Side by side with the power to grant taxes was growing up the faculty for supervising the expenditure of money so raised. As far back as the second decade of the reign of Henry III, in 1237, William of Ralegh had suggested to the Commune Concilium that it appoint a committee with whom the proceeds of a grant be deposited and by whom the money be expended; that the suggestion was not taken was owing, perhaps, to the ignorance of the baronage. Edward I was too strong to permit of being so controlled, and under Edward II the whole power of the crown was for a time delegated to others; in neither reign was the principle of appropriation of supplies definitely put forward. But in the time of Edward III, owing doubtless to the vast sums thrown into his bottomless war chest, Parliament began to demand a voice in the disposition of the public funds. In 1340, as we have seen, it was denominated in the statute that the “profits of the said realm of England shall be put and spent upon the maintenance of the safeguard of our said realm of England, and of our wars.”[235] The grants of 1346 and 1348, in so far as they accrued from the northern counties, were to be applied to defend the border against the Scots,[236] and in 1353 a subsidy on wool was granted to be applied solely for the purposes of the war.[237] [Examination of accounts] Whether or not the money was actually applied according to the direction of Parliament was another matter. Efforts to ensure the carrying out of the parliamentary will were begun as early as 1340. In that year a committee of lords and commons was appointed to examine the accounts of William de la Pole and the other collectors of the last subsidy.[238] In 1341 the Rolls of Parliament have it that “the great men and commons of the land pray, for the common profit of the king and of themselves, that certain persons be deputed by commission to audit the accounts of all those who have received the wool of our said lord, or other aid granted to him; and also of those who have received and paid out his money, as well beyond the seas as in the realm from the commencement of his war until now; and that the rolls and other remembrances, obligations, and other things made abroad be delivered into the chancery, to be enrolled and recorded, just as was wont to be done heretofore.”[239] To the petition the royal response ran: “It is the king’s pleasure that this be done by good men deputed for the purpose, with the addition that the treasurer and the chief baron be of the number; and that it be done concerning this as it was heretofore ordained; and that the lords be chosen in this Parliament. And also that all rolls, remembrances, and obligations made beyond the sea, be delivered into the chancery.”[240]