500 
OFFICE WORK OF A GARRISON BATTERY. 
applied to be discharged. Before sending them, you enter in your rough 
casualty book the man's name, date of and age at attestation, and have the 
voucher for deferred pay (W.O. Form 361) made out, unfinished. This is a 
good time to go over the man's accounts with him, and see if he has any 
grievances. _ A gunner seldom voluntarily makes a claim till the last 
possible or impossible moment. If left to himself, he will, when leaving the 
office after discharge, suddenly claim a day's working pay, due about a year 
back, on a date that he does not remember; he forgot to claim it at the 
time; he does not know who was in charge of the party—rather thinks it was 
Serjeant Smith, who went to India nine months ago. * When the Board sits, 
you attend, see that the man has his pocket ledger ready, signed up to that 
day by you; and you sign the Board, as witness to his signature. Take a 
note of the character given to the man, of the cause of discharge, and of his 
intended address. Get ready all the vouchers required for his final settle¬ 
ment. (See next par.) If the man is only attached to you, write to his 
own battery to inform them, and to call on them to state in detail all the 
articles that he ought to give up, whether of clothing or accoutrements. 
Make certain now that he has no claim for injuries received in the service; 
if he has, report the fact at once. (This depriving batteries of the men's 
documents before they are actually discharged is not a good system, and 
often causes crimes to be overlooked.) The man's clothing and arms should 
now be carefully examined, and any damage charged for. Requisition on 
the Clothing Department is now made for a suit of plain clothes for the 
man, or for an allowance instead thereof. 
57. Gunner Emmett comes in for discharge, having given up his arms 
accoutrements, and leggings. You enter in his pocket ledger the cause, date, 
place, and his character, signing the entry; also the entry that he is clear on 
that date in his accounts. His deferred pay is entered in his pocket ledger 
and signed by you. He reads over and signs his ledger sheet, receives from 
you the cash due, and signs for it in your cash book. He also receives any 
savings bank deposit (see par. 58), and signs for it; except it is a gratuity, 
for payment of which you require special authority. Remember that every 
item for which he is receiving money should be entered separately and in 
detail in his ledger sheet, so that if any voucher is afterwards lost you can 
always prove payment. His name disappears from all books, as in the case 
of a transfer. The Pay-Serjeant takes in his clothing, and enters it in the 
clothing ledger, and gets any special receipts, such as lodging allowance, &c. 
The man has yet to sign the voucher for marching allowance (W.O. 
Form 84), gratuity for badges if allowed (W.O. Form 157), compensation 
clothing (W.O. Form 604), allowance plain clothes, if granted. He has 
already received from the Pay-Serjeant a suit of plain clothes; or if he has 
provided his own, he and you both sign W.O. Form 279. You fill in 
on his parchment certificate the amount of his travelling allowance. As soon 
as he is gone you send off to the Adjutant W.O. Form 559, if he is dis¬ 
charged medically unfit or to pension, and complete the entry in your rough 
casualty book, taking care that his address is copied therein. His battery 
documents ought now to go in, but probably have already been called for. 
This casualty affects your ledger, subdivision pay book, register of arms, 
register of great coats, clothing ledger, savings bank ledger, certificate book, 
size roll and married roll, morning state, weekly increase, weekly duty state, 
