4. BOOK OF SALARY PAYMENTS. In this book are registered all quarterly statements of salary payments by the disbursing agent for salaries in the Auditor's office.

5. BOOK OF RECEIPTS FOR SALARIES. In this book are registered all the receipts for the monthly or quarterly salaries of persons in the Auditor's office.

6. BOOK OF CONTINGENT EXPENSES. In this book an account is kept of the appropriations for the contingent expenses of this office, and their disbursement by the agent for said expenses.

7. REGISTER OF MONEYS RECEIVed for PublishERS OF NEWSPAPERS. In this book is kept an account of money received from subscribers for, and paid to newspaper publishers. This book was first opened on the 1st July, 1845. In the third and fourth quarters of 1845, the entries in it, amounted to $18,000, made up of items ranging from twelve and a half cents to ten dollars; the latter being the largest sum authorized by the regulation to be received by a postmaster in any one deposite,

ADDENDA.

The Auditor of the Treasury for the Post Office Department transmits to posmasters a supply of printed forms of quarterly accounts, together with printed forms of accounts of mails received, mails sent, and other forms of documents or vouchers required to be returned with their accounts current-an example, perhaps, not unworthy of adoption in other branches of the Treasury, as a means of preventing errors and oversights by officers rendering their accounts to the Treasury. The blanks in those printed forms are filled up by the postmasters in the manner appropriate to each, in making up their quarterly returns, of which I shall here give a more particular illustration of the account current only, the rest being of but inferior moment. The accounts current are divided into several classes corresponding with the classes of postmasters making the returns. Of course I have selected for this illustration, an accouut current of the larger post offices, because it will serve to illustrate those of the smaller offices, as all their entries are embraced in it, whilst one of them would not illustrate one for the larger offices. The subjoined No. 1, is a specimen of the printed form of such an account current, as returned by one of the larger offices, of which the blanks in the heading are filled, in manuscript, by the postmaster, with the name of the post office, the county, and the State in which it is located, and the first and last days of the quarter for which it is rendered; and the figures in the column of dollars and cents are the items of the postmaster's debits and eredits also entered in manuscript by the postmaster rendering it. Such is the appearance presented by a postmaster's quarterly account current when received by the Auditor, and handed over to the examiner's division for settlement-having scarcely a blank space on the face of it, indicating whereon the examiner shall note his corrections, if errors be found. The subsequent No. 2, however, representing another stage of the same, shows that the examiner has found spaces whereon to enter his corrections, which he makes in red ink to distinguish them from, or prevent their being confounded with the contiguous items of the original account, as may be perceived by the corresponding location of the small figures expressing the TRUE amount of each item of the account according to the finding of the examiner, together with the DIFFERENCES also in small figures immediately under the item in the account that is incresed or diminished, with the word less or more, as the case may be, placed opposite; or, if an item is, in toto, improperly entered, it is marked opposite with the word off, suspended, or disallowed, and the amount is deducted or omitted in the examiner's footing of the account. The next, No. 3, is another view of the same account, as adjusted by the examiner, with this difference only, that it bears on the face of it, a distinct and clearly defined column, as if inserted in the blank form, for the use and convenience of the examiner to make entry of the true amounts opposite to the corresponding items of the postmasters' account-incorporating or excluding the differences, "more" or "less," as the case may be. The last, No. 4, is a copy of the Auditor's letter (miscalled "a circular") addressed, in printed form, to the postmaster, enclosing a printed list of the subjects of an account current corresponding with that which he had made use of for his account, opposite to each of which items wherein an error was found, is stated in writing, (and here printed in italics) the error and its amount, whether "over-stated" or "short-stated," "suspended" or "disallowed," &c., as will be seen by inspecting the same. I say this letter is miscalled "a circular," because, though it be such as is, in general, the form of letter addressed to each postmaster enclosing a "memorandum of the errors discovered in his account," individually, it derives from this specific mission, applicable to no other postmaster's account, the character of an individual letter, which is the reverse of a circular. It may, however, very properly be called a "statement of differences," as it corresponds in every particular with the letters transmitted under that denomination by the other accounting bureaus of the Treasury to receiving and disbursing agents whose accounts they settle, showing the errors in their accounts, as is done by these "memoranda of errors.' Whether this deviation from the customary official nomenclature in like matters proceeds from the pride of distinction without a difference, or an accidental oversight of the analogy, is, perhaps, of but little moment. It would be perfectly practicable to add to these illustrations, a complete series of the other forms observed in the Auditor's office; which would consist, in most respects, of the mere heading or caption, and dividing lines of the books of accounts, and in other respects (of small amount) the entire forms, such as the forms of drafts, warrants, counter warrants, &c., with proper references to be made to the several forms, where they are mentioned or described in the foregoing Tables of Details." And a similar exhibition of the forms used in the other bureaus of the Treasury Department, and in the Secretary's office proper, would be an equally practicable and useful addition to the several chapters devoted to the operations of those offices respectively.

The quarterly accounts of postmasters are accompanied with sundry abstracts and vouchers to substantiate their correctness, which, after settlement, are filed with the accounts, viz: 1. A transcript from the postmaster's register of letters on hand at the end of each quarter 2. An abstract of mails received daily, with amount of postages and other particulars. 3. An abstract of mails sent from the office daily, &c. 4. An abstract of newspapers and pamphlets received at each office. 5. Receipts or vouchers for moneys disbursed, &c., as enumerated in the Post Office regulations," quoted in the text, page 166.

The Postmaster is requested to file this Circular for future reference.

[ No. 4.]-[STATEMENT OF DIFFERENCES.]

1846.

Auditor's Office of the Treasury, for the Post Office Department, April ——, J. B., Esq.: SIR: Herewith you have a memorandum of such errors as have been discovered and corrected in your quarterly returns for the quarter ending December 31, 1845.

Respectfully, yours,

21. Contingent expenses-wrapping paper, quantity not stated, $10—no voucher for $10-credit suspended for these

19 29

50 05

items.....

22. Official letters

.......................no vouchers received-credit suspended.........................

20 00

3.00

23. Balance due the United States.......for receipts of postages at your office for said quarter.........

.3,529 18

From this examination it results that the balance of receipts for postages at your office for said quarter, and with which you are chargeable, is $3,529 18, and you will accordingly charge yourself with this sum therefor, in your "General Account with the United States." If your office is a "Collection Office," and you have not paid over to the contractor the full amount above stated, the deficiency will stand as a balance against you, and should be included in your next regular payment to the contractor.

This is the regular mode of accounting to the department for the nett amount of errors corrected and reported to you. The errors reported in one return you cannot, of course, correct by entries in a subsequent return.