moneys or stores, or any account thereof, or any other matter which may enable the Audit Office to fulfil the duties imposed thereon by this Act.

The Controller and. Auditor-General may, by writing under his hand, from time to time appoint any officer of the Audit Department or other fit person to inspect, examine, and audit any books, accounts, or stores which are required to be inspected, examined, or audited by this Act or by regulations, and to report thereon to the Audit Office; and for the purposes of such inspection and report any such officer or other person shall have power to inspect all books, accounts, vouchers, and other papers relating thereto.

The Controller and Auditor-General shall communicate with the Minister upon all matters arising under this Act or the regulations relating to the collection, receipt, issue, and payment of public moneys.

The Controller and Auditor-General shall report to the Minister the name of every person failing to comply with the requirements of this Act or the regulations, and thereupon, and until such failure is made good to the satisfaction of the Minister, all salaries and moneys that may be or become due to such person may be withheld.

If at any time the Audit Office finds that any public moneys are lying in the hands of or are due from any person or local authority which ought to have been paid into the Public Account or any deposit account, or any of the other accounts mentioned in this Act, the Audit Office shall call on such person or authority forthwith to pay such moneys into the account to which the same belong; and, in default of such payment, shall inform the Minister of such default, who shall take all such steps as he thinks fit to recover such moneys to the use of His Majesty, or, in the case of a local authority, to cause the same to be deducted from any subsidy or other money due or payable to such authority, and to cause the same to be paid into the account to which they belong; but nothing herein shall relieve any person from any penalties he may have incurred by making default in such payment.

“Local authority” shall have the same meaning as in section one hundred and eighteen hereof.

The Controller and Auditor-General may, by precept under his hand, in the form numbered (1) in the Schedule hereto, require any such person as he thinks fit to appear personally before him at a time and place to be named in such precept, and to produce any accounts, vouchers, books, or papers in the possession or control of such person, and shall have full power to examine such person on oath touching the receipt, expenditure of, or otherwise dealing with any public moneys or stores, and touching all other matters necessary for the due execution of the powers vested in him by this Act.

Every person who is compelled under the provisions of this section to attend before the Controller and Auditor-General shall be entitled to be paid such expenses as the Controller and Auditor-General certifies to be reasonable, and the Minister may pay such expenses accordingly out of the Consolidated Fund without further appropriation than this Act.

The Controller and Auditor-General may, when he thinks fit, cause search to be made in and extracts taken from any book, document, or record in the custody of the Minister or in any public office without paying any fee for the same.

The Controller and Auditor-General shall, in order that his examination, inspection, and audit of the public accounts may proceed pari passu with the cash transactions of any Department, have free access at all convenient times to the offices, and to the books of account and other accounts relating to the accounts of such Department, and may require such Department to furnish him from time to time, or at regular periods, with its accounts of its cash transactions up to such times or periods.

In case any difference of opinion arises between the Audit Office and the Treasury or any other Department of the public service as to the vote, appropriation, fund, account, or other authority to which any expenditure ought to be charged, or as to the proper head of revenue, fund, or account to which any receipt should be credited, or as to the lawfulness of any expenditure or proposed expenditure, the question shall be determined by the Governor in Council, and it shall be the duty of the Controller and Auditor-General to act in accordance with that determination:

Provided that if and so far as in the opinion of the Audit Office the question involves matter of law, then it shall be referred by the Minister of Finance for the opinion of the Attorney-General thereon, and the Attorney-General shall give his opinion in writing thereon, and it shall be the duty of the Controller and Auditor-General to act in accordance therewith.

In every such case the determination of the Governor in Council or the opinion of the Attorney-General, together in each case with the objections of the Audit Office, shall be laid before Parliament forthwith if then in session, and if not, then within ten days after the commencement of the next ensuing session.

Every accounting officer shall be subject to this Act and to the regulations, and shall perform such duties, keep such books, and render such accounts as are prescribed by this Act or the regulations, or as the Treasury may direct.

Every accounting officer not subject to the provisions of Part III of the Civil Service Act, 1908, shall, if so required by the Treasury, provide security for such sum and in such manner and form as the Treasury directs for the due accounting for and payment of all moneys which come into his charge, custody, or control.

No accounting officer shall open any public or official account in any bank, except as authorized by this Act or by regulations’, without the authority in writing of the Treasury, and no bank shall permit any accounting officer to have an overdraft on any public or official account.

On the death, resignation, or removal of any accounting officer the balances remaining at the credit of his public or official account in any bank shall on the appointment of his successor vest in and be transferred to the public or official account of such successor at the said bank, or otherwise dealt with as the Treasury directs; and on the death, bankruptcy, or insolvency of such accounting officer such balances shall not constitute assets of his estate or be in any manner subject to the control of his legal representative, assignee, or trustee.

Every accounting officer or other person dealing with public moneys shall be entitled, on demand, to receive from the Audit Office a certificate of discharge for so much of such moneys as he appears, upon examination of his accounts, to have received and duly accounted for; provided that, when any account, not being an account current, has been signed and passed by the Controller and Auditor-General showing a balance due to the Crown, he shall not make out or grant such a certificate until the accounting officer satisfies him that he has discharged or been discharged from any liability for or in respect of such balance.

Every accounting officer or person into whose hands or under whose control any public moneys come shall be deemed to owe to His Majesty all such moneys for which he does not receive a certificate of discharge from the Audit Office; and all such moneys, together with full costs of suit, shall be recoverable in any Court of competent jurisdiction as money due to His Majesty.

The Treasury may from time to time agree with any bank upon terms and conditions for the receipt, custody, payment, and transmission of public moneys in or out of New Zealand, and for advances to be made under the authority of this or any other Act, and for the charges in respect of the same, and for the interest payable by or to the bank upon balances or advances respectively, and generally for the conduct of the banking business of the Government; but no such agreement shall be made for a period of more than one year unless it contains a provision that the same may be terminated at any time after a notice of not exceeding six months.

All public moneys are the property of His Majesty, and shall, except as herein otherwise provided, be kept in one account at the bank, called “the Public Account.”

All moneys paid into the bank to the Public Account shall be deemed to be public moneys, the property of His Majesty, and to be moneys lent by His Majesty to the bank, and may not be removed therefrom except as by this Act provided.

The Public Account shall consist of the following funds and accounts:—

Moneys received by way of deposit on account of Customs duties or otherwise on public account, moneys paid into Court in virtue of any statute, rule, or authority whatever, and all moneys deposited with any person in the public service pending the completion of a transaction whereby the same may become payable to the Government or repayable to the depositor or other person, shall be deemed to be public moneys within the meaning of this Act.

