[MALTA - ECONOMY] Representation of the hearers of accounts to his most eminent height and his sacred advice with the reply of the secretary of the treasury [Malta: Mallia] 1788. Memorial that sheds light on the Order of Malta's financial organization in the last decades of the 18th century. The work stems from an institutional dispute between the Auditors, representatives of the different languages of the Order in charge of supervision of the Common Treasure, and the Secretary of the Treasury, accused of limiting their prerogatives. The Hearings argue that the Statutes give them the right to exercise prior control over the purchases and administrative acts of the Treasury; the Secretary replies that this interpretation is contrary to centuries-old practice and would make the day-to-day management of the administration impossible. To support his position, the Secretary reconstructs in a very detailed way the functioning of the Common Treasure: he describes the competences of the Prosecutors, the Chamber of Auditors, the Auditors and the Secretary, illustrating the procedure followed for sales, the system of auditing accounts, the keeping of records, the role of the Master Book and, above all, the formation of the annual budget, presented as the main instrument of financial control of the Order. Particularly significant is the description of the administrative reforms introduced during his term of office, with which he claims to have eliminated the serious backlog accumulated in previous years. Folio (360 x 230mm) 9 cards, marbled paper paper paper (short to the second plate). (1)