NATIONAL FINANCES.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 990, 3 December 1910, Page 6

NATIONAL FINANCES.

A REVENUE RETURN. i OPTIMISTIC SPEECH BY THE . ... . .PREMIER.. FURTHER EXPANSION FORE* CASTED. 1 Discussing the position., of the frro< million • loan in the" House of Representatives yesterday, the' Prim© Minister read a statement relative to. the revenue for the eight months ended. 1 ' November 30, compared with the.corresponding period of 1909. Sir. Joseph 1 Ward said that he. was giving the-information not onlj . for the information of the people of New Zealand, but also for the 'information' ofi people outside the Dominion. He was; exceedingly glad, to tell the Honse that •the upward tendency and buoyancy was* as marked as when he made his last statement on the subject. The variouf . balances are as under; — In- • 1910. ISO3L preasai ' £ : . ii Customs 1,933,807 1,686,034 247,773 Stamp Depart. 484.597 -. — . Stamps (Post ■' • • ' and Telegraph) 402,556 723,854 • P. and T. cash ' receipts . 88,037 77,168 10,80 ■ Land and Income • Tax —.... ' 74,688 62,301 12,387: Beer duty 70,455 . 68,819 1,608-' ■Railways ..........2,045,857 1,860,881 164,976 Begistration, and other fees ...' 46,110 46,907* : 7971 Marine ......... 28)460 26,443 . 2,017! Miscellaneous — 149,505 352,163* 2,658' Territorial .-139,239 107,771. 131,468 . Totals ...... 5,463,301 4,817,371 : 649,3851 : Deduct .'decrease 3,455 '■= Net ~ ' ms <wa . •Decrease. ' ~ ■ ■ The net,increase for seven, months, ended October 31, 1910, is £528,759/ arrd the statement, therefore mdicat-eai a further increase of £117,171. Ho> 'did not know, anything more gratifying; regarding the position of the country! than the. figures ..portrayed. . The in J crease must be put down entirely to : the increased activity: of trade to and from New; Zealand. Some people not/ ' • long ago wefe very pessimistic as to' :• •trade. The figures showed.; that , the ' . trade expansion, and trade activity had become normal, compared with eigt teen months ago, and more than normal, bcoauso there was a steady ii crease in all departments, and a largo 1 increase at that. We were now in the hap[)y position of having not a spas-"; modic .increase in trade, but. a steady increase. As a result of a large'sura coming into this country before long, the rate of interest would come down. That would result in increased investments —in more land settlement and increased building activity in every . direo- : : tion. He was certain that they were / going to have all that to a greater extent during the next twelve months. : than during the past four or five.years/