FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2229, 29 June 1870, Page 2

FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

[BY ELEC.TRTC TELEGRAPH,] j Wellington, June 28. The Hou. the Colonial Treasurer made his financial statement this evening; The following is a brief abstract of ife, The hon. gentleman commenced by asking thef indulgence of the .Committee on the ground of the early period at which the statemetat was made, which had fiptajled a very large amount of extra labor. The measures of last session had answered their pur? pose. The curtailment of the advanced system had enlarged ; a large sum is to be brought to account at the end of this year, which would otherwise have appeared as a charge against this year. The Annuities Life Insurance Act had been brought into operation with great success, and measures would be proposed to increase its usefulness. The total dent on Colonial account, less sinking fund accrued, was L 4,200,000, of which L 528,000 was represented by Treasury bills, 'those bills would remain a floating debt pntil November, 1874, when it'wonld be finally decided \yhether the amount should be paid off or added’ to the penhanent dehit, I/ud year’s financial statemcjit was

delivered before the accounts had been BWpletely made up, but the Bpo been closely home out. move any what he said last year, for excessive expenditure ;qf < vauced system ; that systenf-was ■ brailhe, and not those who administer it. He would endeavor to apply iu the present statement ,as rigorous a ofthe position of af- , fklH as imght ipplied by an impartial "imaVT, hhd‘ one’ hot responsible for the proceedings.- After-paying- oft all li»bilitie»-»wi<l engagementa on account of last year and bringing to account L 150,000 Treasury Bills authorised, there would remain a surplus of L 76.000 for the present year—that- amount’ was exclusive dfL60;000 overdraft, which had not been paid off,, as the overdraft was merely a- convenient -mode of anticipkting the revenue. It was distributed over the Colony, and there was'virtually ho cost for interest on account of it. The trust fund was in a satisfactory condition; and the state of the Post Office Savings Bank ac- . count was a pleasing testimony to the frugal habito of the people. The special fund account waS very complicated, owing to the number of old balances. It Was proposed to clear off those balances, and it was believed that L 25,000 would be recoverable from the special fund, to be paid over to the OOaSbliv dated reyejiue exclusive «f a balance to credit un'ddr the 'New Zealand Settlements Act; which Would be applied to the payment' of^lTbi«try'hnisdssued ! uuder that Act. - A. ’separate banltlhg account would be fcejpfrfor the fh'futh're. *" •' The financial year wftij not yet Mfldgtl,’ and therefore only Ah estimate cOuld be made .for nearly the whole (3 the present ’ qharter. All the liabiUtieApayable on, -account of the gear’s sqrvic is Being included, thbre would bp an expenditure of Ti74.f10() In excess of votes! bht on other votes there.had been a saving- of . L12,000,‘ tho‘Tj74,ooo ijicltidhig L 40,000 expended under a - special older for defence purposes, possibly' another 810,000 might have to be paid before all the liabilities for the yisair for defences ate Satisfied, but thqse excesses; Were independent of credits to'Votfii'whiph 'Would reduce tbeni by a considerable sum.‘ ri 'Mtobilgh tue'inSiirrlng'’ of the excess was willing to admit that it was a Vi5.S.| oa _ of the undepstapdiog come to last session that Parliament should be consulted if the 1/200,000 voted for contingent defence was exceeded ; but it mipst be stated in explanation soon asjt was asceriaided there would be an e3?ce3fi oji the L 200.000, Partial input was convened to meet at. the earliest possible moment. . The Colony, saved any contribution for the detention of. troops, : .. . f The year’s revenue had yielded very close to what was estimated.. The total expenditure would exceed:,the. total receipts by L3u,000 ; but .against, thjs deficiency it must be reco looted tbatthe expenditure: included' L 24.000 for advances to Southland j 1,15,000 for the VVhnganui bridge; LIO.OQp advanced to the Patea settlgm } pM E25,000 for roads in |he N.or.th Island. To disprqve the statement that we were borrowing money’tq pay ordinary changes, h§ ,hM analysed the ex : • penditure of the past year, and he found that the ordinary expenditure amounted toL442,000the , repayment of debts by sinking fund to L 46.000, and tlie exceptional and reproductive expenditure to E334,000. '• The. General shape of the reyeipiei amounted to 1A4Q,000, so that the total. ordinary expenditure,. with, tho sinking-fuud: added, was considerably within the amount , of the. ordinary revenue. In those computations ; ;i the : 'defence Expenditure' WkS ! regarded as being extraordinary expenditure. - The Government submitted that wh&i.lln 1863, it to bhrrhw njohey fflrdle- ‘ fence purposes, aiid a laPgo annual dharge was thereby unpaid; it was rendered impossible for the Colony to continue to pay out of revenue that annual charge, and also to pay out of revenue the heavy current< ; wat expenditure. Paying current war expenditure out of borrowed money Was the only plan by which to fasten upon the North Island a fair share of the liability' paid out 1 of current revenue; The defence expenditure bias finally Bottled year by year between the two islands according to their slppc of current roveipie; but it w aa considered that the Northern Island Would, -when settled; contribute fully an equal share to the revenue, It would bs seen that, by defraying the war expenditure out of borrowed money the ultimate cost would be more equally distributed. That plan would leave the surplus ordinary. revenue to be employed either for reproduotiVe purpOsgi; or to be reduced. :

