TABLE II. LIST of ESTIMATES of COLONIES receiving Grants-in-Aid submitted to the Treasury since 1870, inclusive. Appendix. RETURNS of REVENUE, EXPENDITURE and DEBT of COLONIES received in the Appendix. TABLE III.--Returns of Revenue and Expenditure in the Colonies--continued. Note. Several of the returns included in this table do not correspond with those which the Colonial Office undertook to furnish. 10,531-69. COPY of TREASURY MINUTE, dated 29th July 1870, respecting the audit of various Write to the Comptroller and Auditor General, in reply to his letter of 16th June 1869, that my Lords consider it desirable that the examination and audit of the under-mentioned accounts, which was, previous to the Exchequer and Audit Departments Act, undertaken by the Commissioners for auditing the Public Accounts, should continue to be conducted by him, viz. : Account of the Admiralty Court Suitor's Fund. Accounts of Colonies in receipt of aid from Imperial Funds; the audit to be continued for three years after the cessation of such aid. Accounts of the Emigration Commissioners in respect of Colonial Funds. Accounts of the Isle of Man Accumulated Fund. وو Account of Valuation of Lands, Ireland. وو My Lords are therefore pleased to direct the Comptroller and Auditor General to continue continue to carry on the examination and audit of the accounts in question in the same manner as that hitherto adopted, and they desire that he will satisfy himself in each case of the correctness of the vouchers for expenditure, and of the sufficiency of the authorities under which such expenditure has taken place. State that directions will be given to include the accounts of the Coroner and Attorney, Court of Queen's Bench, and that of the Privy Seal Office Fees in the respective Monthly Appropriation Accounts of the Votes for Common Law Courts, England, and for the department of the Lord Privy Seal, and that it will be therefore unnecessary for the Comptroller and Auditor General to continue a separate audit of such accounts. Add that my Lords have directed a copy of this Minute to be laid before Parliament. Let the necessary steps be taken in the Financial Division of this Department for including the account of the Coroner and Attorney, Court of Queen's Bench, in the Monthly Appropriation Account of the Vote for Common Law Courts, England. Write to the Chief Clerk of the office of Lord Privy Seal that the attention of my Lords has been called by the Comptroller and Auditor General to the account hitherto rendered by him to the Exchequer and Audit Department of receipts and payments in respect of fees, &c. State that my Lords consider it desirable that this account should be henceforward incorporated with the Monthly Appropriation Account of the Vote for the department of the Lord Privy Seal, and be no longer separately rendered. Request that the necessary steps may therefore be taken for this purpose. Appendix. TREASURY CONTROL OVER COLONIAL EXPENDITURE, AND Sir, The Colonial Office to the Treasury. Downing-street, 1 January 1879. 1. I AM directed by Sir Michael Hicks Beach to acquaint you that he has had under his consideration your letter of the 25th of September (No. 14,398-78), which was received in this Department on the 24th of the following month. 2. I am to express his regret that the understanding of 1870, under which the Estimates of Colonies receiving Grants in aid of Revenue were to be transmitted to the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, and under which their Lordships were to be furnished with Returns of Revenue, Expenditure, and Debt from Colonies receiving aid in the shape of Governors' Salaries or other specific Grants or Loans, has not been observed with perfect regularity, and I am to state that he is prepared to take steps for ensuring its regular observance in future. 3. But, as regards the transmission to the Treasury of the Estimates of Colonies receiving Grants in aid of Revenue, I am to point out that it seems doubtful whether some of the cases mentioned in the Tables accompanying your letter fall within the scope of the agreement, and that in the remaining cases the agreement appears to have been duly observed when it has been practicable to do so, with the exception of the Gold Coast and Fiji. 4. The Virgin Islands Grant of 1868-69 was of earlier date than that agreement, and was treated as if it had been a specific grant, for the relief of distress occasioned by an overwhelming public calamity. The Grant of 1869-70 was merely a re-vote pro formâ of the unexpended portion of the Grant of the previous year. The Malta Grant of 1871-72, and the Bermuda Grant of 1873-74, though in point of form Grants in aid, were really Imperial contributions for public works in which the Imperial Government was interested, and were not granted on account of any failure in the Colonial finances. The so-called Lagos Grant of 1872-73 was only a loan which has since been repaid. The Bahamas Grant, and the present Gambia Grant, are really for specific purposes, viz., Mail Service. The West Coast of Africa Grant is a "specific grant," viz., for a mail steamer. The Leeward Islands