2 S Ful TE 
veral boards is committed the im- 
portant truft of making and decid- 
ing-upon the execution of all con- 
traéts. They are the fole judges of 
the reafonablenefs of the terms, and 
of the fidelity with which they are 
fulfilled: they dire&t the payments 
or fums to be advanced on account, 
_ confequent to the complete or part 
| performance of the-cogtraéts. Hence 
_ they are the ultimate judges of the 
_ ground and confideration of every 
_ payment. Thefe powers mutt be 
entrufted fomewhere without ap- 
peal; andwhere, to all appearance, 
‘fo. properly as with the prefiding 
* efficers of the feveral boards, fub- 
je& to the fuperintending eye of 
parliament ? : 
Of this material branch of an 
audit, the auditor of the impreft has 
moO cognizance: from the nature 
and conttitution ‘of his: office, he is 
not competent to examine into the 
_ he could examine, can he be quali- 
fied to decide upon the propriety 
of them? Neither does he fee any 
vouchers (except for the few extra 
payments): he relies upon the 
_ teftimony of the commiflioners of 
the navy (a teftimony he is bound 
not to call in queition) that they 
_ exilt, and warrant the entries: he 
does no more, in faét, than what has 
been previoufly, and to all appear- 
_ anee fufficiently, done to his hands 
in the navy office, except the dif- 
pofing of certain articles in different 
_ orders; which, as far as it is ufeful, 
_ tay eafily be adopted in the office 
_ Of the treafurer; where they are 
~ now profiting by his example in the 
arrangement of the infupers. Errors 
may certainly efcape the navy and 
_ other officers, The auditor difco- 
vered an error, inthe account of the 
' year 1759, of a double charge of 
»” 
grounds of thefe payments; or, if. 
PAP BARS, [3st 
eighty-feven pounds ten fhillings: 
and, extend the chain of re-exami- 
nation to any given length, the pof- 
fibility of error muft exiit in the laft 
link, The auditor himfelf is not 
perfect: errors in his accounts have 
been difcovered in the pipe office, 
and corrected by him. 
Since, then, the accounts of the 
treafurer of the navy are, in effe@, 
pafled, and with fufficient care and 
accuracy, in the offices to which they 
feverally relate, and the moft im- 
portant parts of the examination are 
intrufted to thofe officers without 
control, it feems reafonable to fup- 
pofe the computations and caftings, 
generally the bufinefs of clerks in 
otice, may, with equal fafety, be 
finally committed to the fame deci- 
fion. 
’ We are therefore of opinion, that 
auditing the accounts of the trea- 
furer of the navy, in'the office of 
the auditors of the impreft, is unne- 
ceflary, and may be difpenfed with; 
that the proceedings of that office 
upon the accounts of the treafurers 
now before them fhould ceafe, and 
the materials relative thereto be re- 
turned to the office of the treafurer, 
and that-the auditors fhould be re- 
lieved and difcharged from all at- 
tention to them for the future. 
Pafling public accounts without 
the intervention of the auditors of 
the impreft, is no novelty in the ex- 
chequer. ‘Thomas Rumfey, efq:*, 
deputy auditor of the -excife, in- 
formed us of the manner in which 
the accounts of the duties under the 
management’ of the commifioners 
of excile are pafled.- Thefe com- 
miffioners are all jointly account- 
able for the fums received and paid’ 
by them on account of the excife, 
and other duties committed to their 
truft; they do not pafs their ac- 
counts 
