298 
ANNUAL MEETING. 
The appendices were taken as read. 
The Chairman :—Does anyone wish to make any remark on the 
annual report or on the accounts ? 
General Maurice: —We should be glad, Sir, if you yourself would 
look into the accounts. 
The Chairman: —I see we have spent £213 8s 9 d less than our in¬ 
come last year which is very satisfactory so long as we do not stint any 
of the services. I see the “ History of the Dress of the Royal Artillery” 
cost £1,030 13s 5 d. How much of that do you get back ? 
The Secretary :—It is all recoverable. 
The Chairman :—Fes £1,046. That is all recoverable and with a 
small margin. Do the Auditors only get £4 4s. 0 d. ? 
The Secretary : —That is all. 
The Chairman :—The accounts seem very satisfactory. The value 
of our investments is £3,692, and cash and stocks in hand etc. make 
it up to £5,317. Does anybody else wish to make any remarks 
upon the accounts ? 
General Maurice :—There is one point I should like to draw 
attention to, and that is the nature of the certificate given by the 
Chartered Accountants. In talking to them about it, I found that 
they are most careful to so word their certificate to us that practically 
it does not give us any very particular guarantee. They themselves 
say it is a most guarded statement. Now, though we have the 
utmost confidence in the successive Secretaries of the Institution it 
seems to me that we ought to have a Chartered Accountant's exam¬ 
ination as an absolute guarantee to us of the correctness of the accounts. 
Exactly by what qualification they limit it I do not quite understand : 
but they themselves say distinctly that they could not go thoroughly 
into the accounts on the terms which we offer them. I think it would 
be much better for the Institution another year to have such terms 
with the Chartered Accountants that they will give a thoroughly 
sufficient examination to the accounts and give an absolute guarantee 
of their correctness. 
The Chairman :—On what particular point do you think it is de¬ 
sirable that the Auditors might go more carefully into the accounts ? 
General Maurice :— I do not know further than this, that in speak¬ 
ing to the Auditor when he made his examination he said “ you will 
notice that we give you an exceedingly guarded guarantee.” I do 
not think that is satisfactory. I think we ought to have an absolute 
guarantee from them that they have given a complete investigation of 
the accounts. I believe practically it is a question of the extent of 
the charge. There is a £4 audit and there is a £10 audit. We pay 
a £4 audit and had much better pay a £10 audit. Here is another 
form of audit (reading the same). 
The Chairman :—In our case they have verified the cash balance 
and the investments in consols; of course they have not verified the 
value of our stock in hand. 