Such public moneys shall be either paid into the Public Account at the bank or otherwise dealt with and accounted for by the persons having custody thereof as the Treasury, subject to this Act and the regulations, from time to time directs.

Every sum so deposited which is unclaimed for a period of one year after having become payable to the depositor shall be transferred to and form part of the Consolidated Fund; but the Treasury may, without further appropriation than this Act, issue and pay the same at any time within ten years thereafter to any claimant who establishes his claim thereto to the satisfaction of the Treasury.

Moneys issued by way of imprest for expenditure in the public service shall be kept in an official account in the bank as the Treasury may direct, in the name of the officer or other person accountable for such moneys.

Whenever, by virtue of any agreement made between the Government and any person, company, or other body, moneys belonging or due to such person, company, or other body are collected by the Government, such moneys shall be deemed to be and shall be dealt with as public moneys within the meaning of this Act; and such moneys, or so much thereof as becomes so payable shall, without further appropriation, be issued and paid to such person, company, or other body in such proportions, in such manner, and at such times as may be set forth in any such agreement.

The Government shall not be liable to any such person, company, or other body for any moneys so payable into the Public Account, except for moneys actually collected under any such agreement.

The Governor shall from time to time appoint some fit person to be the Receiver-General, who shall hold office at the Governor’s pleasure.

Every accounting officer collecting, receiving, or having possession of or control over any money payable into the Public Account, or into any deposit account, is a Receiver within the meaning of this Act, and every Receiver shall day by day pay all such money into such branch of the bank as the Treasury directs.

Where, by reason of distance from the bank or other cause, such payments cannot be conveniently made, then the Receiver shall pay such moneys into the Public Account, or to such other Receiver, at such times and in such manner as the Treasury, subject to the regulations, from time to time directs.

The bank shall, if so required, give to every person paying money into the Public Account or into any deposit account at the bank a receipt, in such form as the Treasury directs, for every sum so paid in.

Every Receiver shall keep a cash-book in the form directed by the regulations or by the Treasury, and shall enter therein, in the order of date, every sum of money received and every sum paid into the Public Account, whether at the bank or as otherwise herein provided, and shall, at such times as are directed by the regulations or by the Treasury, balance such cash-book and send to the Receiver-General a copy or abstract of so much thereof as he has not previously sent, together with the bank receipt for every sum paid by the Receiver into the Public Account at the bank during the period for which such copy or abstract is sent.

The Receiver-General shall day by day prepare from the copies or abstracts of the cash-books of the several Receivers a statement showing so much of the moneys paid into the Public Account or otherwise by such Receivers as he has not previously included in any such statement; and shall distribute such moneys to the several heads of revenue, or to the credit of the several votes or accounts requiring to be credited, according as the same have arisen.

On the Audit Office being satisfied that the moneys in the said statement have been credited to the proper heads of receipt, the said statement shall be deemed to be the Revenue Account of New Zealand for the day to which it relates, and shall be recorded in the books of the Treasury and the Audit Office accordingly.

The Treasury may from time to time invest any of the balances of the Public Account, or any part thereof, for such periods and on such terms as it thinks fit, in such securities as the Governor by Order in Council from time to time declares to be securities in which such money may be invested, and may from time to time sell and convert into money any such securities, and cause such money to be paid into the Public Account to the credit of the proper fund or account to which it belongs.

The deposit receipt for moneys deposited for a fixed period with any incorporated bank shall be deemed a security within the meaning of this section.

For the purpose of providing for the transmission to England of funds for the payment of the charges of the public debt in advance of the dates on which the same become payable, and for other purposes, the Minister may from time to time, on the security of Treasury bills, to be issued as hereinafter provided, borrow from any bank or other person, or from any balances of the Public Account, any sum of money, and may repay the same or any part thereof; so, however, that the total amount at any time outstanding and unpaid, inclusive of all Treasury bills outstanding on the coming into operation of this Act, shall not exceed the sum of one million pounds.

All moneys accruing from the sale of Treasury bills shall be paid into the Public Account to the credit of the Consolidated Fund; and the principal of every such bill, and all interest thereon, shall be a first charge upon and shall be paid out of the accruing income of the Consolidated Fund.

Every Treasury bill shall be in such form and shall bear such rate of interest, not exceeding five per centum per annum, as the Minister from time to time prescribes, and shall bear a number in consecutive order, so that no two bills shall at any time bear the same number.

Every Treasury bill shall be signed by the Minister and by the Controller and Auditor-General, and a register of all such bills shall be kept by the Treasury and also by the Audit Office.

Every Treasury bill shall be payable at such place, in or out of New Zealand, and upon such day as is named therein, not being later than one year from the date of issue of the bill.

Subject to the foregoing limitation of time as to currency, Treasury bills may from time to time be renewed by the issue of fresh Treasury bills of a like amount.

If a Treasury bill is presented at the Treasury so defaced as to be unsaleable, or if any such bill is burnt, destroyed, or lost, the Minister may issue a duplicate bill in the place thereof:

Provided that where the bill is not presented at the Treasury, the Minister shall not issue such duplicate unless the applicant produces a certificate, under the hand of a Judge of the Supreme Court, to the effect that he is satisfied from evidence taken on oath before him that such bill has been so burnt, destroyed, or lost, and unless the applicant gives good and sufficient security to the King to the amount of the said bill should the same be presented for payment at any time thereafter.

No person, body, or authority from whom the whole or any part of such sum is borrowed as aforesaid shall be concerned to see or inquire whether or to what extent the power hereby given has been previously exercised or is intended to be exercised; and any money borrowed under the authority of this Act shall, so far as the lender is concerned, be deemed to be within the powers conferred in that behalf, and to have been lawfully borrowed accordingly.

Except as specially provided by any Act, it shall not be lawful for the Government to borrow, nor for any bank or other person to lend to the Government, any moneys either by way of loan or overdraft; and every engagement for the repayment of any such loan or overdraft shall be absolutely null and void.

Except as herein otherwise provided, every Appropriation Act shall lapse at the end of the financial year or other period to which it relates, and all payments made thereafter under the authority of section fifty-four hereof or of any Imprest Supply Act shall be included in the estimates of the financial year or period in which such payments are made.

The Minister of each Department shall, within thirty days after the close of the financial year or period, cause to be prepared and sent to the Treasury a certified statement, in such form as the Treasury directs, of all liabilities in respect of the services of his Department outstanding at the close of such year or period which might by law have been paid during such year or period; and the Treasury shall lay all such statements before Parliament within ten days after its first sitting next after the Treasury has received the same, together with a summary thereof.

