adjusted. It is therefore unsafe to draw on final account until the letter of advice thereon is received. 565. Salary account current and certificate as to absence.-After the consul arrives at his post and enters upon his duties, the regular accounts should be rendered quarterly, the quarters ending March 31, June 30, September 30, and December 31. The first account at his post should embrace the period from the date of entry on duty to the end of that quarter, and after this the accounts should be rendered for the full quarter, except when broken by the changing of the officer's term of service, or by his going away on leave of absence. Mode of stating.-The mode of stating the salary account current of a consular officer is shown in Form No. 112. If the officer be also minister resident, his salary account should follow form No. 125. The first account rendered after entry upon duty should be accompanied by a certificate (Form No. 110) showing the day on which the consular officer took charge of the office; and that account and all subsequent ones should be accompanied by a certificate as to absence (Form No. 113), showing how many days the officer has been absent from his post and duty during that quarter, and whether by leave or otherwise. 566. Drafts for residue of salary.-When the amount received by any salaried consular officer on account of official fees during the quarter shall be less than his salary for such quarter, he may draw on the Secretary of the Treasury for the difference at fifteen days' sight. It must be stated on the face of the draft that it is for the residue of salary, designating the quarter in which the deficiency occurred for which it is drawn and whether payable in coin or currency. The account of the receipts of the consular officer during the same quarter must precede the draft, so that it may be received and adjusted by the accounting officers prior to the presentation of the draft. The drafts of consular officers on account of their salaries will not be honored, unless drawn in the manner stated in these Regulations (paragraphs 507, 516, 517, 578, 583) and accompanied with the official statements and certificates herein pointed out. For the form for the draft upon the Secretary of the Treasury for salary, see Form No. 114. 567. General quarterly account current when surplus of fees.When the quarterly account shows a surplus due the Government, the account should be stated in the return in the manner shown in Form No. 116, instead of in the manner shown in Form No. 112. For the mode of calculating consular salaries, see Form No. 131.-28 Stat. L., 552. Disposition of fees.-The fees collected during each quarter will be applied: (1) to the payment of the compensation of the consular officer; (2) to the authorized disbursements for office rent and miscellaneous expenses; (3) to the allowance for clerks at consulates; (4) to the relief of destitute seamen; (5) to the expenses of arrest and transportation of persons charged with crime; (6) to any other authorized account, as stated in paragraphs 534-540; (7) to the expenses incurred under special instructions. If, after the payment at the close of each quarter of the several accounts mentioned in the foregoing paragraph, there shall still remain in the hands of the consul a surplus, he shall deposit the same with Messrs. Brown, Shipley & Co., London, or the Treasurer of the United States, taking a receipt, which must accompany his next salary account. No authority can be given to a consular officer under which he can be relieved of his liability for fees or other publie moneys in his possession deposited with banks or bankers other than the designated bankers of the United States. All such deposits are made at his own risk; and in the event of loss by failure of the bank, or otherwise, the consul must make it good, and the sureties on his official bond are liable for such loss. Interest accruing on public moneys voluntarily loaned by a consular officer to a bank or other borrower belongs to the Government and must be accounted for and treated as an official receipt.-133 U. S., 273, 289. When expenses exceed fees.-In case the fees should exceed the salary and still come short of paying all the several accounts, and the balance of the general account current should be in favor of the officer, it should not be drawn for in one draft, as though it is all for salary; but the draft or drafts should be made for the amount or amounts due on the respective accounts which are not covered by fees, and the account specified, both in the account current and draft. (Paragraph 578.) OFFICIAL FEES. 568. Return of official fees. All consular officers, whether salaried or unsalaried, will make a quarterly return directly to the Auditor for the State and other Departments, and not through the Department of State, of all official fees received during the quarter for services of whatsoever kind. A separate return must also be made for each consular agency. Each return must be sworn to by the officer who collected the fees. Fees collected by a principal officer in the absence of an agent for official acts which the agent would have performed if he had been present at his post must be included in the principal officer's return, and not as part of the business of the agency. If no fees have been received, that fact must be stated on the return. If the consular officer resides at a seaport, the return should be as shown in Form No. 101. If he resides at an inland place, it should be as shown in Form No. 102. Consular officers will be required to state clearly in their returns the exact nature of each fee, both on account of services to vessels and otherwise. The fees must be tabulated by the consular officer and entered in the accounts current (Forms Nos. 112 and 116) according to the headings therein given. Consuls-general who are also ministers to make reports of fees.-Consuls-general who are accredited as ministers resident should also forward the quarterly return of consular fees as above required; and when such officer shall have occasion to credit consular fees, it should be done in his account for salary. Passport fees received by a minister resident and consul-general should be credited in his account for contingent expenses of foreign missions. 569. Neglect to report fees. It is provided by law that any consular officer of the United States who shall willfully neglect to render true and just quarterly accounts and returns of the business of his office and of moneys received by him for the use of the United States, or who shall neglect to pay over any balance of such moneys which may be due to the United States at the expiration of any quarter before the expiration of the next succeeding quarter, shall be deemed guilty of embezzlement of the public moneys, and shall, on conviction thereof before any court of the United States having jurisdiction of like offenses, be punished by imprisonment not exceeding one year and by a fine not exceeding $2,000, and shall be forever disqualified from holding any office of trust or profit in the United States.-R. S., sec. 1734. graph 532.) (Para 570. Aggregate of fees.-Consular officers must also, on the 30th of June in each year, make a return to the Department of State, in the form given in Form No. 105, of the aggregate of official fees received at the consulate and the consular agencies connected with it during the fiscal year ending on that day. DRAFTS AND ACCOUNTS DURING ABSENCE OF SALARIED PRINCIPAL OFFICERS. 571. Principal and vice consular officers, being under separate official bonds, should render separate accounts of the business of their offices for the time they may each, respectively, be in charge. In the absence of a principal salaried officer from his post, by leave or otherwise, in excess of the ten days' limit prescribed by section 1741 of the Revised Statutes, all the accounts and vouchers up to the day of his departure from, and from and after the day of his arrival again at, his post must be rendered in his own name, and the accounts of the time of the vice-consular officer who may be in charge must be rendered in his own name. The principal officer should also render a statement of account for the salary due to him while he is absent from his post. The agreement, if any exists, between the officers in regard to compensation should be furnished with the accounts; or, if the principal consular officer is to receive the full salary, a waiver of the vice-consular officer is all that is necessary. In the absence of agreement or waiver the accounts will be settled under the provisions of paragraph 506. Any compensation accruing to the consulate from the fees and services of the agencies will be subject to a like division with the salary, unless a different agreement shall be furnished. Drafts for the salary of a vice-consular officer must be in his own name, and drafts for the salary of a principal at or absent from his post must be in his own name. In case one of the officers should pay to the other his salary or compensation out of the fees in his hands, receipts must be taken for the amounts so paid and be forwarded with the accounts. Fees or other moneys which may be turned over from the one officer to the other must be receipted for and credited |