[...]I wonder where and when the last audit was done and what arrangements are made to keep the silver and the property books aligned.
I was the Officers' Mess Committee 'Silver Member' at one station at which I served. I inherited the task from someone who had been less than diligent and I had one heck of a time trying to resolve what was actually in store with what the property book said should have been there! Some items weren't recorded, while some of the silver wasn't there. I sent a memo to the PMC, who merely replied "Well, do the best you can!".
I'm pretty sure it was the same elsewhere. On arrival at one station, the first person I saw in the OM, apart from the receptionist, appeared from a dark cupboard with a silver model of an ancient biplane and barked at me "What's this?". Thinking anyone his age must be senior to me, I replied "Heyford, I think sir". He glared at me and disappeared back into the cupboard. I later found he was the station's most ancient Flt Lt and was very bitter about never having been promoted.....