If during the space of three months after the commencement of any financial year or period no Act is passed granting and appropriating money for the service thereof, the Minister of Finance may issue and pay moneys during such three months, but no longer:

Provided that payments in respect of any service shall not exceed the amount of the unexpended balance of the vote for such service provided in the respective Appropriation Act for the year or period immediately preceding, together with an amount equal to one-fourth part of such vote:

Provided also that no payments shall be made for any services other than those for which provision was made in the respective Appropriation Act and the estimates for such preceding year or period, or in excess of the scale therein set forth.

All moneys issued and paid under the authority of this section shall be included in the estimates and accounts for the year or other period in which the same are paid.

The extended appropriation provided by the last preceding section shall be available for the payment of—

In no case shall any of the payments referred to in paragraph (a), (b), or (c) hereof be deemed to be in excess of the scale set forth in the Appropriation Act and estimates, or to alter any salary or other charge fixed by permanent Act; and sections forty-three and forty-seven hereof shall be construed accordingly.

In no case shall any of the payments referred to in paragraph (b) hereof be deemed to exceed the total sum of the item voted; and section forty-six hereof shall be construed accordingly.

The payments referred to in paragraph (c) hereof may be made notwithstanding that they are for services for which provision was not made in the Appropriation Act or the estimates; and the second proviso to subsection one of section forty-three hereof shall be construed accordingly.

For the purpose of meeting the increased expenditure on working railways where such expenditure is consequent upon increased traffic, the following provisions shall apply:—

In any case where any payment of an item is provided for in the estimates as passed by the House of Representatives, and is included in the total of a vote in the Appropriation Act, such payment of the said item may be lawfully made, anything in any Act to the contrary notwithstanding, and the said payment shall be deemed to be irrespective of any appropriation or limit contained in any such last-mentioned Act; but in no case shall the amount so paid exceed the total sum of the item voted:

Provided that this section shall apply only to payments which could not lawfully be made if this section were not in operation.

As and when directed by the Governor, the moneys available in respect of any vote in the Appropriation Act may be transferred in aid of any other vote in the same class.

For the purposes of such transfer the Governor may give such directions as he thinks fit from time to time during the financial year, and also during the period thereafter whilst moneys may lawfully be issued and paid under section forty-three hereof.

Money received to the credit of any service from the sale of stores, or from charges made for extraneous works or services, and any credit made to a service for the purpose of adjusting expenditure between Departments, or branches of Departments, shall be carried to the credit of the vote for that service.

In compiling the estimates the Minister for each Department shall cause the sums estimated to be received to the credit of each service to be abated upon the total estimated expenditure of such service for the year.

All sums so credited to any vote shall be deemed to be appropriated to such service in addition to the vote for the same.

The Governor shall from time to time appoint some fit person to be the Paymaster-General, who shall hold office at the Governor’s pleasure.

No money shall be issued out of the Public Account except in pursuance of a Warrant under the hand of the Governor in the form numbered (2) in the Schedule hereto.

Before submitting any such Warrant for the Governor’s signature the Treasury shall forward it to the Audit Office, and the Audit Office shall certify thereon that the issue mentioned therein may be made according to law.

For the purpose of this section an issue shall be deemed to be according to law if, with the sums named in all previous Warrants still in force, the amount thereof does not exceed the total amount available for issue out of the Public Account under the authority of any Act.

Any such Warrant and certificate may be sent by telegraphic message, in which code-words agreed on by the Treasury and Audit Office may be used, and such message may be acted on and the money named therein may be issued accordingly.

No Warrant under this section shall continue in force except during the financial year in which it is issued and three months thereafter.

Every claim for the payment of public money shall be put into a voucher in such form as the Treasury directs, and, when certified and charged against the proper vote or account and authorized by the officers who are recognized by the Treasury as the proper officers to certify and authorize the same respectively, shall be sent to the Treasury for payment.

The Paymaster-General shall from time to time prepare a requisition (in the form numbered (3) in the Schedule hereto) comprising an account of such of the vouchers as are proposed to be paid, charging each item against the vote and fund or account as stated on the voucher; and the requisition, on being authorized by the Treasury, shall be sent to the Audit Office, together with all the vouchers relating thereto.

The Treasury shall also prepare and send to the Audit Office a bank order (in the form numbered (4) in the Schedule hereto) directing the bank to honour the cheques of the Paymaster-General on the Public Account for the several amounts and at the several branches of the bank specified in the order, not exceeding in the whole the sum named in the requisition.

On being satisfied that the issue named in the requisition and bank order is within the limit of the Governor’s Warrant, and that there is a sufficient balance in the Public Account to the credit of the fund, vote, or account to meet the charges named in the requisition and bank order, the Controller and Auditor-General shall forthwith countersign the requisition and bank order, and return the bank order to the Treasury, together with the vouchers relating thereto.

The bank order, when so countersigned by the Controller and Auditor-General shall be sufficient authority to the bank to pay the cheques of the Paymaster-General to the several amounts specified in the order.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this section, if the Controller and Auditor-General is of opinion that any such voucher as aforesaid is in any respect not in accordance with law he may refuse to countersign the requisition; but in any such case he shall, if so required by the Treasury, submit the question of the legality of the voucher to the Attorney-General in accordance with section eighteen of this Act, and the provisions of that section shall apply accordingly.

Regulations may be made under this Act providing that in respect of any class of payments vouchers shall not be included in any requisition until and unless they have first been submitted to and passed by the Audit Office.

Moneys required to be issued by way of imprest for the public service shall be charged in the voucher and requisition against the vote for the service for which the imprest is required:

Provided that moneys may be issued by way of general imprest, of which the balance unaccounted-for shall not at any time exceed ten thousand pounds.

Every imprestee shall at the close of business on Saturday in each week, or at such longer intervals not exceeding one month as the Treasury in any case directs, prepare an account showing the expenditure (not already accounted for) of the moneys imprested to him and the balance then remaining unexpended, and shall send the account to the Paymaster-General, together with such vouchers and other documents as are required by the Treasury or the Audit Office.

The vouchers for the payments made by imprestees, including the vouchers for the payments by the High Commissioner out of the Foreign Imprest Account, shall, as soon as practicable after they are received by the Paymaster-General, be forwarded by the Treasury for authorization by the Departments of the public service on whose account the payments are made; and it shall be the duty of the permanent head of every such Department to prevent delay in authorizing such payments, and accordingly to return each voucher duly authorized within fourteen days after its receipt.

Where on the report in writing of the permanent head of a Department it appears to the Minister administering that Department necessary for its service that money should be expended in excess of or without the appropriation of Parliament, such Minister shall transmit the report to the Treasury.

If the Treasury agrees to make that expenditure it shall forward the report to the Audit Office to be noted, whereupon the moneys may, notwithstanding anything in this Act, lawfully be issued and paid.

The total amount of all sums issued under this section shall not exceed in any financial year one hundred thousand pounds for services in connection with working railways under the control of the Government Railways Department, and one hundred and fifty thousand pounds for all other services.

