The Evening Star THURSDAY, MAY 13, 1875.

Evening Star, Issue 3812, 13 May 1875, Page 2

The Evening Star THURSDAY, MAY 13, 1875.

The statement the Provincial Treasurer had to lay before the Council was not unnaturally an object of congratulation to him. It has very seldom been the case that a Treasurer in the face of so severe a blow to his schemes as the refusal of a large loan, could meet a Council with so creditable a balance. Making every allowance for the revenue derived from sales of Crown lands, which cannot be expected to again occur on so large a scale, the present financial position of the Province is extremely satisfactory. The Treasury had to meet large payments for branch railways, the contracts for which had been let for cash payments against the will of the Council. £35,828 has been actually paid on these contracts during the past year, leaving a liability to be partially or solely mot during the presentyear of £ 118,174. In some particulars the last appropriations have not been nearly expended ; but, taken altogether, the sum expended shows that a very creditable amount of public works has been initiated. In bridges alone £23,812 has been spent, while this sum does not by any means show the of work undertaken under this head, liabilities for which exist covering contracts in hand. £42,818 has been expended in works and buildings, which includes, it will be seen, £20,001 devoted to school buildingsThis item for school buildings is threatening u “ creaae 811 alarming extent. Old buildings that were erected many years ago are requiring substantial renewal It is not at all clear, whatever can be done by rating for maintenance, that there is any hopein that way of finding sufficient money for the buildmgs that are necessary, when we consider the present faulty state of the schools, and the immense increase in population to be expected during the next five years. The revenue from the proposed educational endowment f< £, Beven or eight years much exceed £6,000. The difficulty must have been taken into consideration, as we find in the proposed appropriations for the service of the year only £IO,OOO is to be asked for new buildinga. The education Ordinance to he brought down will probably throw a little more light upon this subject. The ordinary SfnAo iQC Su iDg railwa y receipts, is over £200,000. The great swelling of receipts has arisen, as the Treasurer remarked, from the sale of land in Southland, the realisation on which reached the high figureof £143 218 and, taken together with similar sales in Otago proper, the big total of £235,696. It is anticipated that the receipts this year from this source will be £150,600, which appears • j • a reaß °uable enough estimate, considering the large area set apart yesterday as Hundreds. The assessments on stock, as usual, bring in a goodroundsnm, £6l,24shavmg been reafised. £62,073 is placed to the credit of the Province, being realisation on loans, capitation allowance, subsidy to Road .Boards, and other small items including a curious item—“refuqd re Sullivan,” £92. The appropriations asked for amount to the large f 741 * 593 * against estimated receipts, firv’-l- “.was, however, pointed out tnat it is anticipated to balance the receipts and expenditure, as the large sum put down for railways cannot be all expended during the financial year, although liabilities to the amount stated exist. The path of progress, as it is called, can ba kept up by the Province, under the present system, for some years longer ; bub whether the Treasurer is correct m believing that if Otago were free to work on its own resources, such progress could be steaailv forwarded as well as pevmanent, wetak ’ -vr■ «: 1- „bt. Very nmeh the same might sa.d in tho sistti Conned of Canterbury lastyear, yet theaccount the Canterbury Treasurer had to explain the other day cannot bo said to be at all in keeping with such a prediction. True, the unhampered state which is said to he the only essential needed to render Provincial Government successful as well as lasting does not exist; but it is hard to believe that this sighed-for freedom would not bring bonds of its own equally as galling as those at present suffered under. It is again intended to apply for an Otago loan, and the Provincial Secretary appears to be sanguine as to the result. Unless this is obtained, it is wisely determined to forego large works other than those now m hand. It is judged truly that the feeling of the Council will not tolerate any measures being proposed which would m any way lead to or necessitate the sacrifice of the pastoral lands. The ordinary ap propnations appear to be, on the whole, fairly distributed. Evidently care is needed to see that the districts that are furnishing the revenue by the sale of their lands should be well opened np. This is a point Southland members will not be backward in urging. On the whole, the Treasurer’s statement is as satisfactory as could be expected by the strongest believers in Provincialism • and it is a fair matter of congratulation to even extreme Centralists who can see that the evils, so far as Otago is concerned, of the present system are not so great at present as they have perhaps feared.