CHAP. v] THE PRIVILEGES AND PROCEDURE 443 
signature of the Governor-General, whereupon it serves as 
the warrant for the Treasurer to issue cheques or drafts on 
the Public Account in the banks for the services in question. 
If, on the other hand, the Auditor-General is not satisfied, 
he returns the instrument with a statement of the sums not 
found by him to be legally available, together with grounds 
for his decision. Thus the Governor-General has always 
the opportunity of deciding if any appropriation for which 
he is desired to issue a warrant is or is not legally available, 
and if not so available he can see whether the case is one in 
which he can anticipate the sanction of Parliament by 
issuing a special warrant. 
Further, the arrangements as to expenditure are much as 
in England everywhere in the Dominions, with numerous 
differences in detail. In the Commonwealth the rule that 
all appropriations lapse at the end of the financial year 
has been qualified by the institution of trust funds, payments 
to which are treated as appropriations, and have been held to 
be so by the High Court.! Moreover the Audit Act allows 
the varying of the expenditure on items of subdivisions in 
the estimates, but not so as to augment or add to any salary 
or wages. Amounts in excess of appropriations, or on 
subjects not provided for, can be charged to heads as the 
Treasurer may decide, but the total expenditure after the 
charges have been finally apportioned to heads for which 
there is an appropriation and after deduction of repayments 
must not exceed the amount of the appropriations under 
the head ‘Advance to Treasurer ’ in the estimates. 
The revenue as it accrues in the Commonwealth is paid 
into a public account which is opened at such banks as the 
Treasurer may direct. There are also other accounts for 
specific purposes called Trust Accounts, and to them are 
paid moneys appropriated by Parliament for that purpose. 
* The Government of New South Wales v. The Government of the Common- 
wealth, 7 C. L. R. 179. Cf. also Queensland Parliamentary Debates, 1910, 
Pp. 1463 seq., where the same question arose as to the placing to a trust fund 
for the University of £50,000, voted in one year when the expenditure was 
found impossible, to avoid a lapse. The Auditor accepted the procedure, 
but it was bitterly attacked in the Assembly.