All sums so issued during the currency of the annual Appropriation Act shall be charged to an account to be called “the Unauthorized Expenditure Account,” and all sums recovered in respect of sums so issued shall be credited to that account. For the purposes of this subsection transfers from votes or from permanent appropriations shall be deemed to be sums recovered.

An abstract of the Unauthorized Expenditure Account, certified by the Audit Office, shall be laid before Parliament by the Minister of Finance within ten days after the commencement of the session of Parliament in each financial year.

All sums issued under the authority of this section in anticipation of the Appropriation Act to be passed in the same financial year shall be included in the estimates for that year.

When any money is appropriated out of the Public Account for the purpose of defraying the cost of the purchase of any material the cost of which may ultimately be chargeable to and divisible among more works than one, and it is not known or does not appear to what work the cost of such material ought ultimately to be charged, then the Governor may direct that all moneys expended for such material shall be charged in the first instance to a suspense account, and shall afterwards be charged to the proper work or works when the same is ascertained.

The Treasury may from time to time transfer any balances of the Public Account, or any part thereof, from one fund or account to another fund or account within the Public Account, for such periods and on such terms as the Governor in Council may authorize.

The moneys so transferred shall be considered as a liability of the fund or account into which the transfer has been made, and shall be paid out and restored to the fund or account from which the transfer was made within three months of the date of transfer.

A statement of the particulars of every such transfer shall be laid before Parliament within ten days after such transfer if Parliament is then in session, and if not, then within ten days after the commencement of the next ensuing session.

Every branch of the bank into which money is paid to the Public Account shall, at the close of business on the Saturday in each week, and at such other times as the Treasury directs, transmit the whole of such moneys to the bank at the seat of Government; and shall at the same time send to the Treasury a bank sheet setting forth, in the order of date, every sum so received and transmitted; and the bank at the seat of Government shall, at all times when so required, send to the Treasury full accounts of all transactions in respect of public moneys in the hands of the bank.

The bank at the seat of Government shall from time to time, at such times as the Controller and Auditor-General directs, send to the Audit Office a bank sheet setting forth the totals of the credit and debit sides of the Public Account and of the several accounts mentioned in Part X of this Act, for the period to which such sheet relates, with the balances brought and carried forward respectively.

The Treasury shall keep a cash-book, and shall enter therein all the receipts and payments of public money as and when the Treasury receives the necessary accounts, vouchers, and other documents, and shall day by day send to the Audit Office a copy (to be called “the cash sheet”) of all entries in that cash-book of which a copy has not previously been sent by the Treasury to the Audit Office, together with all the said accounts, vouchers, and other documents relating thereto, including the daily statement prepared by the Receiver-General of all receipts, and the daily requisition prepared by the Paymaster-General of all payments and of transfers from one account to another.

The Paymaster-General shall prepare daily a schedule (in the form numbered (5) in the Schedule hereto) of all paid vouchers returned by the several officers whose duty it was to obtain receipts from the payees, and shall transmit that schedule, together with the said vouchers, to the Audit Office.

On receipt of the said schedule and vouchers the Audit Office shall examine the vouchers, and shall pass the same on being satisfied in respect of each voucher mentioned in the schedule,—

The Audit Office shall not refuse to pass and allow any account or voucher by reason merely of the fact that it is not stamped according to law, except in cases where the Audit Office and the Treasury are of opinion that the omission so to stamp the same was wilful or fraudulent.

If on such examination the Audit Office finds that any person is liable to be surcharged, then, in addition to surcharging him as provided by section sixty-five hereof, the Audit Office shall refuse to pass the voucher in respect to which the liability to surcharge arose, and shall note thereon the reason for the refusal and send full particulars of the matter to the Treasury.

Having completed its examination of the vouchers, the Audit Office shall return the same to the Treasury, noting on the schedule the vouchers passed and those not passed.

Claims for credit to an imprestee for the expenditure of imprest moneys, and claims to transfer charges from one account to another, shall be put into a voucher in such form as the Treasury directs, and shall be dealt with in the manner following

The Controller and Auditor-General shall make such remarks addressed to the Minister or any other person whomsoever, and call for such accounts, vouchers, statements, documents, information, and explanations as he may think necessary, and after receiving the same shall pass all receipts which are found correct and all payments which are duly and properly made and supported by proper receipts or vouchers.

The Controller and Auditor-General, or such person as he shall appoint, may whenever he thinks fit, and shall whenever required so to do by the Minister, inspect, examine, and audit the books and accounts of any accounting officer or other person in the public service or subject to the provisions of this Act to whose possession or control any public moneys have come, or to whose possession or control any moneys have come (by virtue of his office, service, or employment, or of any legal process whatever) for or on account of or for the use or benefit of any other person.

The Controller and Auditor-General, or such person as he shall appoint, shall also, if possible, once at least in every year make an inspection, examination, and audit of the books and accounts of every accounting officer or other person in the public service or subject to the provisions of this Act to whose possession or control any public moneys have come, or to whose possession or control any moneys have come (by virtue of his office, service, or employment, or any legal process whatever) for or on account of or for the use or benefit of any other person, and shall forthwith report to the Minister the general result of such inspection, examination, and audit, stating in what condition the books and accounts are found, and whether proper care is taken of the public stores and property, and affording such other information as may be prescribed by regulations:

Provided that there may be exempted by the Controller and Auditor-General from such yearly inspection, examination, and audit such books and accounts as are otherwise inspected and examined to his and the Minister’s satisfaction:

Provided also that where a yearly audit would be disproportionate to the amount involved the audit shall be at such intervals as may be sanctioned by the Minister.

If it appears to the Controller and Auditor-General, from any examination, audit, or inspection made by him, or any person appointed by him, that—

the Controller and Auditor-General shall surcharge with the amount of any deficiency or loss, or expenditure not duly authorized, vouched, or certified, the person who appears to him to be in default, notifying that person in writing of the surcharge and of the time within which the surcharge must be satisfied.

Any surcharge unsatisfied within the time so allowed shall be reported by the Controller and Auditor-General to the Minister, to be by him enforced against the person surcharged.

The Minister, on receiving the Controller and Auditor-General’s report of an unsatisfied surcharge, shall send notice of it in writing to the person surcharged, and take such steps to recover the amount as the case may require. No amount payable to or claimed by that person shall be paid until the surcharge has been satisfied, and the amount of the surcharge shall be recoverable from that person as a debt due to the Crown:

Provided that, unless the Minister otherwise directs, payment of not more than one-fourth of the salary of any officer surcharged shall be withheld under this section.

The Controller and Auditor-General may at any time revoke any surcharge made by him in error under this section.

