OFFICE WORK OF A GARRISON BATTERY. 
503 
well to also compare any entries in the defaulter sheets affecting the 
casualties. 
69. The vouchers for grants and restorations of good-conduct pay should 
have been checked by you some days previously. To be able to do this, 
about once in six months make out a list of what men, supposing they get 
no regimental entries, will get badges during the ensuing six months. You 
take the attestations, the Serjeant-Major the defaulter sheets, and you 
quickly run through the battery. This takes less time than you would 
expect, as so many men can be passed over at a glance. A man just granted 
or restored, or who has just forfeited a badge, is at once passed over; while 
a host of others will be struck out by a reference to the defaulter book. 
Eventually you get a list showing the date of each expected grant or restora¬ 
tion ; and this is pasted inside the portfolio that holds the attestations. 
Eestorations of service should also be noted at the same time; they are very 
easily overlooked; also the dates on which men will become qualified to be 
recommended for the good-conduct medal, or complete 6 or 12 years' 
service. All this prevents hurry and confusion at the end of the month. 
Checking the Pay List. 
70. The pay list requires to be checked by most of the vouchers used in 
checking the ledger, as well as the ration return—in fact the ledger itself 
ought to be the best check on the pay list. What really confuses the pay 
list are all the annoying little charges, “ ship rations," &c. If a man simply 
got or did not get his pay, all would be right; and it is a pity that army 
reformers do not try to get rid of all the varying stoppages, and the little 
calculations that they necessitate. What also is required is an order that all 
hospital stoppage rolls, No. 1 Reports, cell returns, notifications of issue of 
warrants to men on furlough, and W.O. Forms 102 (rations issued to men by 
batteries to which the men do not belong) are to go direct to the Major, not to 
the Paymaster; also, a regulation that whenever a Paymaster or Government 
Department accepts a document with list of vouchers attached, they must, if 
they do not protest within a month,- be held to have received the vouchers. 
Practically, the last pay list, with the casualty book to explain differences^ 
will form the quickest way of checking the pay list, always remembering that 
the good-conduct pay claims inserted in say January's casualty return will not 
appear in the pay list till February, as the vouchers will not be passed till 
then. 
71. The balance in the pay list should only be at first struck in pencil, 
and you then turn to your balance sheet, transfer to it the pay list balance, 
and strike the balance then. All the other items can have been entered 
some time before, and there ought to be little uncertainty about them. If 
anything is wrong, the. balance sheet will at once show it. Probably you 
will find some special payment or receipt that has not been carried out 
into the sheet. There is little danger of anything being wrong if the balance 
is the same as that of the last month; and if that is the case the pay list can 
be closed immediately. 
Pay Tickets . 
72. One of the great difficulties with a garrison battery is to get all the 
men to do anything—say sign books—on any particular day. There are 
