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The bill provides that the Lieuten-- i ant--Governor in Council may appoint | a chief accountant, who shall coun-- | tersign all cheques issued by the Commission. The chief accountant shall have charge of the books of the Commission and shall cause to be kept regular accounts, acording to a system approved by the Treasurer of Ontario, of all sums received and paid ; out, and such books shall be open at all times to inspection to any person appointed by the Treasurer for that purpose. The _ Commission shall, through its chief accountant, before , the 15th February in each year make / to the Provincial Treasurer an annual | report, showing the actual amount | and character of assets and liabilities ' and cash transactions, including re-- ceipts and disbursements for the year ; ending December 31 last preceding;, : the revenue, income and interest earn-- | ed and the amounts of the costs of : expenses, for the year, the amounts which it is estimated will be received in cash and its equivalent, the pay--| ments of loans or advances which ' are contemplated in the next succeed-- ; ing year; the amounts and particu--, lars of the liabilities contemplated in the next succeeding year; the securi-- ties or evidence of the indebtedness which it is contemplated shall be cre-- ated during the year, and such other matters as may be considered of public interest. The accounts of the Commission shall from time to time, and at least once in every year, be audited by the Auditor for Untari0 or by an independent auditor or audit-- ors. The income of the Commission shall be applied to the necesary oper-- ating expenses, renewals, repairs and | maintenance, and all other incidental ; expenses. | Give Hydro Legal Power. I HMHon. T. W. McGarry in the Legisla-- ture yesterday introduced a bill on the subject which led to some discus-- sion between himself, Mr. Rowell and Hon. I. B. Lucas, the leader of the Opposition putting one or two pertin-- ent questions. Provisions of Bill. Provincial Auditor Clancy's criti-- cism of accounting and business me-- thods of the Hydro--electric . Power Commission of Ontario is to be fol-- lowed by legislation which will meet the objection raised as to the Com-- mission's statutory authority in doing what was taken exception to. SPECIAL HYDRO ACOUNTANT Hon. Mr. McGarry, in introducing the bill to ameend the power commis-- sion act, explained that it had to do with Hydro financing, and the object was to give legal power to the Hyaro-- electric Commussion to continue doing as they had done in the past.. He alluded to the Provincial Auditor's report regarding expenditures with-- out statutory authority, and pointed out that from time to time the scope of the Hydro's work had developed to keep pace with the request from municinalities and demands from the public. The intention of the amend-- ment was to confirm the action of the Hydro--electric Commission in go-- ing in for special lines of work and in the expending of moniees received by them, which under the old act should havye been paid into the Treasury of Ontario. Mr. Rowell Raises Pertinent Points and Says Government should Have Looked -- Into Maiter Before and Not Allowed it to Drift. Legislation Follows Provincial Auditor's Report L BE MADE YEARLY benlhe ¥e Hon. Mr. Lmucas (Attorney--General) ----We have had no official report from year to year as to the state of these various accounts, but the items of ex-- nenditure have been duly audited each year. The whole meat of the Auditor's criticism is this: The Hy-- dro--electric _ Commission purchase supplies and do work tor various municipalities. They buy in a cheap market and in large quantities, keep it in stock and transfer it over to various municipalities. These muni-- cipalities pay that money back. Thore is no express statutory authority for the Hydro to do that work. That is the whole thing in a-- nutshell. There is no criticism of the methoda. "~The -- Treasurer further>~ point-- ed _ out that the object© was to have a a month to month state-- ment of the work by the Commission as to the expenditures and receipts of money from the various municipali-- ties. "We are hopeful that when one year is nast we will be able to satisfy both the House and the country as to the condition of the finrances of the Hydro--electric Commission," _ added Hon. Mr. McGarry. Mr. Rowell's Queries. The charge, continued Mr. Mc-- Garry, made by the Auditor was not that any of the money furnished by the Government was misspent, but that in addition to the $13,000,000 supplied by the Government the Com-- mission expended $4,000,060 _ more. The argument of the Auditor was that under the act. as it stood up till now, that $4,.000.000 _ should . have been paid into the Treasury of On-- tario, and the Commission -- had : nd statutory power spending that money again. "This year we insisted on a ecomplete audit of the Hydro Commis-- sion's books," declared the Treasuroer, '"and notwithstanding there was 'dif-- ference of opinion between the Hy-- dro accountant and the Anditor . of. the Government we insisted upon getting the documents that were necessary to show the subdivisions of this money. We finally got enough of these documents to make the re-- port the Auditor has made." Hon. Mr. McGarry stated that under the arrangement proposed by the bill the (Government would have cognizance not @ily of the money paid from the Treasury, but also of the money the Commission received from the var-- ious municipalities and which they' expend in every way. There would' be a more complete system of book-- keeping and more complete account-- ing for the House and the munict--. palities. * j Mr. Nowell--The statement of my honorable friend. clearly indicates that, notwithstanding the statement made from time to time by the Gov-- ernment to the House that these ac-- counts were audited and the Govern-- ment was satisfied with everything, the CGGovernment has not had a com-- plete audit of any year prior to ihe present one and has not had the in-- formation -- itself. Hon,. Mr. McGarry--Speaking for myself, as Treasurer of Ontario, I have known for some months There has been a dGdifference of opinion be-- tween the Chief Accountant of the Hydro Commission, Mr. Andrews, and the Aunditor here as to what should constitute an audit. Until the pre-- sent year we have been unable to get for the Auditor here the papers which would enable him to make this audit, and until now the Government has had no report from the Hydro Com-- mission or the Auditor ather than the report furnished to the House each year and for the last ton years. Mr,. Rowell--if the Government has been aware of the matters complain-- ea of by the Auditor, for how long a period has the Government been aware of these matters? Opposition Leader's Comment. Mr. Rowell--If I understand my honorable friend, the Government has not, until it got this audit last year, becomse aware of the matters com-- plained of by the Auditor. Never until this year had there been an examination in detail of the sub-- divisions made of this money, al-- though the Hydro Commission every year expended, and properly expend-- ed, every cent which the Government gave them. The Auditor's Charge.