In all cases in which notice of any surcharge has been sent by the Minister to any accounting officer or other person in the public service or subject to the provisions of this Act who is dissatisfied with that surcharge, such accounting officer or person may within three months after the sending of the notice appeal to the Minister of his Department, who, after making such investigation as he deems equitable, may determine the matter by an order either confirming the surcharge or directing the relief of the appellant therefrom either wholly or in part.

The Controller and Auditor-General may, with the consent of the Minister, dispense with the detailed audit of any accounts, but not with any appropriation audit of such accounts. The consent of the Minister shall be given only in those cases in which he considers that there are circumstances which render a detailed audit under this Act unnecessary:

Provided that a list of such cases shall be comprised and published in the Controller and Auditor-General’s Report in each year.

No sum shall be allowed by the Audit Office in any account as received or paid except upon the production of a voucher for the actual receipt or payment of the same:

Provided that the Minister, on satisfactory evidence being produced that the requisite papers have been lost or destroyed or that it is not possible to obtain or replace them, may order that any such sum be allowed, and may make such order in the premises as he thinks fit, and such order shall be binding on all parties concerned and be acted on accordingly.

When a voucher produced for the payment of a sum of money is defective from the want of any certificate or other document which ought to have accompanied it, or in any other particular, the Audit Office, on proof to its satisfaction that the said defect was not due to wilful neglect of the accounting officer and that the sum named in the voucher has been actually and properly paid, may pass the voucher as a sufficient discharge.

All moneys the property of the Government of New Zealand in the United Kingdom shall be paid into an account called “the New Zealand Public Account,” at such bank or banks as the Governor by Warrant under his hand from time to time appoints; and no moneys shall be withdrawn from that account except in the manner provided by this Act.

The Governor may cancel any such appointment, and may remove the moneys in the said account, or such part of them as he thinks fit, from any bank to any other bank so appointed.

The Governor in Council shall from time to time appoint, and may from time to time remove, and may reappoint, three fit and proper persons, being resident in Great Britain (herein called “the Commissioners”), who, or any two of whom, shall have full power to do in Great Britain on behalf of the Governor, and subject to such instructions as they from time to time receive from the Governor, everything which the Governor is empowered to do under section seventy-one hereof.

Upon the death, incapacity, removal, or resignation of any of such Commissioners, the Governor in Council shall appoint another in his stead, and the other two Commissioners may mean-while appoint a third to hold office until the Commissioner appointed by the Governor enters upon the duties of his office.

Upon the death, incapacity, removal, or resignation of the High Commissioner for New Zealand, the aforesaid Commissioners, or any two of them, shall forthwith appoint some fit and proper person to the office, who shall hold the same and may exercise the full powers thereof until the High Commissioner appointed by the Governor in Council under the High Commissioner Act, 1908, enters upon the duties of his office.

The Paymaster-General shall, as often as occasion requires, prepare a requisition setting forth the several sums required to be issued out of the New Zealand Public Account, together with a bank order in respect of those sums.

For payment of the charges of the public debt the requisition and bank order shall be in the forms numbered (7) and (8) respectively in the Schedule hereto, and for payment of all other claims upon the Government of New Zealand in the United Kingdom the requisition and bank order shall be in the forms numbered (9) and (10) in the Schedule hereto.

The requisition and bank order, on being authorized by the Treasury, shall be sent to the Audit Office, and the Audit Office, on being satisfied that the issue mentioned in the requisition is within the limits of the Governor’s Warrant, and that there is a sufficient balance in the Public Account to the credit of the fund or account against which the said issue is to be charged, shall forthwith countersign the requisition and bank order and return the same to the Treasury.

The bank order when so countersigned shall be a sufficient authority to the bank to pay the moneys therein specified out of any balance standing to the credit of the New Zealand Public Account, according to the tenor of the order.

In respect of the charges of the public debt the amount mentioned in the bank order shall be paid over to the agent or agents named in the order.

In respect of all other claims upon the Government of New Zealand in the United Kingdom the amount mentioned in the bank order shall be transferred by the bank from the New Zealand Public Account to a separate branch of the same called “the Foreign Imprest Account,” and all sums so transferred shall be deemed to be imprested to the High Commissioner.

The purport of any bank order on the New Zealand Public Account may be sent by telegraphic message, in which code-words may be used, and the money mentioned therein may be issued or transferred accordingly.

Money required to be transferred to the Foreign Imprest Account shall, in the case of permanent appropriations, be charged in the requisition against the Act or other authority for the service for which the imprest is required, and in all other cases shall be charged in the voucher and requisition against an account to be called “General Services.”

Moneys so imprested on a charge to “General Services” shall in due course be transferred to the several votes or authorities for the purposes whereof the moneys are expended, and the amounts so transferred shall be credited to “General Services.”

No money shall be drawn from the Foreign Imprest Account except by cheque of the High Commissioner countersigned by an officer of the Audit Department who shall be selected from time to time by the Controller and Auditor-General, and no money shall be drawn from such account for any purpose for which it is not legally available and applicable.

On the death, resignation, removal, or incapacity of such officer of the Audit Department, the Commissioners mentioned in section seventy-two, or any two of them, shall forthwith appoint some fit person in his place until the Audit Officer selected by the Controller and Auditor-General enters upon the duties of his office.

Expenditure out of the Foreign Imprest Account, supported by proper vouchers, shall be dealt with as provided by sections sixty-one and sixty-two of this Act.

In case it may be necessary to pay off any securities issued under the authority of any Act, or any advances obtained against securities so issued and belonging to the Government, or to pay any of the charges of the public debt, or for the purpose of the conversion of the public debt, before the bank order for the issue of the money for such payment has been received in England, it shall be lawful for the aforesaid Commissioners, or any two of them, on the request in writing of the High Commissioner, to issue an order in the form numbered (11) in the Schedule hereto; and such order, being countersigned by the Audit Officer, shall be authority to the bank to pay the amount therein named out of any balance standing to the credit of the New Zealand Public Account, according to the tenor of such order.

The High Commissioner shall twice in every month transmit to the Treasury a full and detailed statement of all the receipts, payments, and transfers by, to, and from the New Zealand Public Account and by, to, and from the Foreign Imprest Account respectively which are not included in any former such statement, accompanied by all such vouchers and other documents as the Treasury requires in support thereof.

The bank at which the New Zealand Public Account is kept shall twice in every month transmit to the Treasury and to the Audit Office a statement (in the form prescribed by the Treasury) showing the entries in the New Zealand Public Account and the Foreign Imprest Account respectively for the period to which the statement relates.

