212 REPORT— 1871. 



poses of the year must be unavoidably confused, so that a Government may aslc for 

 £70,000,000 ill any year, and yet spend for the year in question £80,000,000, or 

 ouly £60,000,000 without the House of Commons or the public being able to de- 

 tect it. The paper recommended, as a conclusion to this Doomsday Boole, the 

 compilation of accounts for each Government department similar to those worked 

 out by the author and Mr. Seely (recommended by Mr. Seely's Committee for 

 adoption), and now being introduced into the Admiralty. It pointed out the great 

 control these accounts gave the Admiralty over its expenditure, and attributed a 

 considerable part of the yearly saving of about £1,500,000 that-had been effected 

 in the Navy to the information thus afforded. The author said that with certain 

 exceptions, such as the army and the navy, the only accounts compiled and pre- 

 sented to Parliament were the Estimates and Finance Accounts ; and that these 

 iiuance accounts, i. e. "the Estimates," "the Appropriation Accounts," and 

 " Statements of the Savings and Deficiencies on the Grants," as given in the 

 Estimates, were, strictly speaking, merely the banking accounts of the nation, and 

 gave little control over the expenditure, and afforded to the House of Commons no 

 information as to the economical results thereof. For instance, the estimates gave 

 the sums the House of Commons authorized the various departments to expend or 

 draw from the public purse or bank. And the Appropriation Accounts and the 

 " Statement of the Savings and Deficiencies on the grants " gave the actual money 

 expended or drawn from the public purse or bank. He maintained that the public 

 national accounts ought to go much further than this, and to show the application 

 and the results of the money thus withdrawn from the " Bank," and urged, from 

 the illustrations given as to the Admiralty accounts and expenditure, the great re- 

 sults that might be expected therefrom. What, it was asked, would be thought of 

 a great railway or other company whose only account presented to its shareholders 

 was its bankers' book — which had no capital account, no account of the value of its 

 plant, buildings, machinery, rolling stock, stores, &c. — which mixed together its 

 current and capital account (as it must necessarily do under such circumstances), 

 and what woidd be the result of such a system of management, or, rather, want of 

 management ? Any man of business would at once say that there must necessarily 

 be very great waste, if not eventual ruin to the company. Yet, was the Govern- 

 ment in a different position in this matter, and could we expect that these evils 

 did not exist ? The answer surely could scarcely be the affirmative. The paper 

 concluded by recommending the appointment of a Royal Commission to inquire 

 into and carry out this stock-taking and valuation on one unifomi principle for all 

 departments, so that a Doomsday Book might be compiled as the starting-point for 

 a system of finance and accounts similar to that introduced into the Admiralty, 

 by which the Government and the House of Commons would be enabled to have 

 the most effective control over our great annual expenditure. The author also 

 incidentally referred to the ancient Doomsday Book of England, as being the 

 greatest achievement of the Conqueror, and saw no reason why it ahould not be 

 recompiled on an extended basis. 



Political Economy, Pauperism, the Labour Question, and the Liquor Traffic. 



By AYlLLIAJI HOYLE. 



On tJie present state of Education in India, and its hearinxjs on the qiiestion 

 of Social Science. By A. JrKAii-llow. 



On Naval EJlcIency and DocTcyard Economy, By Cdables Lamport. 



On the Edinburgh Industricd Home for Fallen Women, Alnwiclc-HiU , near 

 Liberton. By "W. M'Bean. 



This Institution was established in 185G for the restoration of young women 

 Nvilling to return to the paths of \irtue. It was formed on the principle of provid- 