Grant of 1872-73 comprised 23,200l. for a steamer, and 4,688 l., the amount of certain salaries which had previously been paid from Imperial funds. The latter sum continued to be provided until 1876-77, in accordance with the understanding of 1872, and the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury have consented to a further grant of 3,000 l. per annum, for the maintenance of the steamer from 1877-78 to 1879-80 inclusive. In a letter, dated the 13th of April 1872, the Audit Office stated that the Comptroller and Auditor General concurred in the opinion expressed by this Department, that, taking into consideration the circumstances of this grant, it would not be necessary that the accounts of the Leeward Islands Colony should be sent to him for examination and audit. It seems doubtful whether any of the above cases called for the transmission of the Annual Estimates to the Treasury, and whether some of them even called for the transmission of the Returns of Revenue, Expenditure, and Debt. I am to add that the annual Estimates are not submitted for the consideration of the Secretary of State, from the Bahamas and the Bermudas, which are representative Colo Appendix. nies; and I am to point out that the Leeward Islands Colony has no revenue but what is contributed by the individual Islands for federal purposes, and that the West Coast of Africa is merely a geographical expression. 5. The estimates of Colonies receiving Grants in aid of Revenue, properly so called, appear to have been regularly transmitted to the Treasury in the following cases : (1.) Falkland Islands. (2.) St. Helena. This Colony received a Grant in 1868-69 and again in 1871-72, and the Estimates were regularly transmitted until 1876 inclusive (although this year is not mentioned in the Tables accompanying your letter), which was three years later than the specified time. A further Grant was sanctioned in January 1877, when the Estimates for that year had been already disposed of, but those for 1878 were duly transmitted to the Treasury. (3.) Gambia. This Colony received a Grant up to 1870-71, and the Estimates were transmitted to the Treasury till 1873, when their Lordships declined to receive any more. A further Grant was made in January 1877, when the Estimates for that year had been disposed of, but those for 1878 were transmitted to the Treasury. (4.) Lagos. (5.) Sierra Leone. This Colony received a Grant in January 1876-77. The original Estimates for that year were returned to the Colony to be redrawn. Owing to local difficulties they have only lately been received in proper shape, together with the Estimates for 1878. Both Estimates have now been sent to the Treasury. 6. The Lords Commissioners of the Treasury have had before them the fact that no Estimates are received from Heligoland. No Estimates have yet been received from the Transvaal, but Mr. Sargeaunt's Report upon the financial condition of that Colony has been communicated to the Treasury. The Labuan Grant of 1868-69 was of earlier date than the agreement, but the Estimates for 1870 were transmitted to the Treasury, although this is not stated in the Tables accompanying your letter. 7. There has been an undoubted failure to transmit regularly to the Treasury the Returns of Revenue, Expenditure, and Debt, from Colonies receiving aid in the shape of Governors' salaries, or other "Specific Grants" or loans, owing partly to the omission of Colonial Governments to supply these Returns, though, of course, the Secretary of State recognises that it is the duty of his Department to see that all needful Returns are promptly rendered. The requirement has ceased to apply to some Colonies to which it was at first applicable, e.g., Montserrat, St. Kitts, Virgin Islands, British Guiana, and Trinidad; and before issuing renewed instructions, Sir M. Hicks-Beach would be glad to be furnished with lists (1) of those Colonies from which, in their Lordships' opinion, only the Estimates should be transmitted to the Treasury; (2), of those Colonies from which only Returns of Revenue, Expenditure, and Debt, should be transmitted; and (3), of those Colonies from which both Estimates and Returns should be transmitted. 8. With regard to the 24th paragraph of your letter, I am to state that Sir Michael Hicks Beach presumes that the instructions to the Comptroller and Auditor General do not extend to the Accounts of past years, the Estimates for which, though the Accounts are still under examination at the Audit Office, may not have been formerly sanctioned by the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury. The Secretary to the Treasury. I am, &c. (signed) R. G. W. Herbert. The Colonial Office to the Treasury. Sir, Downing-street, 26th February 1879. WITH reference to the letter from this office of the 1st of January, I am directed by Sir Michael Hicks Beach to transmit to you the accompanying copy of a memorandum which has been prepared with a view to facilitating the settlement of the question of what colonies the Estimates should be sent to the Treasury for approval, and of what colonies Returns of Assets and Liabilities should be sent for