The Treasury shall, within fourteen days after the end of each financial quarter except the last, and within thirty days after the end of the last financial quarter, in the financial year, prepare and send to the Audit Office an abstract of the revenue and expenditure of the Public Account, as provided by this Act, during such quarter; and shall also within thirty days after the end of each financial year send to the Audit Office a similar abstract of the revenue and expenditure of the Public Account during that year.

Every such abstract shall be certified by the Audit Office and returned to the Treasury within fourteen days after the receipt thereof from the Treasury as aforesaid, and the Treasury shall forthwith publish the same, certified as aforesaid, in the Gazette, and lay the same before Parliament if sitting, or if not sitting, then within ten days after the commencement of the next ensuing session thereof.

The provisions of this section shall apply to every account which is kept by the Treasury, and as to which it is prescribed by any Act that an annual statement thereof shall be laid before Parliament; and every such Act is hereby modified in so far as it is inconsistent herewith.

The Treasury shall, within thirty days after the end of each financial year, prepare and send to the Audit Office an account to be called “the Appropriation Account,” showing the several sums appropriated by Parliament for the public service, and the expenditure thereon during the year, with the amount overexpended or underexpended on each vote severally, or expended under the authority of section fifty-four hereof.

The Audit Office shall certify and return the Appropriation Account to the Treasury within fourteen days after the receipt thereof from the Treasury, and such account, certified as aforesaid, shall by the Treasury be forthwith laid before Parliament if sitting, or if not sitting, then within ten days after the commencement of the next ensuing session thereof.

Every such abstract and account shall comprise all payments made by the Paymaster-General or by imprestees during the period to which it relates.

For the purposes of such abstracts and accounts all payments made by imprestees either in or out of New Zealand shall, in the case of every quarterly period in the financial year except the last, be deemed to be made on the day on which the accounts of the same are received at the Treasury from the Audit Office for entry, and in the case of the last quarterly period be deemed to be made on the day on which the accounts of the same are received at the Treasury.

Imprests unaccounted-for at any accounting period shall not be included in the expenditure, but shall be shown as balances in hand.

If the Audit Office objects to any part of such abstract or Appropriation Account, it shall notwithstanding certify the same, with such remarks thereon as it thinks fit, which shall be published and laid before Parliament together with such abstract or account.

The Treasury shall as soon as practicable after the end of every financial year prepare and send to the Audit Office a full and particular account in detail of the revenue and expenditure of the Public Account during that year.

The Controller and Auditor-General shall forthwith examine that account, and prepare and sign a report showing,—

The Controller and Auditor-General shall annex or append to the said report copies of all cases laid by him before the Attorney-General for his opinion, together with a copy of the opinion given in every such case.

The Controller and Auditor-General shall lay the said account, together with his report thereon, before Parliament within fourteen days after the signing of the report if Parliament is then in session, and if not, then within fourteen days after the commencement of the next ensuing session.

The Controller and Auditor-General may in such yearly report or in any special report which he may at any time think fit to make offer any suggestions for the better collection and payment of the public moneys and the more effectually and economically auditing and examining the public accounts and stores, and any improvement in the mode of keeping such accounts, and generally report upon all matters relating to the Public Accounts, public moneys, and stores.

All moneys payable to or received by the Post Office, the Government Insurance Office, the Government Accident Insurance Office, the Public Trust Office, the Commissioners of the Public Debts Sinking Funds, the State Fire Insurance Office, the New Zealand State-guaranteed Advances Office, and the deposits under the New Zealand Consols Act, 1908, are public moneys within the meaning of this Act, and shall be paid into the several accounts at the bank for such moneys; and all persons concerned in the receipt, custody, or expenditure of such moneys shall be subject to all the provisions thereof, and all the powers and duties of the Audit Office in respect of the public moneys shall apply to all such persons.

Notwithstanding anything in this Act, the Governor in Council may by regulations make such arrangements as he considers advisable for the collection, receipt, custody, issue, expenditure, due accounting-for, care, and management of any public moneys by the Post Office, and for the keeping of books and accounts, and furnishing statements, returns, and vouchers in respect of such moneys by the Post Office, and for the examination, inspection, record, and audit of such books, accounts, statements, returns, and vouchers.

All moneys payable to the Government in trust for private persons which are not liable to be appropriated for the public service of New Zealand shall, except as otherwise specially provided by this Act, be paid into the Public Trust Office Account, but shall be dealt with and accounted for as provided by the Acts for the time being in force relating to that office.

Every sum of money in the Public Trust Office which remains unclaimed, and of which no lawful owner is known, for a period of six years after its receipt into that office, whether received before or after the coming into operation of this Act, shall at the end of each financial year be paid over by the Public Trustee to the Consolidated Fund.

Nothing in the two last preceding sections shall operate as a bar to any lawful claim to any such moneys for a period of ten years after their receipt into the Public Trust Office; and the Minister shall, within such period, issue and pay any such lawful claims out of the Consolidated Fund without further appropriation than this Act.

It shall be lawful to invest any part of the balances in any of the accounts mentioned in this Part of this Act in any securities which shall be declared by the Governor by Order in Council to be securities in which such balances may be invested.

It shall be the duty of the Treasury to lay before Parliament within ten days after the commencement of each session a full account, duly audited by the Audit Office, of all such investments during the preceding financial year, the investments in mortgage on each account being stated in aggregate only.

Whenever it becomes necessary that money should be expended on account of the Government Insurance Department, the Government Accident Insurance Department, the Public Trust Office, the New Zealand State-guaranteed Advances Office, or the State Fire Insurance Department, in excess of or without the appropriation of Parliament, the Government Insurance Commissioner, the Public Trustee, the Superintendent, or the General Manager, as the case may be, may, with the sanction of the Minister of Finance, but not otherwise, pay such money in excess of or without the appropriation of Parliament.

All such expenditure shall be charged to the Unauthorized Expenditure Account.

The expression “public moneys” and all references thereto in this Part of this Act include the securities in which public moneys are invested.

In any case where public moneys are required to be issued for the purpose of investing the same in any securities authorized by law the following provisions shall apply:—

The provisions of the last preceding section shall, with all necessary modifications, apply in any case where, for the purpose of changing one lawful mode of investment for another, securities in which public moneys are invested are required to be exchanged for other lawful securities.

In any such case the directions to be given by the Audit Office under paragraph (b) of the aforesaid section shall be accepted by the custodians of the securities representing the existing investment as sufficient authority to deliver up those securities in order that they may be exchanged for the securities representing the new investment.

Such last-mentioned securities shall in due course (meaning thereby as soon as practicable after the exchange) be deposited with the custodians (who shall forthwith report the same to the Audit Office) in lieu of the securities so delivered up.

