As soon as Colonel Brock assumed command of the troops he found it necessary to look into the accounts of the deputy commissary-general. They {79} were in great confusion, a sum of thirty-six thousand three hundred and fifty pounds sterling not being accounted for. The commissary when called upon to explain the large deficit objected to the rank of Colonel Brock, and wrote that he did not think any authority then in Canada was competent to give orders by which his duties and responsibilities under the instructions of the lords commissioners of His Majesty's treasury could be in any manner altered. Colonel Brock looked upon his position as commander-in-chief in a different light, and replied:--"In respect to the last paragraph of your letter, relating to the two characters (the president of Lower, and the lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada), whom you consider as more competent than myself to exercise authority, it will be time to investigate the question when either of them shall express a wish to assume the command, but in the meantime I shall exercise it with promptitude and decision." There certainly was need for an enquiry, for it was found that no examination had been made in the stores account since 1788, nor in the fuel account since 1796. The enquiry resulted in the retirement of the officer in charge, who was found to be insolvent. Colonel Brock was most careful and precise himself in money affairs, and required all those under him to be rigidly correct in the expenditure of the public money. He writes in January, 1807, to Colonel Glasgow, {80} president of the board of accounts:--"I have to request the board to continue diligently to ascertain the sufficiency of every authority for expenditure before it sanctions the smallest charge..... When expense is incurred without the most urgent cause, and more particularly when large sums are stated to have been expended in anticipation of services not yet authorized, my duty strictly compels me to withhold my approval to all such irregular proceedings." There was another and very important branch of the service in Canada which required supervision, namely, the marine department, and it was to Brock's foresight that Great Britain owed her supremacy of the lakes when the war of 1812 broke out. He ordered the building and outfitting of vessels and _bateaux_ for the lakes and rivers of both the Upper and Lower Province. He also directed that an assistant quartermaster-general should be stationed at Amherstburg and another at Kingston, the former to superintend the repairs and stores of the boats on Lake Erie, the latter those on Lake Ontario. Colonel Brock ordered the following number of boats to be kept in constant repair at the several military posts: At Quebec, six; Three Rivers, two; Fort William Henry, four; Montreal, seven; St. Johns, two; Kingston, four; Fort George, twelve; York, three; Amherstburg, four.