ije would now desctl'ie the prppr.se I colopislng Operations. The principles on wh|ch th§ proposals were based were,these j" first, thatTioth;islands fchould aid in the work; second, that liolh should share in‘its results; third, 1 that asfe'vv political changes 'as possible should be made; and, fourth, - that all. allowances shoijUl be made for the Various ioriditibu's and Circumstances off tile different parts of the Coldhy.' " The wants of the. Colony-were piibHc'Works ip the "shape of roads and railways and immigration; the two being most closely allied. It was proposed to enable the provinces of the North Island to acquire a lauded estate to the amount of L‘200,000, the cost to be charged upon the provinces, and the lands or their prqccedfi to bo used for Railway and Immigration purposes. It was proposed tp spend 1/100,000 upon roads in the North Island, and give an equal amount to the Middle Island to be spent exclusively on railways, and to be divided amongst the provinces in proportion to their receipts- .from the consolidated revenue. It was proposed that during tho pexhten years a system of railways (should be. constructed ;n tJ]° North Island front Auckland to Wanganui, viaTaupo,r With connection to Napier, New Plymouth, and Wellington; m the Middle Island from Nelson to Greymouth and Hokitika, with connection to Westport, also to Pipton, to Amuri, Christchurch, Timaru,.' Oaraaru, Walkout, Dui}ediij, Tokomairiro, Molyneux, and Wiutop, with connections to Tuapeka, Clyde, Cromwell, Arrow, andQueenstown. Those railways should be commenced frqta $ number of different points, and be constructed as cheaply as possible, the work being continued as the traffic demanded. Payments should be made in -money - or by guarantee, or by subsidy, QE by laud, or by two or more of those modes, The General Government is ■•'to enter into compacts - ’ for the construction of the lines at the Wish of the provinces, the cost to he charged -to the provinces, or to be defrayed by land; but. half the amount of the stamp duties was to be allocated specially.for railway purposes. The lines should be so devised aiid tbnstruoted that a considerable portion bf the cost could be defrayed out off the returns. As the works were'pushed - oiip jt -Wiis jiro-

L 200.000 to be advanced for water supply on the gojd^ts/^pgO,ooo were to be speut on te|era||>h eplnsion, and a million and a half on ißSmiMtoah. The total expenditure of be spread over ten years that a great part of that snni would be defrayed out of the land or be represented by a guarantee of interest. Immigration should be regarded as essentially a reproductive work. The total amount proposed to be borrowed during the ten years -was sixvmxUiaii&. .ini.his;w. ~f -.^y

