Salaries and Wages.

A very considerable portion of the expenditure comes under the heading of salaries and wages, the actual amount for the year ended 31st March last being £4,610,662 or 60 per cent. of the total expenditure.

The method of dealing with wages expenditure is as under:—

Wages sheets are compiled by District Engineers, Stationmasters, Locomotive Foremen, Workshops Managers, etc., from time records. The compilations are carefully checked and the total expenditure appropriated to the various accounts provided for in the expenditure classification.

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The amounts of money required at each banking station to meet wages payment is telegraphed to the Chief Accountant, who makes the necessary arrangements for credits with the bank.

Stationmasters, or other officers appointed for the purpose, are authorised to draw these amounts by cheque to meet wages payments. The receipted pay sheets are subsequently forwarded to the Chief Accountant to support the credit arranged with the bank. With each fortnight's pay sheets a wages schedule is prepared by certifying officers and a wages summary showing the wages expenditure classified to primary accounts is submitted four-weekly. These summaries form the journal from which entries are made to the primary accounts in the expenditure ledgers.

The total debits to each control account are also extracted and entered into the classified expenditure journal for posting to the control ledger, but whilst the primary account is necessarily kept for each separate district and section, the control ledger accounts apply to the whole system. By this means the control accounts form an effective check on the totals of the primary accounts in the expenditure ledgers without the necessity of keeping detailed information in the control ledger.