The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, JUNE 20, 1882. THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume VI, Issue 619, 20 June 1882, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, JUNE 20, 1882. THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT

The Colonial Treasurer made the Financial Statement on Friday evening

last, and, as anticipated, it was a most satisfactory one. It is simply a plain statement of the monetary position of tho Colony, and for that very reason will undoubtedly be welcome to many electors. It would be hard to accord it much Irgher praise than that given by our own member, the leader of the Opposition, who said that, apart from the self-congratulation at the e-.id of the statement, he considered it " clear and satisfactory," and was glad to know " that at last they were in a position to meet the ordinary expenditure out of the ordinary revenue." Our summary of the statement will be found elsewhere, and will well repay, not only perusal, but consideration. Nothing tends so much to the wellbeing of a country as an intelligent criticism on the part of the electors, and it is a duty to the Stale and ourselves to think over these matteis. The present statement is peculiarly adapied for such consideration, and !sir George Grey coukl not have paid it a higher compliment than when he said that it was so simple, a little boy might have made it, for it simply told of sums of addition and subtraction. Beginning with the expenditure of the ordinary reveaue, Major Atkinson showed that £49,759 less than the appropriation had been expended during the past financial year, and that the outstanding liabilities on the 31st of March were £164,394, as against £165,524 in 1881. The ordinary revenue of 1881-82 has been £3,488,170, being £190,520 in excess of estimate. The receipts from land sales were less than anticipated, the actual receipts being only £317,063, though it was anticipated they would yield £333,000. The appropriations for the Public Works Fund last year were £1,892,544, but the expenditure was only £977,8 >6. There were, however, outstanding liabilities amounting to £880,276. The gross public debt of the Colony amounts to £27,680,511, an increase of more than half a million on the previous year. The Savings Banks and Government Insurance Departments are most exhaustively treated in the statement, the ! great increase in the amount of business done showing a very general increase of means on the part of the people of the Colony during the past ten years. As will be seen by the statement, the receipts for the year 1881-82 are no less than £188.338 in excess of the expenditure, showing the Colony was never in a more satisfactory position than at present. The next subject treated of is one of vast importance to this county, viz., Local Finance. It is indeed satisfactory to know that it is proposed to introdnee Bills "to give effect to such alts-rations as may be thought necessary in the constitution of those highly useful local bodies, and also to make sufficient provision for their financial requirements" Such a proposition is indeed welcome, for it shadows forth a future in which our struggling Road Boards will have the means to execute the many works which are so urgently needed. The County Council, too, will, we hope, have powers and funds sufficient to enable them to superintend and execute matters of general importance. The experience of the past has been a wholesome lesson, and money will be far more profitably spent in the future than it .has been in the past. We are glad indeed to see that it is propesed not to treat the matter as a party question, but that the hearty support of both sides of the House will be called for to provide the county districts " with m -ans of performing the important duties which have been imposed upon them of making and maintaining a large proportion of the roads of the Colony." The estimated expenditure of the present year from ordinary revenue is £93,468 more than Jast year, but it is intended to pay the whole of the police and defence charges from this source, instead of partly out of loan, as formerly, and £10,000 will be devoted to decreasing the rabbit nuisance. The total estimated revenue is £3,478,639, and there will therefore be a probable balance over expenditure of £118,000. It is proposed to devote a part of this to hospitals and charity, and so relieve the local bodies partly from the burden of £59,000 they had to contribute to the f«nd last year. Speaking of this matter, the Treasurer reminds the House that this question of hospitals and charitable aid must be grappled with, and recommends a scheme of national assurauce as the best remedy. There will be still a surplus, but it is not thought wise to reduce taxation, in the face of the fact that further loans will be required for the completion of the great public works of the Colony. The question of how the surplus from the Land Fund, amounting to £170,000, should be disposed of is left over till it is determined what form of aid shall be given to local government bodies. The Treasurer is lengthy on the subject of the incidence of taxation. He divides the people into three classes, consisting of the wagus-wiiming or industrial class, numbering 312,436, and contributing 17s 3d each to the revenue ; the intermediate class, numbering 96 } 2GU souls, and contributing £2 13s 3 J each; and the property-tax-paying clase, numbering 68,445, and contributing £4 10s 10|d,each. Those returns do not include spirits, wines, beer, or tobacco. The Treasurer hopes great consideration will bo given to this subject, as badly adjusted taxation means undue exaction from some class or classes. The proposed loan is the last subject treated of, and this the Government recommend, on the ground that the main trunk lines of railway, and other mi

portant works, need completion, and that the ordinary finance is in a satisfactory condition. The amount proposed to be borrowed is £3.000,000, at the mte of £1,000,000 per annum* The speech concludes with congratulations oa the renewed prospfuityof the Colony. This article is of course a btief nod necessarily imperfect review, but we hope ■it wili turn the attention of our readers to the statement itself. The proposed Bills in connection with local government bodies are of immense inteiest io us all, and we shall spate no pains to lay the earliest infoimalion regarding them belorjj'our readers.