FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 99 



services and disbursements, which can be paid only from money belonging to this 

 account. These claims can not be adjusted, while the books containing the account 

 are withheld. 



We had no knowledge of the serious condition of things until personal complaints 

 began coming to members of the Committee. A personal request for the books and 

 vouchers met with no better success than the written direction of the Commission, and 

 the existence of the missing books and vouchers was denied. 



In October, with the consent and by the courtesy of the Honorable Comptroller, 

 we employed an expert accountant to go to his office and make copies of all vouchers 

 paid within the last fiscal year, and get such memoranda from his books and files as 

 would enable us to make up our accounts for settlement with claimants, and for the 

 purpose of ascertaining how much our funds had been impaired, and also to enable us 

 to make the financial report to the coming Legislature required by law. This 

 gentleman has already made his preliminary repont to this Board, dated October 8th, 

 which shows that several thousand dollars of cash advances wliich was supposed to 

 have been used in liquidation of the indebtedness of this Commission, had not been 

 so applied, and that several thousand dollars in vouchers returned, had not been 

 credited up because of imperfections therein or a misunderstanding of the particular 

 appropriations to which chargeable. These discrepancies are being adjusted and 

 balances collected, and later on the expert will make a supplementary report. 



July 9th, the late Secretary resigned, and soon after, by resolution of this Board, 

 a letter was addressed to each of the ex-F"ish Commissioners respectively, asking them 

 for such information as they possessed in reference to the missing books and docu- 

 ments. Information was promptly received from ex-Commissioners Bowman and 

 Huntington stating that the books and duplicate vouchers were left by them in the 

 New York office, and volunteering to go with your Committee and examine the office 

 and confer with the late Secretary as to what had become of the books. November 

 nth we met at the former branch office, as agreed upon, and succeeded in finding 

 there a quantity of duplicate vouchers which we placed in a box for shipment to 

 Albany. We found also several hundred official letters of this Commission which had 

 been mailed to or at least had brought up in the office at 53 Broadway, and had 

 never been seen by this Commission. Many of them were of the nature of com- 

 plaints as to the negligence of this Board in regard to unpaid and overdue bills, in 

 some instances imputing to us dishonesty and crookedness, and others containing 

 matters of more or less importance, which should have been considered and answered. 

 These we also packed up for shipment to this office. It may be asked how our official 

 correspondence was thus missent. The explanation is simple : First, the old Com- 

 mission had what thev termed a branch office there and nearly all their business was 



