The Evening Star. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1876.

Evening Star, Issue 4252, 12 October 1876, Page 2

The Evening Star. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1876.

It is seldom that a Colonial Treasurer Las the ill-luck to be placed in a position of so much embarrassment as that now occupied by Major Atkinson. Heavy liabilities have been incurred for public works which there is no cash in the Treasury to meet; the Customs revenue at the different ports roes and falls in an unpleasantly ominous manner; fundamental Constitutional changes are in progress the precise effects of which upon tV.e Colonial finance can only bo surmised; everybody is crying out for retrenchment ; while Her Majesty's Opposition is performing a war dance around the Treasury walls, and threatening to pull the whole fabric down at the first opportunity. In these unpleasant circum. stances a Financial Statement must needs be somewhat hypothetical in its character. The estimates oi both income and expend^

tuxe are rati her what the Treasurer hopes they -mil be than reliable estimates based upon, solid g rounds of calculation, ami errors in which "V# ould leave him justly open to critic.'sin. '. The Colonial finances are in a transition *ta\ '"-e, and until a new Constitution has betm got ii ito working order, they cannot be put into p roper trim. The delivery of Major A'tjon.son's statement illustrates the financial deraugement which prevails. Sir Julius; Budget proposals dealt comprehet isively with the financial affairs of the Colon}', but they were framed upon the supposition i that the Provinces would vanish for goad and all on the 30th September. Since then, howeve/, it has been determined to extend tide Provincial appropriations until the end of 1876, and a reconstruction of the Estimates follows as a necessary sequence. The same leading principles pervade both Budgets, but they differ considerably in details. Major Atkinson accepts his predecessor's estimate of revenue, save that of the "Customs receipts, which he prudently sets down at L20,0Q0 less than Sir JULins Vogel, and so keeps on the right side of the ledger, his over-esti-mate of laut year having probably exercised a chastening influence upon his sanguine spirit. Tb>e Treasurer joyfully swoops down upon a little sum of LIO,OOO standing to the credit of the State Forests account, and which by the contemplated repeal of the State Forests Act will not be required for its original purpose, and adding it to his receipts for 1876-7, displays a probable surplus of £58,953 at the close of the financial year. But then, as he pathetically remarks, any expenditure that may be provided for in the, supplementary estimates will have to be defrayed out of this L 58,000, and Colonial, like Provincial Treasurers, know too well ' what Supplementary Estimates mean. To 1 produce this surplus, and at the same time i throw a sop to the Cerberus retrenchment, ' i fcbe departmental expenditure has been re--1 dacwd by L 34,370, while a thorough scheme of retrenchment is to be concocted during the recess, We fftngywe have heard the lau? r **le before, but the saving of the io 5 substantial reality, at whioh we can'only rejoice arid hope that the members of the Legislature win not lessen it by voting themselves A further honorarium. The part of the Budget which is sure to catch the eye of critics is thftt which explains that the whole cost of educ&tioft and museums, and one half of the eosfc of hospitals and charitable institutions, exclusive of lunatic asylums, is to be charged to the land fund, which, on the other hand, will be credited with the school fees, Major Atkinson sniffs the bsttlo from afar, and holds out tho olive branch. He says it is very bad, but he really cannot help it, Nov do we see how he can. It is plain at a glance that the Consolidated Fund is unable to support the burthen; people won't pay ■ education rates; aud where else is the money for education to come from but the land fund? The position is just as awkward with regard,toTthejCharitable A inßtitution4j. I'fwas formerly proposed to devolve the duty of maintaining them upon the boroughs and counties, as a kind of quid pro quo for the subsidies received by the latter; but supposing a borough refused to accept a subsidy upon such terms, as Christchurch seem* disposed to do, what then ? It could hardly be made to take the money; and the charitable institutions must be nupported somehow. The County Boards are pi-actically certain to accept the subsidy j but the existing hospitals and charitable institutions are for the most part in the towns, and even, if by chance, a county found one or more of these institutions within its borders, complications might arise in the event of the County Board resolving to use its discretion under the Act, and refrain from exercising any active functions. These provisions for the'maintenance of education and charitable institutions are, however, but of a temporary nature, and Major Atkinson looks to relieving' the Land Fund from these charges when the railways get fairly to work and pay all round a substantial contribution towards the interest upon, the money expended in their construction. Instead of a loan of two millions, as proposed by the late Treasurer, Major Atkinson intends to borrow one million only. He cannot manage with less. I 350,000 more than the funds in hand or capable of realisation, is absolutely required to meet payments for public works falling due before the end of next June ; additional liabilities, to the extent of a quarter of a million or thereabouts, have also been incurred; and some money will of course be wanted to carry on works until the Assembly, at its next session, provides fresh ways and means. Of the second million, L 750,000 was intended to be borrowed for the purpose rf squaring accounts between the Colonial and Provincial Treasurers, the latter owing the former about half a million of money. The disappearance of this item from the Loan Bill is highly satisfactory. It would have been a grand mistake to burden the country with a permanent debt of three-quarters of a million sterling, merely to enable the Treasury to balance its books. Had it been feasible to let the proposed issue of Treasury bills for the purpose of assisting the land revenue of the impecunious provinces follow suit, there would have been an additional cause of gratulation. The Financial Arrangements Bill limits the issue to £150,000 at any one time, which is a reasonable sum enough; but Treasury Bills in New Zealand have always been prone to augment their amount indefinitely, and then quietly slip into the consolidated debt of the Colony. Major Atkinson frankly recognises the clanger of using Treasury bills to assist the land revenue, but says that he is " encouraged by the conviction that the necessity is but temporary, and that the expedient adopted is justified by the peculiar circumstances of the case." Augmented receipts arijingfrom tbe increased pri'ae about to be put upon the waste lands of the Crown are contemplated as the ic«ftus by which tho stile will be got over; but if this experiment fails, the Treasurer will have to look about him for a sounder method of meeting local deficiencies in the land fund.