#44 PARLIAMENTS OF THE DOMINIONS {PART ITI 
moneys received in respect of sales or work done in respect of 
the account, corresponding in the British system to repay- 
ments in aid—all money paid by any person for the purpose 
of the account, and pay due to a militiaman if not claimed 
in three months, a curious item but not unimportant, These 
accounts can be used for any payments out of them for the 
purposes thereof, and the moneys in the fund are to be deemed 
to be money standing to the credit of the Trust Fund, which 
is one of the three funds into which the original Audit Act of 
1901 divided the public funds. The others were the Consoli- 
Jated Revenue Fund and the Loan Fund, into which all moneys 
raised by loan fall to be paid, and from which no money is to 
be issued unless on a definite Act of Parliament specifying the 
amount to be paid and the purposes for which it is to be ex- 
pended. From the Trust Fund nothing can be spent likewise 
without the authority of an Act for the purposes of the fund. 
The audit of the accounts is secured in each case by the 
presence of an independent Auditor-General, who is appointed 
tor life and who is not removable from office save on an 
address from both Houses of Parliament.! In the Common- 
wealth he must not be a member of any Parliament in 
Australia nor an Executive Councillor, and the Governor- 
General has a carefully guarded right of suspension with 
a decision as to removal by both the Houses of Parliament. 
His salary is fixed at £1,000 by the Audit Act, which is 
appropriated by the law. In the Commonwealth the plan 
is similar to that in England; there is in the first place 
a staff which is engaged in checking the expenditure and 
receipt of money in the great departments day by day, 
including in their purview the propriety of departmental 
contracts and the sufficiency of government stores. Secondly, 
there is an examination of the accounts in the office of the 
Auditor-General. For this purpose he receives monthly 
statements from all persons who receive or disburse money 
of their receipts and disbursements for the period. and the 
There are similar Audit Acts in Canada, Newfoundland, the Provinces, 
che Australian States, and New Zealand, and in all cases the independence 
of the Auditor is fully recognized. For South Africa see the Exchequer and 
Audit Act, No. 21 of 1911.