THE HALF-YEAR'S FIGURES.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1264, 20 October 1911, Page 4

THE HALF-YEAR'S FIGURES.

• «• ■

The public accounts of rovemio and expenditure for the half-year ended September 30 are published in this week's Gazette. On the revenue sido there has been a continuance of the upward movement. Some £180,000 of extra Customs taxation has been collected during the halfyear; over £100,000 extra stamp duty_ has been gathered; railways receipts show an increase of over £160,000, and other items go to make up a total over half a million in excess of the revenue for the corresponding period of last year. This is very satisfactory in its way. The increased Customs taxation means increased imports which should indicate growth of trade. In view of the decrease in the exports for the year this heavy importation may pinch importers a little later. It is worthy of note that the second quarter of tho year was responsible for a larger portion of the increase in the revenue than the first quarter. On the expenditure side there has unfortunately been an expansion also. While the rqvenue has gone up by over half a million the expenditure has swelled by over £200,000. The actual figures on each side are as follow: Revenue. In--1910. 1911. crease. £ £ £ Juno quarter 2,023,882 2,238,595 Sept. quarter 2,201,773 2.571.10G 3GG.333 Totals 4,228,655 4,609,701 581,046 EXPENDITURE. In--1910. 1911. crease. ££ . £ June quarter 2,214,119 2,326,64t U2.195 Sept. quarter 2,018,173 2,152,553 101,380

Totals 4,202,022 4,479,197 216,575 It will thus be seen that the increase of expenditure is a little more than 37 per cent of the increased revenue. In other words, for every £l extra in revenue collected during the halfyear there has been over '7s. extra in expenditure. Thisis a less pleasing feature, especially in view of the fact that there has been a decrease in railway expenditure for both tho Juno and the September quarters, totalling over £60,000. It would be interesting to learn how this ''saving" has been made—whether it is at the expense of the staff, or through starving maintenance or by a genuine improvement in management. At tho close of the September quarter there was £1,320,000 in cash in the public account and in the hands of officers of the Government, and yet there was £400,000 worth of Treasury Bills outstanding. Why should it be necessary to pay interest on these Treasury Bills—tho same amount, by the way, as was outstanding at the end of the June quarter—while there is so much cash available ?