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113
Southwark and Vauxhall Water Company—Trenches Account.—This
dispute was finally settled early iu the year by the Vestry accepting
the cheques as drawn by the Company—i.e. less the deductions
made from the Vestry's accounts. The total amount in dispute was
under £50, and it was thought better to sacrifice this rather than
resort to legal proceedings.
Vestry Clerk and Public Auditors.—The Auditors having made a
complaint to the Vestry, in a letter addressed to the chairman on the
2nd October 1895, to the effect that they had been prevented from
proceeding with their audit of the Vestry's accounts for 1894-5
through the refusal of Mr. Dunham to produce the books and
vouchers, notwithstanding their repeated applications to him to
do so, the matter was referred to the Finance Committee for
investigation. The Clerk having explained the actual position of
matters and his own action therein to the full satisfaction of the
Committee, the latter reported the facts and submitted the following
recommendation to the Vestry on the 16th October, when it was
adopted:—
That the Auditors be informed that the books will shortly be ready for
their inspection ; and that in the meantime, in view of the fact that
the Finance Audit Sub-Committee have satisfied themselves and the
Finance Committee that the books are very satisfactorily kept, the
Vestry regret that the Auditors should have taken such unnecessary
strong steps to bring the matter before the Vestry.
School Board for London—Precept of.—The Board's precept for
the half-year ending Michaelmas 1895 (issued in December 1894)
amounted to the sum of £10,317 14s. 7d., and for the second halfyear
to Lady Day 1896 (issued in July 1895) to £12,580 15s. 2d.—
total for the year £22,898 9s. 9d., the largest sum ever yet levied
upon the parish. The excess of the second precept over the first
was so considerable—being no less than £2,263 0s. 7d., nearly
equal to a rate of 1 ¼d. in the £—that the Vestry resolved on the
13th November to make a special demand upon the Governors and
Guardians for £1,800, and to state on the demand notes issued to
the ratepayers the purpose for which the money was required, as
no provision had been or could have been made in the estimates to
meet this large unforeseen increase.
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