tained from tbe Imperial Government, It was a gratifying anamlrjcpipent -of pur Commissioners about the million guarantee, but - the conditiona-oa whioh-it- hal were not yet knoWn. Immigration was proposed to be and should be conducted systematically, under varied forms to make it snltlMe to the peculiar ci| , cumstS;icos of the Coldhv. Each province it to be supplied with imnii' grants at e quest of . the Provincial Qbvernment, half the _cpst to bring the immigrants out, being deffayatl, by the Provinces by an amiual-charge of sos per immigrant. Calculations ‘ prove that all these proposals, supposing they came sooner tor latdT under ope management, cqp not eutairdpon the Colony liabilities whiCir ’it would be beyond its power to meet. He was not of opinion that taxation would he indeed' he proposed that the tariff should be ■redipjed ,;„but £juppoeiug, r the jcoq.sfrmjtion rsUw#ys ; If four years, the sate for .suofy.taxation.' He'repeated how, ever, that hd -Was ndfc expressing an opinion tfiht'arfoh taxation would necessary ; he laid ‘it down as indispensable that immigrants .should be carefully t, the C Amy and not any other cojintry must havfjgle charge, of t tb«; .work, ¥pd that the , <skmy would not consent tp accept the refuse popu, Jatipn pf ,th£ Imperial country, Iq out these arrangements specially with a“vie\y of dealing with the taxation, it became imperative that ; the partnership ; the Provinces and the f Co’<myj should bo dissolved, and that a fixed payment per head ■bf pm>dtsti9ff'b & to preserve tho exw^ng : .relations and to pre. vent inordinate demands for Goveqjment services,, desirable. yiat .the. charges upon the Provinces should be kept just as at prespat, and the oapltatiqn aJlQyjranoe would bo" simply’a iubatifnte fmv the‘ moiety o| revenue. It was' that the allowance should be L2; pir he&| %£3B&k&£t year, and should h® zeduged jeaSlS&favQ years} tip? allowance then remaining at 30s per head, t° bp.added m ease ,Westland, on account: of tffo large, proportion! of adult population. For the Maoris a special- allowance would be made of, L.3,000 to Auckland and Hawkes Bay, •1 v r,500._ i i to ‘Wellington, and LSOO t<i Taranaki. '‘ Government proposed xhat--L50,000 should be annually allocated to the Prorihces mlWoportipn to their population, dimed.’arsutiiidies to ro&d dislriots j the that eWm for the sjjecifitd' piirposd tW be carefully guarded, ami the yearly distribution to be approved by the ■ Assembly. Th©/total o£ ilie|>*ol posed payments to the ‘ ineluding the ■LSOjpftOj'for ,poad-'. districts, would be. LSpOQO,. mwe i the Provinces had received ' thii jvStfe ;; statement of. the. separate : change showed how very unequally and- unfairly tlmpwse.Rt system. baddworkudj.-lov .under; it Cauterbury had rhman ektraofli, narjr loses,- and .Westland a large gainer. Westland was supposed to. haVp - .absorbed, a great! deal-of Neieon >; Under the A lydfllWld 1700 Id gain L 3,400; Taranaki, L0.60Q; Wellington, L8,91)Q; Nelson, LB/SQQ ; Marlborough, L 5.400 j Canterbury, L 25.000; Otago mad Southland together/ Hatwhe’s Bay would lose Id 00 aud Westland would be a Josef by L 13,000. Against the preened yearty reduction of the capitation allowance • down to 30s must bo set the fact ' that sifter this year one half duties would be set-apart for railjvay purposes independently of that allowance. .• : n/j ' -'Upon the important- subject of reciprocal arrangements with other colonics trips it was proposed to avoid technicalduties -as to imposition |& r iug power by Act to pay bonuses pn certain •import's,J according to;agreements aulff .exceed, in aqy. casew Mxe amount, of duty, A r s au, asgei’tioh pi principle,-It was propoaM’at toce to gst#a bopu» upbn the pf Auetraltan f ..He considered- that.,,the fpijred adjustment, and without yai®mg questions as to free trade or was willing to admit that the amount of-re-venue required abound be the test as to tho tariff,j. thepufoi-e, .rybde prppqqmg spme*m, preases of dptyi he aup propipsed j and as far as pusnble, tho .af H<4es ( , pm,thu pq : a. war Jhwas -prpposed that thp,, 1 should come into opemtion at puce, but. that t)w decrease shpuld npt take effect October n ixt..: The. alterations Wpre-bftepu and hams, from Id ppr .lb to l4d {. ,b{fef.;»ud pork, salted, from 2s pci: cwt to 4s-j butter, from: Id per lb to 31 ; cheese, from ld/per lb to 2d ; biscuits, from 3s par owt ; potted meats, frpm 2s Gd,per cubic foot to 5s ! jams/ /from 2s 6d pef cubic foot to 5s ; fish, pptttd. aud preserved, froin. 2s fid per culnt toot to 5s ; fish, dried and salted, from 2s per cwt ;to 5s / oysters,, preserved, from 2s Off per cubic fofti to 3s; ffour, |gom frep to Is per JOffjib; wheat, from frpe. to lb; barley, from, frep to 9d per 100 lbs; oats, from free to Od .per 100 lbs ; rice, from 2s per cwt tpJJs Od; mameua, frpiq l,s per cubic foot to 2s ; from Is per cubic foot to 2s ; from/free to 10s per ton; chaff, from’ ton; eggs...from free., tq Is per cubic foot; cordage, per ewt to Os; soap, from ! 2a fltl'per owt to 3s (Id ; blankets and rugs, from 3s per cubic foot to ss; leather, other than sple, from |d per lb to 2d ; saddlery »pd harness, v ffpm cubic foot tc4s ; furniture, irom 6d per cubic foot to 9d ; doors and sashes, from Is eawh, timber, rawn, frqnq . la. perJ.QO.feet to 2s ; shing.lea r _la.t.ha J ings, rads and posts, doubl d in each case ; wine in bottle, from 4 s per gallon tons. The proposed decreases sugar, from 9a 4d per cwt-to 8s 4ff} jbagsi And-wool packs, now paying 8d per - cubic foot, to be 1 • iron fencing, from hr per owt to free ; iron gates, from 4a per owt to Aee nails, taphs, rivets, and tqols,.now vaijojisly chargcfl. to be free; bollq\ywm;edfi«om 4^>er owt, to free-; welghingi machines from 4s per owt; to fpeo 1 ■ sash .fwtifi.£rge ; Der qwt to free ; iron safes, from 4s par” c#T to'free - 'steel/ from 4* pev ewt to free’; ikllSVnd arms, from 2s per cwt to free ; grindeWtod lastflo ptergaAtiv'loot to freed’ m#er *»hi<f*6ttf«»T^^per end to fins; jamuaed and lacquered metal j 1 11 *C 4 A ti- -j /14d /JX

