§ Mr. GINNELLasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies if he would say what special staff, if any, under the control of the Auditor General audited the accounts of the Crown Agents; how much this audit costs, in what Vote in the Estimates was its cost included, whether 123 the auditors' work was restricted to the accounts; and by whom, and by what method, was the passing of secret commissions and other illicit consideration in distant lands prevented?
§ Colonel SEELYThe accounts of the Office and Reserve Funds of the Crown Agents are audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General under Section 33 of the Exchequer and Audit Department Act, 1866. The ordinary staff of his office is employed for this purpose. A sum of £120 per annum is charged to the Office Fund for this audit, and brought to account under Class II., Vote 14, Appropriations in Aid. The audit, like all other audits, is ordinarily based on the accounts and documents relating thereto, submitted for audit. No case of any secret commission or other illicit consideration passing in connection with the transactions of the Crown Agents has come to the knowledge of the Comptroller and Auditor General.
§ Mr. GINNELLasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether invitations to tender for contracts were issued by the Crown Agents merely in compliance with form and were neither public nor competitive, but sent to selected persons and firms with whom the business had been substantially arranged in advance; and, in view of the abuses to which such a system is open in the case of a body not accounting to Parliament, if he would say why the Colonial Office allowed it, and whether genuine public tender would in future be insisted upon, as in the case of other public bodies?
§ Colonel SEELYThe answer to the first part of this question is in the negative. The Crown Agents' system, which is the same as that of other public Departments, was explained in my reply to the hon. Gentleman's question of 20th July last.