• Rartwo. Aunrrs.—A grand fact has come out with regard
to the
Rcdpath frauds. The Company professed to know its own capital ; the Directors knew that they were paying dividends on a larger capital ; yet the accounts had been audited ! In the last report of the Company is the following letter.
"Accountant's Department, Aug. 7, 1856. "To the Chairman and Directors of the Great Northern Railway Company.
" Gentlemen—The accounts and books in every department continue to be 50 satisfactorily kept that we have simply to express our entire approval of them, and to present them to you, for the information of the sharehold- ers, with our usual certificate of their correctness.
"we have the honour to remain, gentlemen, your very faithful and most obedient servants,
(Signed) JOHN CHAPMAN, } Auditors!, . CATTLE; After Robson's detection, clerks were set to examine the Great North- ern books, and they discovered the fraud in a single day. So much for the value of an audit executed in the same office. To be really valuable, the audit should be independent ; and the Board of Trade has been sug-
gested as the proper department to provide the machinery. •
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