Financial Statement

Feilding Star, Volume XIV, Issue 1, 2 July 1892, Page 2

Financial Statement

Following is a precis of the Financial Statement delivered in the House \m Thursday evening last iby the Colonial Treasurer:— > ; After referring to the! increased prosperity of the colony thedolonial saidJU was his pleasing cUfty to inform theWmmittee of the results of the' past financial -year so far as Ithey effected the revenue account of the colony. The actual receJfejß amounted to £4,861,087, and the expewaiture 10^4,192,947, resulting theretre in an excess of revenue j>ver expendiire ftf £168,140. The public debt on the 31st March, 1892, in respect of which we are paying interest, was^£3B,7l9 f O6B, but as the accumulated sinking Jpnds are estimated £1,035,44), the net debt at that date was £87,677,619. The post and telegraph service is -now subject to classification, and the classification, of officers is virtnally complete, and salaries have been fixed according to rank in the service. There are several' increases, notably in the Colonial Secretary's Department of £14,634, arising principally from census work. Treasury shows a de« crease of £4,450, some spe^aal items voted last year Jbeing no longer require^. A saving of ±4,841 has been effected^ri the Defence Department, arising from the completion of orders for ordinance and other warlike stores. Some further sniall decreases make up the total to £19,5?3t The expenditure for opening up the country last year was as follows i-^On various roads, £30,698 ; on 'roads to open up lands for sale, £27,992 ; lent to local bodies under the Act, £89,408; subsidies, £47,760 "thirds" and •'fgnrths" from deferred payment and perpetual . leasa sales paid over to local bodies, £M,IBOT roads to give access I<>; lands adjacent to North Island Main Trunk .Railway. £30,220; total, £260,259. The estimated expenditure for the land fund account, 1892-3 for the year is £134,162. Compared with the actual expenditure ot last year of £120,032, there iisl an increase of £2125 in the first item representing in> creased payment of " thirds " to local bodies. The main increase, however,—- $ £14,523— is in the Survey Department, . the total amount this year being estimated at £109,162. This' increase has after much consideration been arrived" ai from the necessity of providing for the. work of opening up land and carrying on settlement. Many of the surveys have, been for years in arrear, and the growing demand to open up sufficient country, both in the North and South Islands pan only be met by providing for a large in* crease in the staff of field surveyors. A considerable portion of this expenditure^ will take place in consequence of the' cut. ting up of runs in the South Island for settlement purposes. The department had before it the responsibility of either increasing the estimate for the surveys or leaving the survey work undone. This question was carefully considered by the Government, and they had no hesitation in coming to the conclusion that the interest of the country required that the surveys should proceed at an equal pace with the demand for settlement. The estimated revenue for the current year consists of cash sales £44,000, and sales on deferred payments £55,000. The total amounts to £99,000. This is less than the estimate for last year, and less than the actual revenue received, which amounted to £103,241. The Railways have been put down at £1,140,000, instead of £1,121,990 received last year, or an increase of abo"t-fiP.«oo ewv^, WSBtoners have gorte carefully into the prospects of the railways, and they put down this increase as the least that may be expected from this source of reyenue. It will be remembered that the increase in the expenditure was £9814. The time has, I think, arrived when the Native lands, which are rapidly increasing in value from the progress of colonisation going on around, them, should pay the same taxation as other private lands are called upon to contribute to the Treasury and to local bodies, or a certain proportion of them should pass into the hands of the Government at a fair price and be used for purposes of settlement. It is accordingly proposed to submit to Parliament for consideration a measure intended to provide for the acquisition of Native lands to an extent not exceeding an expenditure of £50,000. The Government believe the acquisition of private lands to be a matter of the first importance that the work of colonisation should be renewed in many parts of the Colony where landed monopoly prevents the increase of population, or where the coS^ ' solidation of estates drives people into the , towns oi 1 out of the Colony. To acquire „. land to be settled in moderate sized and small areas, a Bill has been prepared to enable land to be purchased, subJecTttf--" 4 such checks and safeguards as will absolutely prevent the possibility of the system being abused. The Treasurer was hopeful his estimates under the Land and Income Tax would be fully realised. The graduated laud tax may be set down as about equalling the estimates, and may be gtaken as producing £60,000— possibly more; for here again the exact figures tare not obtainable, in consequence of reductions made by Boards of Review not haying yet been taken into account, Both tho Government Insurance and Public Trust Offices were waking satis, factory progress. The Bu/eau of labuur * had been a great success, and in 12 * months had found work for 2974 persons The Government have proceeded, i& [ accordance with the expressed intention of my colleague the Minister oi fttndf

last session, to organise a Department o Agriculture, and have appointed ai Secretary the officer who has performet his duties so satisfactorily as the Chic Inspector of stock, and' who is particularly qualified to be the permanent heac of. the new department. The Government are now considering the question oi enlarging the usefulness of the experimental farms, and an endeavour will b« made to establish several of these usefu: aids to settlers in determining what trees and fruits to grow. The system of carry- -^ ing out public works on the co- operative sjßtem, inaugurated bj my colleague the Minister for Public Works immediately upon the Government taking office, has been in every respect successful. The question may be asked,— Can ■ the Colony afford to bring to a termination the construction of road and bridges which alone enable settlement to proceed on the public lands, or would it be a wise policy to hang up many of tbose lines of railway that are now approaching a paying point? Wo must continue to open up land for settlement by means of money spent on roads and bridges; wo must still continue, slowly . it may be, to take out railways forward to those points where they will serve tho purpose of tapping districts of high producing capacity. The Government believe this to he the mind of the country, and tho only question that remains, therefore, is— How are the ways and moans to be provided ? The Government have come to the conclusion that a loan can be avoided by devoting sufficient out of the surplus revenue of the Consolidated Fund for the year to carry on public works at a rate that will satisfy the inarch of progress. ' Tho sum of £200,000 will accordingly be t«' a ' isferred from the surplus revenue to the Public Works Fund in convenient amounts from time to time within the year. TheGoterniuent didnot pr>pose to in» terfere with the tariff this srß<ion. Tho treasurer, after combating the statement about capital leaving the country through the Government's financial proposals, concluded by sketching in outline the financial policy of the past year, nnd indicating the proyision made to carry on the jiublic service for the current year. It was do small thing that we had been able to pay off £200,000 of the floating debt in one year, one halF the amount coming out of revenue; that we should have devoted £30,000 out o\ revenue for roads and bridge?, rind made good from the same source the deficit of the Lnncl Fnnd. Above this lie had the gratification of announcing a splendid surplus of £165,000 brought- over from last year. After referring lo the practice of selfreliance on the part of the people the : Premier sat down amidst applause.