488 
OFFICE WORK OF A GARRISON BATTERY. 
8th January. The extra clerical work this may entail in a year will not be 
so great as what would follow a disappearance of any cash. 
8. By the entries on the form given it will be seen that at the end of the 
month the sums due to the tailor, shoemaker, &c., are carried to the credit 
of the funds of these several designations. This saves trouble, as it clears 
the balance sheet. Eor example, the boot bill may amount to £7 16 11, 
and of this only £2 5 4 may be due to the shoemaker, the rest to the 
tradesman that supplied leather, &c.—arrangements that had better be kept 
separate from the battery cash. A description of a book for containing the 
accounts of such funds will be found in par. 21. 
9. One important point has to be settled. Who is to keep the cash P 
Pay-Serjeants have no means of keeping money in security; they are liable 
to be robbed at any moment; and, except they are experienced men, they 
are very likely to get confused in their accounts, when the sudden discovery 
of an actual or apparent loss upsets them. I believe the real history of many 
a fraud on a battery's cash has been that the Pay-Serjeant has found himself 
to be apparently deficient of money, has been afraid to own it, has been sure 
it will come right, has done anything to hide the state of affairs for the 
moment, till he has got himself involved in a regular net of fraudulent 
transactions. 
10. What trouble is it to the Major to keep the cash ? The weekly pay 
is easily managed. (See par. 7). All large bills are settled by cheques; and 
with an ordinary battery there are very few other cash transactions. 
11. The Major, therefore, keeps all the cash, except a small amount— 
say two pounds or so—left in the hands of the Pay-Serjeant to meet any 
sudden emergency. This does not involve two cash books, as each time such 
a payment is made by the Pay-Serjeant, he reports at the next office hour 
to the Major, and recovers the amount; his cash always remaining a fixed 
quantity. 
12. There is really very little trouble about this system, and it has the 
great advantage of giving a character of openness to the accounts. No 
accidental or intentional alteration of figures, or inaccuracy in amounts, 
changes the position of the Pay-Serjeant. For example of the other plan: 
in one battery a Pay-Serjeant contrived to get about £300, by altering, from 
time to time, the figures of the savings bank accounts. By the system 
given here, all such alterations would have only had the effect of giving the 
Major more cash in hand than he could properly account for. 
13. There is probably no more honest or hardworking class than Pay- 
Serjeants ; but the constant interruptions to which they are liable in their 
work make it necessary to relieve them from all fear of the cash not being 
right. 
Balance Sheet. 
14. The cash account is not complete security without a monthly balance 
sheet, a form for which is given in App. B., so framed as to permit its being 
made out on the pages ruled ready for the cash account. Thus, when the 