In order to insure the safe custody of all securities in which any moneys belonging to any of the undermentioned offices are for the time being invested, that is to say,—

the following provisions shall apply, that is to say,—

In order to facilitate the transmission of such securities to or from London, or the inscription, conversion, exchange, payment, discharge, or other disposition thereof, as occasion requires, for the purposes of the office for which they are held, the following provisions shall apply:—

With respect to securities held in England the following special provisions shall apply:—

In any case where, for the purpose of changing one lawful mode of investment for another, securities are required to be exchanged, the following provisions shall apply:—

Save as hereinbefore provided, it shall not be lawful for the custodians to part with the custody of any securities:

Provided that nothing herein shall prejudicially affect any person purchasing or acquiring any such securities in good faith and without notice.

At least once in each year all securities held in New Zealand shall be inspected by the Controller and Auditor-General, and all securities held in England shall be inspected by the Audit Officer in London.

The Controller and Auditor-General shall lay before Parliament, within thirty days after the beginning of each session thereof, or so soon thereafter as is practicable, a return of all securities in New Zealand or elsewhere as on the thirty-first day of March then last past.

In every case where under any Act the Minister or other person authorized to issue debentures, scrip, or other securities is empowered to agree on the terms of their conversion into inscribed stock, the following special provisions shall apply, anything in the New Zealand Loans Act, 1908, to the contrary notwithstanding:—

Whenever public securities are paid off or otherwise retired in New Zealand they shall be cancelled in due course by an officer of the Audit Department, in the presence of an officer appointed by the Treasury for that purpose, and it shall be the duty of the Treasury to keep a record of every security so cancelled.

Nothing in sections ninety-three, ninety-five, or one hundred and three hereof shall be construed to limit or affect the provisions of paragraph (c) of section ninety-seven and paragraph (b) of section ninety-eight hereof.

The Governor in Council may from time to time make such regulations as he thinks necessary in order to give full effect to the provisions of this Part of this Act.

Excepting as expressly provided by this Part of this Act, nothing herein shall in any way affect any special provisions of any Act relating to any of the accounts of any office or Department to which this Part of this Act applies, nor interfere with any power of investment given by any statute for the time being in force relating to such office or Department.

This Part of this Act shall be deemed to be an authorizing Act within the meaning of the New Zealand Loans Act, 1908, and the moneys in the next succeeding section authorized to be raised shall be raised under and subject to the provisions of that Act accordingly.

The Minister is hereby authorized to raise, on the security of and charged upon the public revenues of New Zealand, such sums of money, not exceeding in the whole the sum of eight hundred thousand pounds, as he thinks fit:

Provided that in computing the said sum of eight hundred thousand pounds all sums heretofore raised under the Reserve Fund Securities Act, 1907, or Part X of the Public Revenues Act, 1908, shall be taken into account.

The sums so raised shall bear interest at such rate, not exceeding four and a half per centum per annum, as the Minister prescribes.

All moneys so raised under the authority of this Part of this Act shall be invested by and at the discretion of the Minister in the purchase of such stock, bonds, debentures, or other like securities as he thinks fit.

The Minister may from time to time sell any securities so purchased, and invest the proceeds of such sale in the purchase of any other securities authorized by this Part of this Act.

All interest received from any securities purchased under the authority of this Part of this Act shall be paid into the Public Account and shall form part of the Consolidated Fund.

All interest payable in respect of moneys so raised under the authority of this Part of this Act shall be paid out of the Consolidated Fund without further appropriation than this Part of this Act.

All moneys so raised under the authority of this Part of this Act shall, pending investment thereof in manner aforesaid, be paid into the Public Account to the credit of a separate account to be called the Reserve Fund Account.

All securities purchased under the authority of this Part of this Act shall be deposited with the custodians of public securities appointed under Part XI hereof, and shall be dealt with by the said custodians as the Minister from time to time directs.

The Minister may from time to time, and without other authority than this Part of this Act, borrow on the security of the said securities such sums of money as he thinks fit, but so that the aggregate amount so borrowed and still unpaid shall at no time exceed the sum of eight hundred thousand pounds, and he may from time to time pledge or hypothecate the said securities by way of security for the sums so borrowed.

All moneys so borrowed shall be paid into the Public Account to the credit of such funds or accounts as in the opinion of the Minister the needs of the public service require.

When and as often as the said securities are redeemed they shall be again deposited with the aforesaid custodians, to be dealt with by them in manner aforesaid.

The Minister may from time to time for the purposes of this Part of this Act appoint such agent or agents outside New Zealand as he thinks fit, and any such agent or agents may exercise on behalf of the Minister such of the powers conferred upon him by this Part of this Act as he from time to time directs.

No person receiving from the aforesaid custodians or agents, or any of them, any of the said securities by way of pledge or hypothecation shall be concerned to inquire into the authority of the said custodians or agents so to deliver the same, nor shall the validity of any such pledge or hypothecation be affected by the want of such authority.

Every person who makes any declaration, or gives any certificate required to be made or given by this Act or by the regulations, knowing it to be false, is liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for six months.

Every person who refuses or neglects to pay any public moneys into the account into which the same are payable is liable on summary conviction to a fine of one hundred pounds.

Every person who refuses or neglects to make any return or furnish any account, vouchers, or other papers which he is required to make or furnish under the provisions of this Act or the regulations is liable on summary conviction to a fine of twenty pounds.

Every person who fails to attend at the time and place required of him by the Controller and Auditor-General in pursuance of this Act for the purpose of being examined, or to produce any accounts, books, vouchers, or papers in his possession or under his control which he is so required to produce, or refuses to be sworn or to answer any lawful question asked him by the Audit Office, is liable on summary conviction to a fine of one hundred pounds.

Every person who is guilty of any wilful act of commission or omission contrary to any of the provisions of this Act for which no penalty is expressly provided is liable to a fine of fifty pounds.

All fines incurred under this Act shall, except where it is otherwise expressly provided, be recovered in a summary way upon the information of any person appointed by the Minister in that behalf either generally or in any particular case.

In this Part of this Act, if not inconsistent with the context,—

The Audit Office shall be the auditor of all local authorities, and shall have the same duties and powers in respect of the moneys and accounts of every local authority, and of every person dealing therewith, as it has in respect of the public moneys and accounts and of all persons dealing therewith.

If at any time the Audit Office finds that any moneys belonging to or administrable by any local authority have been expended or applied, or that any liability has been incurred by any local authority, without lawful authority, then, unless such local authority has acted in good faith and under legal advice, the Audit Office—

Any County Council, Town Board, or Road Board may in every financial year, out of its General Fund or Account, expend for purposes not authorized by any Act or law for the time being in force any sum or sums not amounting in the whole to more than one per centum of the general rate struck for that year by such Council or Board, nor in any case to more than fifty pounds:

Provided that if one per centum of the general rate does not in any financial year amount to fifteen pounds, the local authority may in that year expend the sum of fifteen pounds for such purposes as aforesaid.

