HC Deb 02 July 1806 vol 7 cc876-8
Lord Henry Petty

moved the order of the day for the second reading of the Auditor's bill.

Mr. T. Jones

wished, as considerable doubts had gone abroad on the subject, to ask the noble lord whether they were to understand that any considerable portion of the 450 millions, he had stated on a former occasion as the amount of unaudited accounts, was recoverable to the public?

Lord Henry Petty

was surprised, after all the discussions that had taken place on the subject, and all the explanations that had been given, that any doubt could be entertained on this subject. He meant as he had stated, that public accounts to that amount were still unaudited, and of course unaccounted for, that is, that the accounts had not been regularly investigated, or finally audited.

Mr. Rose

stated, that he did not expect the second reading to have been pressed this night, the bill having only come into the hands of the members within the last two or three hours.

Lord H. Petty

said, he had no wish to press the bill, but thought the debate on the principle might as well take place on the question for the Speaker's leaving the chair. To this

Mr. Rose

assented. Hehad, however, serious objections to the principle of the bill which he thought calculated to raise the surmises to which an hon. gent. (Mr. Jones) had just alluded. He maintained that nine tenths of the 450 millions mentioned by the noble lord as unaudited had actually been audited before they came to be considered by the Commissioners of Accounts, by whom it had formerly been resolved, that it was an unnecessary waste of the public money, to audit the accounts of the Navy, Army, Bank, Ordnance, Customs, &c. which were actually audited, and effectually audited, previous to their coming before them. If these were laid out of the computation he contended that not ten millions would remain of accounts unaudited, and if the noble lord at the head of the Treasury Board, or the noble lord opposite, had been aware of this circumstance, he was convinced the house would never have been troubled with the present bill.

The Attorney General

could not allow the noble lord's statement to have been so much misunderstood by the public, as to be interpreted into an assurance, that the vast sum unaccounted for was a recoverable balance yet applicable to the public service. It was certainly a public e[...] calling for an immediate and decisive remedy, that the accounts to so large an amount should remain above 20 years unexamined, as was the case with those of the Paymaster of the Forces. Nothing could be a greater temptation to abuse.

Mr. Haskisson

said the paymaster was merely bound to return a list of those to whom he issued the sums drawn by him from the Exchequer; and those persons were bound to account for what was issued to them. That had been done with very few exceptions.

Mr. T. Jones

hoped the bill would make effectual provision for a speedy audit. He would propose a clause to that effect in a future stage.

Mr. Windham

could not conceive how a delay of 20 years could have occurred in the audit of the paymaster's accounts, if the sub-accountants had accounted regularly.

Mr. Rose,

in explanation stated, that the paymaster was to give in a certified list of those to whom he issued the money: the Commissioners of Audit were then to call on the persons named in this list.—The bill was then read a second time.