280 APPENDIX TO REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE, & c. This answer does not apply to the employment of the horses and carters, of whose time it is admitted that no account was kept, except in the instance of one carter; we shall, therefore, reserve the consideration of the charge relating to the employment of the horses and carters for distinct consideration, and at this part of our Report confine ourselves to the materials and artificers. That Sir Charles gave directions to M'Kenzie and Finnerty to keep such accounts as above stated, is very well established; they were frequently repeated, and to enable Finnerty and M'Kenzie to keep them with greater accuracy, he ordered the men employed by him to make returns to them of the time they were engaged in his work. In pursuance of these directions he was charged for a short time, by M'Kenzie, with the value in money of the materials furnished from the stone yard, over which he was overseer; but Sir Charles, shortly after he commenced the practice of drawing materials from this yard, gave directions to M'Kenzie, that an account only of the quantity of the materials furnished should be kept, and that he should not in future be charged with the value of them, as he would return them in specie, and, accordingly, from that time, the practice has been for Sir Charles to make returns in kind for articles furnished to him from this depot. It does not appear, however, that M'Kenzie kept any distinct and separate account of the articles furnished to Sir Charles; but he states, that with the assistance of the memorandums kept by him, as well as by entries in his books, and the returns made by Sir Charles, he is satis- fied that every thing has been replaced that was taken before the last year. We directed an account of materials furnished to Sir Charles Coote from this depot to be made out, from the commencement of M'Kenzie's superintendance over it, which has been done, and is given in the Appendix N° 19 ; from this it appears that the materials furnished within the period in question to Sir Charles, from this depot, when priced, amount to 411. 12 s. 6d.; that all have been returned, except a balance amounting in value to 8 /. 6 s. 6 d. which appears to be still due, but which we have no reason to think he did not intend to pay, or to replace in kind. With respect to the materials furnished to Sir Charles from Mespil factory, over which Finnerty presided, or the articles manufactured for him there, it appears that Finnerty kept an account, in pursuance of the directions of Sir Charles above referred to, in which he debited Sir Charles with the value of the materials so furnished, except the oats, ( which will require a separate consideration, and which we shall take up in a subsequent part of our Report). With respect to the artificers employed at Mespil, the practice appears to have been as follows; Finnerty made daily entries in books kept for the purpose, of the occupa- tion of every man in the employment of the board in the factory; from these he made weekly pay lists which were returned to the board, containing merely the names of the men and the number of days work; the permanent artificers he always returned as having been the whole time in the employment of the board, although, in point of fact, occasionally employed by Sir Charles; but he entered in a private account against Sir Charles the time they had worked for him, with a view to charge him with the amount; it appears, however, that Sir Charles frequently employed these men for a very short time, less than half a day, which was the smallest portion of time the board made a payment for, by sometimes sending for them to his own premises, and at other times getting something executed in the factory, and when these occupations did not exceed an hour, Finnerty states that it was impracti- cable to keep the accounts accurately, in consequence of his various other occupations, and the impossibility of ascertaining at all times when the men left the yard, and when they returned; however, some such entries of broken time were certainly made against Sir Charles, though, from the evidence supported by the nature of the system itself, it is impossible that they could have been as accurate as should be, even with a view to keep the account justly by the public; however, we have not the least reason to suppose that any omission took place with the privity or concurrence of Sir Charles. In this way it appears, that during the whole period to which the charges refer, an account was kept by Finnerty against Sir Charles, with more or less accuracy of the materials and manufactured articles furnished to him, and of the artificers employed by him. Two accounts appear to have been furnished by Finnerty to Sir Charles, during this period, the first account embraced a period from 6th April 1818, to 17th May 1819, and amounted to a sum of 331. 11s. 10 \ d. ( See Appendix N° 1.) The second account was from the 30th July 1819, to the 9th February 1821. ( See Appendix, N° 2.) No account appears to have been furnished subsequent to this second one, but it appears that within the two or three months immediately preceding the commencement of the inquiry, Sir Charles made frequent applications to Finnerty for this account, for withholding which Finnerty alleges as reasons; first, the impossibility of making it out accurately, from Sir Charles having interfered more than usually, since the period of the last account, with the men himself, and employing them without giving notice to Finnerty; and secondly, his determination of preferring the charges he has done. Since the commencement of the inquiry, Sir Charles has had the account of this subsequent period, from 13th February 1821, to 21 st November 1821, drawn out from the books kept by Finnerty, and it appears to amount, including the oats, to 471. 5s. These three accounts, therefore, amount to a gross total of 121 9s. \ od. to which is to be added M'Kenzie's account, amounting to 41 12 s. 6 c?. making, in the whole, the sum of 163/. 2 s. 4< f. and to that extent, the fact is undeniable, that Sir Charles received materials or employed the workmen of the board; no doubt, however, with the intent to pay for them. Of the accounts above alluded to connected with the Mespil factory, the first only has been