DOMINION FINANCE

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 36, 6 November 1919, Page 6

DOMINION FINANCE

REVISED ESTIMATES SUBMITTED

FINANCE MINISTER'S STATEMENT

ho Minister of Finance (Sir James Allen) made a statement in the Houso ot Kepresentatives yesterday regarding the general financial position of the Dominion. He said tiint the total amount ot money proposed to be expended in the Supplementary Estimates was .£1,077,000. Ihe expenditure proposed in the Appropriahon Hill, including the butter subsidy, was jaofi.OOO. The two sums made a total of .51.M3.000. Members would recollect that in presenting the Budget and the ordinary Estimates he had stated that the amount remaining available for expenditure nn the Supplementary Estimates wn,s .£178,000. He. was pleased to be able to say that the revenue for the first seven months of the current financial year had exceeded the revenue for the corresponding months of last year by .£1,103,000. . Tt would be safe, therefore, in estimating the revenue for the current year to add at least ,£1,100,000 to the revenue of last year. The revenue in sight, on tliis calculation, was ■£:::!,- •153,000. The Budget estimate of revenue had been .£22,919,000, so thai there was in sight) excess revenue to the amount of .£530,000. This sum, added to the available surplus shown iu the Budget, made a total of ,£1,0U,000, which was available to meet the Supplementary Estimates and the provision contained in the Appropriation Bill.

lie did not think it would ho safe, the Minister continued, to estimate the revenue of the ensuing five months of the financial year at more than the revenue of the corresponding five months of last year, though he anticipated that the rev. enue would actually be larger.

Turning to expenditure, the Minister said that the sum proposed to he spent in the main Estimates was i22,411,f1f10. He would add to this the sum of ,£1,077.000 contained in tho Supplementary Estimates. If the new estimate of revenue were correct, there would he sufficient revenue to meet nil the estimated expenditure and leave a surplus on March .11 next. Tie had deliberately placed tho butter subsidy upon the Appropriation Bill, and not upon the Estimates, because lio believed that it was a fair charge against 'the accumulated surpluses. He had omitted,, therefore, to include it in his estimate of expenditure, A report that had been presented to him by Hie Treasury indicated that even if the butter subsidy had Iwen placed upon the Estimates, the revenue at the end of the year, as for as ho could judge, would have exceeded the expenditure, notwithstanding the very heavy charges placed on Ilia Estimates. If. he added to the original estimated expenditure the sums contained in the Supplementary Estimates and the Appropriation Bill, including the butter tax, the total expenditure became J323.88i.000. The revised estimate of expenditure was .£23,4-55,0(10. so that if these figures were actually rralised there would "be a deficit at the end of the year of £13,000. But at least half it million of estimated expenditure not be incurred. Tho Treasury, added the Minister, was of opinion that given normal times—and ho hoped for something more than normal prosnerity during the , next flva months—the balance at the close of the financial year would be on the right side.