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146
With regard to the Vestry and General Account
Books we find that the sums entered therein are correct as
according to the vouchers produced to us, but we disapprove
of the amounts paid for the salaries and wages for the
Labour Exchange for the following reasons:—
In the Agenda for Vestry business for February 8th,
1893, the Finance Committee in its report, page 6,
paragraph 5, states that it has received an opinion from
the Vestry Solicitor that the Labour Exchange, as such, is
outside the scope of the Metropolis Local Management
Act, and that any payments made on account of it might
possibly be surcharged. The Committee in pursuance of
such opinion did not recommend the Vestry to pass a
cheque for the payment of salaries of Superintendent and
Clerk for the two weeks ending the 17th February, amounting
to £7 4s. and asking the Vestry for further instructions.
Upon the above remarks coming under our notice,
we immediately drew the attention of the Vestry
to the serious difficulties that might arise if those
payments were continued and suggesting that further
advice should be taken confirmatory of the opinion of
Vestry Solicitor or otherwise.
From the Minutes of the Vestry of February 8th, it
appears that the only notice taken of our letter was a
motion that it be received.
We, therefore, on February 14th, sent a letter
to the Finance Committee on the subject, and a conference
was held March 1st between us, but with no satisfactory
result. We then gave notice to the Finance Committee
that we would be bound to surcharge the Vestry