After the Committee meeting held on November 28th 1916, the next three meetings were held on January 10th 1917; June 28th 1917; and November 14th 1917. Mr Hilton presented a verbal report on the first two of these dates, two of the topics being the design of a 2/6d Coupon and the wages of the Bank's staff. Mr Hilton's next written report is reproduced below, in which some details of the progress of the Bank are included.

 

The report refers to the official audit of the Bank's books. This was completed by Agar, Bates, Neal & Co - the firm who were to undertake these duties until 1974. The Auditor's report included the statement that "we have necessarily had occasion to examine the system of books and accounts now in use, and while during the period of audit, which was more or less a period of transition, we cannot report entirely satisfactorily on the bookkeeping, we are pleased to state that as the books are now being kept we think they show the transactions of the Bank expeditiously and accurately, although as time goes on we may offer one or two suggestions with the idea of still further minimising the labour without any loss of efficiency." The City Treasurer assisted with the audit and reported to the Committee that his staff had been "engaged for 1,600 hours in writing up the books .... In addition, the balances of 17,000 Depositors, contained in 17 ledgers, were extracted and analysed".

 

Mr Hilton's report also refers to Branch Banks (a system whereby a member of the Bank's staff (or a volunteer) attended at a works to sell coupons directly to the employees); a decrease in the rate of interest being received from the Government; and the inadequacy of the Bank's premises. An Appendix to the report lists the names of 21 staff reporting to Mr Hilton, their weekly wages amounting to £29. 12. 0d per week.