§ SIR STAFFORD NORTHCOTEsaid, he would beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Whether it would not be possible to curtail the time now allowed by Law for the audit of the Army Accounts, so that the Account of Army Receipt and Expenditure might be presented at the same time as the Account of Naval Receipt and Expenditure; and whether any steps 711 have been taken, or are in contemplation, for giving effect to the recommendation of the Committee on Public Monies with respect to the audit of the Miscellaneous Expenditure?
§ SIR FRANCIS BARINGsaid, he wished to know whether his right hon. Friend was also prepared to inform them what course he meant to pursue with respect to the general recommendations of the Committee on Public Monies, and more particularly with respect to the appointment of a Finance Committee, consisting of Members of that House?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERsaid, that with respect to the first Question of his hon. Friend opposite (Sir Stafford Northcote), and also with respect to the Question of his right hon. Friend behind him (Sir Francis Baring), he had to state that it would not be practicable to bring within the same limits the army and the navy accounts. A period of eight months was allowed for closing the accounts of the naval receipts and expenditure, and at the end of that time they were forwarded to the Audit Office for investigation. But the law allowed twelve mouths for closing the accounts of the army expenditure. He was not prepared to say that it would be found permanently necessary to maintain that precise difference of time between the two cases. But there was no doubt that, owing to the greater diversity, extent, and complexity of the operations and the expenditure of the army abroad, it would require a longer time to bring up and close that account than the naval account. He did not, however, see any great inconvenience in that, because the final intentions of that House and of the Government were that those accounts should be referred to a Committee. The Committee would entertain them successively, and might proceed to deal with the naval accounts during the interval which would elapse before the army accounts were produced. At present every effort was being made to expedite the preparation of the army accounts, so that they should soon be better able to judge in what time they could be completed hereafter. With respect to the general recommendations of the Committee, he had to state that they had been very much considered by the Government during the recess, and it was their intention to propose certain Bills to Parliament for the purpose of giving effect to those recommendations. There was one portion 712 of them which was in its nature separate from the rest, and with which he proposed to deal first, and by a separate Bill; he meant the recommendation which related to Exchequer Bills, and which would involve several changes in regard to those instruments. He hoped to be able to find an opportunity in the course of next week of submitting to the House certain Resolutions, which would be the foundation of the change which he contemplated, and which would make those Bills a charge on the Consolidated Fund. With regard to the other leading recommendations of the Committee—namely, those which related particularly to the audit of the miscellaneous expenditure, and some other points—there was a Bill in preparation for the purpose of giving effect to them; and he would be in a condition, he hoped, to bring it under the notice of the House as soon as the progress of other public business would permit. Then there remained behind the question of the appointment of a Committee of that House for the purpose of reviewing the public accounts from year to year after they had undergone inspection at the Audit Office. That Committee could not be brought into full operation as respected the whole of the public accounts for, he was afraid, at least two years from the present time, because if by law they were able to apply the principle of audit, as recommended by the Committee, to the miscellaneous expenditure, the first year's expenditure to which it would apply must be that of 1861–2, inasmuch as it would not be desirable to begin with an arrear, and the time for bringing it to a close would be the 31st of March, 1862. Time should afterwards be allowed to close and bring up the accounts, and send them before the Audit Office; and then they could not come before the Committee until the Session of 1863. But there was no reason that he was aware of, why, in this Session they should not appoint a Committee, if it should be the pleasure of the House, to whom they would entrust the duty of reviewing both the army and navy expenditure. If they did that the Committee would then, in all probability, be in a condition to apply themselves with greater care to the question of the miscellaneous expenditure after they had become thoroughly familiar with the question of the army and navy expenditure. He believed the answers he had just given embraced all the material points of the questions which had been put to him.