information. The Lords Commissioners of the Treasury will have gathered from that letter that Sir Michael is not prepared to accept as accurate the statement contained in your letter of the 25th of September (14,398-78), and as the matter is not yet finally settled, he trusts that the last-named letter will not be communicated to Parliament or laid before the Public Accounts Committee; or if this is done, that the letter from this office of the 1st of January and the present letter may be presented together with it. The Secretary to the Treasury. I am, &c. (signed) R. G. W. Herbert. MEMORANDUM. ONLY those Colonies to be regarded as "grant in aid" Colonies, which are in the regular receipt of annual grants in aid of their general expenditure, e.g., Falkland Islands and Heligoland, and only the Estimates of those Colonies to be sent to the Treasury for approval. Returns of Revenue, Expenditure, and Debt, to be sent to the Treasury only in the following cases: (1.) Colonies that have at times received grants in aid of their financial difficulties, which are to be repaid, if possible, e.g., Fiji, Sierra Leone, Transvaal; the return to be sent until the liability is cancelled. (2.) Colonies in which (a) any salaries are paid from Imperial Funds, e.g., Antigua, Bahamas, Bermuda, Sierra Leone, Western Australia, Windward Islands, except St. Lucia; or (b) which are in regular receipt of specific grants, e.g., West Coast of Africa (steamer). (3.) Colonies not being responsible Government Colonies, having guaranteed loans, or loans from the Imperial Government which have not yet been fully paid off, e.g., Jamaica, Dominica, St. Lucia. But it may deserve consideration whether the returns are necessary when the provisions for the liquidation of these loans are being regularly carried out. Returns of Revenue, Expenditure, and Debt, not to be sent (a) in the case of Colonies that have received isolated grants which are not to be repaid; nor (b) in cases in which the grants represent the Imperial interest in some public work, e.g., Bermuda 1873-74, and Malta 1871-72, and are not to be regarded as a Contribution in Aid of Revenue; nor (c) for the reasons explained in the Colonial Office letter of 1st January, in the case of the Leeward Islands. The instructions to the Auditor General, referred to in the Treasury letter of 1st January, not to apply to the accounts of past years, in which there may have been a failure to send estimates or returns to the Treasury. Appendix. Sir, The Treasury to the Colonial Office. Treasury Chambers, 11 April 1879. I AM directed by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury to state, for the information of Sir M. Hicks Beach, that they have had before them your letters of the 1st January and 26th February 1879, in reply to the letter from this Department of the 25th September last, which forms part of a general Treasury Minute on the Reports of the Public Accounts Committee, 1878. The Secretary of State will recollect that the object of the letter from this Department was to point out and enforce the connection between Imperial Audit of Colonial Accounts and Treasury control over Colonial expenditure; the one being, in fact, the complement of the other. In so doing it became necessary (a) to recall the arrangements made, at the instance of the Colonial Office, in 1870, for submitting to the Treasury the Estimates of Colonies in receipt of Grants in Aid, and for furnishing the Treasury with Returns of the Income, Expenditure, and Debt of certain Colonies; (b) to show that those arrangements had been very imperfectly carried out; and (c) to invite the Secretary of State to suggest any alterations in them that would make their observance easier in future. In illustration of my Lords' remarks, three tables were appended to the letter, showing: 1. The Colonies described in the Estimates and Appropriation Accounts as receiving Grants in Aid. 2. The Colonial Estimates that had been actually sent to the Treasury by the Colonial Office in accordance with the agreement in 1870. 3. The Colonial Returns sent in like manner. It was requisite that the first of these tables should extend over the whole field of so-called grants in aid, because of the wide terms of the agreement of 1870, as set forth in the Treasury letter of 28th April 1870 and the Colonial Office reply of 3rd June 1870, from which the following passages are quoted: "My Lords understand that the same course will be followed as hitherto with regard to Colonies receiving grants in aid, or which are likely to become in any way chargeable to Imperial funds, viz., that the annual Estimates and all fresh appointments or alteration of salaries, &c., will be submitted to this Board for approval previous to their receiving the sanction of the Secretary of State, and that my Lords will be furnished with the usual Returns of Receipt and Expenditure." The Colonial Office undertook, in reply, "To continue to refer to their Lordships the annual Estimates and all increases of offices or salaries in case of Colonies receiving grants in aid, and to continue this practice for two years after any such grant in |