•ware from Is per cutffe fsbt to free; liquorice,' : from 2a , Gd, per cubic, jQttt r tq / /feer > ee alum, from 3s pet cubic fpqtio fifee ;" Arsenic, from 4a per cwt to free ‘ 'spirits of tar, from 6d per gallon to free ; pitcb and tar, frorn’ls psr barrelfree; American' enamrilM-’ cloth, -from 5s per oubiefoot. td<fcee , btui* seating and upholsterers’ webbiug and -springs'n|w variously'barged to free ; brewery.aud distilliag plant not? variously charged to free. A bonus under reciprocal arrangement already described* of 2s p,er ; gallon on. Australian and-ls.per gallon on such Trines in wood. , v , a The Government proposed that the future . defence expenditprejphoHld be . defrayed out , p{ borrowed ( money,- and that provision . should be taken for five . years, the amount tor,the first year being 1-180,000, for the second, L16O,O0O; for each of the other three years, L 150,000. The expenditure for the ensuing year was estimdted at L 489.000 for General Government purposes, 1,414,000 for Provincial services, the latter sum to come out of the lifiGl,ooo payable to the Provinces/ The . total estimated expenditure jvfls Ll} 0o0,0W); the estimated revenpe, L1,Q56,0Q0, leaving-a Surplus of L 5.000 pr- 1/6,000 on-.the year. ■ Prom various sources,: recoveries; &0,, there o Would bein addittipu oyer L72,0Q0-available lor the year, making of h<B,ooo.at -theeudof tbeyeftr, That: surplus he PW;p(*ed.to leave to be deaHwth next SfiasiOn . when, a-decision cpuldhC come hi whether, to -.pay pff our debtSsOr reduce taxation, -It the. House: dcsired,the|G over mn put ware readyi to 9jirry out the various’ proposals -this;, session, , so impressed were the 6r v efhment; a» te, the ilmportauce of the nieaswrcsj'rtnd their necessity fpr'the progress of the Colony; .but .if the House preferred, the • Government-. were willing to go to the country on their proposals. He hoped th»t h«n- members would not permit any feelings: entertained - against the;Goyernn)4ntto interfere .with. thpjcongideratiqn of the proposals, which it was helieved wouid raise the Colony'from its present deproaßCd state to one of -pritepgrity, *itd enable the 'population of the Colony to -do justice to its large resources, ,