Any Harbour Board may in every financial year expend on such purposes any sum or sums not amounting in the whole to more than one per centum of its revenue for the year (exclusive of loan moneys), nor in any case to more than two hundred and fifty pounds.

Any Hospital and Charitable Aid Board may in every financial year expend on such purposes any sum or sums not amounting in the whole to more than one per centum of the amount levied on contributory local authorities for that year in respect of expenditure other than capital expenditure, nor in any case to more than two hundred and fifty pounds.

In all cases where the accounts of any local authority are audited by the Audit Office under the provisions of this or any other Act in that behalf, or by order or appointment of the Governor or the Governor in Council under any Act, or otherwise howsoever, and in any arbitration held by the Audit Office between any two or more local authorities under the authority of any Act in that behalf, the following provisions shall apply:—

Where by any Act it is provided that the annual balance-sheet of any local authority shall, after being duly audited, be passed at an annual or special meeting to be held on a day or within a period specified in that Act, and such balance-sheet has not been received from the Audit Office or other the auditor in time for that meeting, it shall be lawful for the Chairman of the local authority from time to time to postpone or adjourn that meeting until the balance-sheet is received from the auditor.

The said Chairman shall cause notice to be given to every member of the local authority of the day to which the meeting is postponed or adjourned.

All the provisions of any Act applying to such annual or special meeting shall apply equally to the meeting to which the same is postponed or adjourned under this section.

Whenever it is made to appear that the publication of the annual balance-sheet of any local authority in manner provided by law is unnecessarily expensive, the Governor may by Warrant under his hand prescribe some other means of publication, and if the provisions of that Warrant are complied with the balance-sheet therein referred to shall be deemed duly published.

Any expense incurred or any sum of money paid by the Government on behalf or at the request of any local governing body shall be deducted from any subsidies or moneys accruing or payable to any such body by the Government.

Notwithstanding anything in any Act other than this Act, where an allowance for travelling-expenses actually incurred is made to any member of the General Assembly, being a member of any Commission issued by the Governor or by the Governor in Council, or to any other person being such a Commissioner, there shall be paid in lieu of such allowance a commutation not exceeding one pound a day, in addition to money paid for coach, railway, steamship, or other passenger fare.

Subject to the regulations under this Act, on the death of any person to whom any sum of money not exceeding one hundred pounds may be payable by a public Department it shall be lawful for the Minister, on being satisfied of the expediency of dispensing with probate or letters of administration, to authorize the payment of such sum or any part or parts thereof to any person or persons whom the Minister may consider entitled thereto without requiring the production of probate or of letters of administration.

Any payment made in pursuance of this section shall be valid against all persons whatever, and all persons acting under its provisions shall be absolutely discharged from all liability in respect of any money duly paid or applied by them under this section.

The Governor in Council may from time to time make such regulations as he thinks fit providing for the terms and conditions under which such payments as aforesaid may be made.

On the loss of any debenture during the currency thereof, or while it remains unpaid, the Governor in Council may, on receiving proof of such loss and an indemnity to his satisfaction against the claims of all persons deriving title under the debenture so lost, do either of the following things:—

The powers by this section vested in the Governor in Council or the Governor may from time to time be delegated to such two or more persons as the Governor in Council thinks fit.

In this section—

Wherever by any Act (whether passed before or after the coming into operation of this Act) any person (whether a public officer or servant or not) is required to give security to the Crown for any purpose whatever by bond, it shall be lawful for the Governor, Minister, Commissioner, or other officer whose duty it is to approve of the security tendered, to accept in lieu of or in addition to any bond or bonds the guarantee bond or policy of any company, society, or association approved by him established and carrying on business in any part of the British Dominions.

Nothing in this section shall apply to any bond, recognizance, or security which is required from any plaintiff, defendant, petitioner, complainant, executor, administrator, curator, receiver, guardian, or other person in the course of any proceedings in any Court of justice.

In any case where the amount of the rent or dues payable for the storage of any goods stored in any store belonging to or occupied by the Crown is estimated to equal or exceed the value of those goods, the Minister for the Department to which the store belongs may, after giving one month’s notice to the owner of those goods or his agent, where such owner or agent is known, or if not known, then after notice in any newspaper circulating in the district in which the store is situated once a week for four successive weeks, cause such goods to be sold by public auction.

The proceeds of such sale, after paying the expenses thereof, shall be applied in the payment of the rents and dues then due, and the balance, if any, shall be paid to the said owner or his agent if known, or if unknown, then into the Public Account to the credit of the Consolidated Fund.

The Minister of Finance is hereby authorized, without further appropriation than this Act, to issue and pay out of the Consolidated Fund, by way of temporary advance, any sum or sums for the purpose of defraying any charges or expenses incurred by or on behalf of any local authority.

Advances made under the authority of this section shall not exceed in any financial year an aggregate amount of one thousand pounds.

All such advances shall be repaid to the Consolidated Fund out of the first moneys thereafter accruing to that local authority, and may be deducted or recovered by the Minister of Finance accordingly.

For the purposes of this section the expression “local authority” means a County Council, Borough Council, Town Board, Road Board, River Board, Harbour Board, or Education Board, and includes any other body of persons, however designated, to whom any moneys are payable out of the Consolidated Fund.

The Minister of Finance is hereby authorized to agree with any or all of the banking institutions doing business in New Zealand for the purchase on their behalf of silver and bronze coin from the Royal Mint in London, or from any branch thereof in Australia, to an amount not exceeding one hundred thousand pounds in any one financial year (including the expenses incidental to that purchase), and all moneys so expended shall be paid without further appropriation than this Act.

The Public Revenues Act, 1908, is hereby repealed.

All offices, appointments, bonds, debentures, Treasury bills, and other securities, Orders in Council, orders, warrants, registers, registrations, instruments, records, and generally all acts of authority which originated under that Act or under any enactment thereby repealed, and are subsisting or in force on the coming into operation of this Act, shall enure for the purposes of this Act as fully and effectually as if they had originated under the corresponding provisions of this Act, and accordingly shall, where necessary, be deemed to have so originated.

All matters and proceedings commenced under that Act or under any enactment thereby repealed, and pending or in progress on the coming into operation of this Act, may be continued, completed, and enforced under this Act.

Sections twenty-three and twenty-four of the Appropriation Act, 1908, and section twenty-three of the Appropriation Act, 1909, are hereby repealed.

Sections eight and nine of this Act shall, as from the passing of this Act, extend and apply to the Controller and Auditor-General under the Public Revenues Act, 1908, and to his powers and duties under that Act, in the same manner in all respects as if those sections were incorporated in that Act.