17

APPENDIX .-- (PARAGRAPH NO. )

[COPY.]

No. 57.

Chief Secretray's Office,
Melbourne, 9th January, 1896

Having perused the replies furnished by Mr. Walker to the queries of the Under-Secretary in
regard to certain expenses incurred by your Commission, I must express my regret that, although some of
the minor items are adequately accounted for, the secretary's explanations are in many cases far from
satisfactory.

The outlay of the Commission appears, in fact, to have been conducted on a scale so lavish as would
not have been warranted even in the most prosperous days of the colony, but at such a time as the present,
when necessity urges on all hands the exercise of the most rigid economy, it is indeed unfortunate thata the
members of the Commission should have so singularly failed to recognise their character as custodians of
the public purse.

The experience gained in this instance, though an expensive one for the colony, may not, I trust,
prove unfruitful, as it will probably lead to the devising of some suitable check upon extravagant expenditure
by any similar Commission that may be hereafter appointed.

I shall be glad to receive, at your very earliest inconvenience, vouchers for the amount of £300 16s.
which has now been placed at your disposal, together with your assurance that the final cost of the
Commission has now absolutely been reached.

I have, &c.
(Signed) A. J. PEACOCK,
Chief Secretary.

The Hon. W. I. Winter-Irving, M.L.C.,
President Tasmanian Exhibition.