§ MR. MACARTNEYsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether, in compliance with the provisions of the Act 9 &c 10 Vict. c. 92, the accounts and vouchers of the Expenditure for the several Branches of the Service in the War Department for the year ending the 31st day of March, 1857, had been sent complete for examination and audit to the Office of the Commissioners for Auditing the Public Accounts; and, if not, what is the cause of the delay, and in what section of the department the accounts have not been so completed; also, whether the outstanding accounts for the Service of the Army in the Crimea during the years 1854, 1855, and 1856, have been examined, arranged, and reported upon to the Audit Office or Treasury, for which service a first class Commissary General has been retained upon full pay since the close of the War in the East?
§ MR. G. A. HAMILTONsaid that, in answer to the first part of his hon. Friend's question, he had to state that the accounts and vouchers for the several branches of the Service under the management of the War Department, for the year ending 31st of March last, had been sent in on the 30th of last month for examination and audit to the Office of the Commissioners for auditing the Public Accounts. In reply to the next part of the question, he had to inform his hon. Friend and the House that the result of the examination of the Commissariat accounts, forwarded by the Audit Commissioners for the years 1854 and 1855, had been duly reported upon to the Audit Office. With respect to the accounts of 1856 and 1857, he had to state that steps had been taken for their final adjustment, but they had not yet been completed, thirteen months being allowed by the Act of Parliament for that operation. The store accounts of the Commissariat attached to the Army of the Crimea had been examined and arranged, and would be reported upon on the receipt of a letter from the Audit Office relative to the accounts of the year 1855. The whole of the records of the service, both for cash and stores, could not be put away until the final decision of the Audit Commissioners upon certain provisional disallowances was received. With regard to the last part of the question, he had to state 179 that Commissary General Adams had been retained, with one book-keeper, to afford such explanations as might be called for in reference to the transactions of sub-accountants, who were dispersed all over the world.