District Auditors Act 1879
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1879 c. 6 |
District Auditors Act, 1879
(42 & 43 Vict.) CHAPTER 6.
An Act to amend the Law with respect to District Auditors.
[28th March 1879]
W HEREAS the auditors of the accounts relating to the relief of the poor (in this Act referred to as district auditors) are under the Poor Law Amendment Act, 1868, appointed by the Local Government Board, and are by that Act declared to be civil servants of the State within the operation of the Superannuation Act, 1859, but the remuneration and expenses of such auditors which are by law payable out of local rates are in fact paid partly out of moneys annually provided by Parliament, and partly out of local rates; and whereas it is expedient that in future the whole of such remuneration and expenses should be paid out of moneys voted by Parliament, and that in lieu of the amount now so paid out of local rates an equivalent sum should be raised by means of stamps, in manner herein-after mentioned, and also that further provision should be made respecting such payment and otherwise respecting such auditors:
Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same as follows:
1 Short title.
1. This Act may be cited as theDistrict Auditors Act, 1879.
2 Provision as to contribution by Treasury and out of local rate for payment of district auditors.
2. After the twenty-fifth day of March one thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine all payments to district auditors out of any local rate shall cease, and the whole of the salaries or remuneration and of the expenses of district auditors, to such amount as may be sanctioned by the Treasury, shall be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament; and for the purpose of contributing to the amount required for the payment of such salaries, remuneration, and expenses, there shall be charged on every local authority whose accounts are audited by a district auditor a stamp duty for the use of Her Majesty according to the scale contained in the First Schedule to this Act, and such duty shall be levied by a stamp on the certificate of the auditor herein-after mentioned.
3 Financial statement with stamped certificate of district auditor.
3. Where the accounts of the receipts and expenditure of a local authority are audited by a district auditor, the local authority shall prepare and submit to the district auditor at every audit (other than an extraordinary audit held in pursuance of section six of the Poor Law Amendment Act, 1866,) a financial statement in duplicate in the prescribed form and containing the prescribed particulars; one of such duplicates shall have the stamp charged under this Act affixed thereon, and the auditor at the conclusion of the audit shall cancel that stamp, and certify on each duplicate, in the prescribed form, the amount in words at length of the expenditure so audited and allowed, and further, that the regulations with respect to such statement have been duly complied with, and that he has ascertained by the audit the correctness of the statement.
He shall forthwith send the duplicate so stamped and certified by him to the Local Government Board; and in such case a return of the receipts or expenditure comprised in such statement need not, unless the Local Government Board so require, be sent to the Board in pursuance of the Local Taxation Returns Acts, 1860 and 1877.
4 Appointment and districts of district auditors.
4. The Local Government Board may from time to time appoint such number of district auditors as they may, with the sanction of the Treasury, think necessary for the performance of the duties of auditing the accounts which are for the time being by law subject to be audited by district auditors, and may from time to time remove such auditors.
The Board may from time to time assign to district auditors their duties, and the districts in which such auditors respectively are to act, and may from time to time change wholly or in part such duties or districts; and every district so assigned to a district auditor, whether originally or upon any change, shall be deemed to be an audit district within the meaning of any enactment relating to district auditors or their districts, and the auditor to whom any district is assigned shall be deemed to be the district auditor for that district.
The Board may also, with the consent of the Treasury, appoint from time to time a person or persons, either temporarily or otherwise, to assist a district auditor in the performance of his duties, and any person so appointed shall, subject to any exceptions made by the terms of his appointment, have the same powers and duties and be subject to the same obligations as the district auditor whom he is appointed to assist.
The Board, with the like consent, may assign to a person so appointed such salary or remuneration and such sum for his expenses as may seem fit, and such salary, remuneration, and expenses shall be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament.
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