The Financial Position.

Feilding Star, Volume XVI, Issue 180, 30 January 1895, Page 2

The Financial Position.

Iv his financial statement, delivered on July 24th, 1894, Mr Ward, the Colonial Treasurer, sums up his estimates and makes the following forecast of the result of his financial operations for the year ending 31st March, 1895 : — Estimated revenue, 189-1-5. —

Six months only have passed since this forecast was made, but as three quarters of the financial year have exexpired we are able to judge how far this estimate of the Colonial Treasurer's is in course of realization. The returns for the three quarters ending 81st December last, published in the gazette and summarized by the New Zealand Times are as follows : — Expenditure. —

So the whole of the ordinary revenue for the three quarters has been expended, besides the surplus of £290,238, and the £117,800 released sinking funds ; only £50,000 instead of ±250,000 has been transferred to the Public Works account, and instead of a surplus of £91,940 there is a deficit of £84,173. Tho Colonial Treasurer is, in fact, out of his reckoning already to the tune of .£376,113. If it is ' asked how this has come about, the reply is simple enough. The estimates of ordinary expenditure have been largely exceeded, and the estimates of ordinary receipts have been largely unrealized, as the following statement shows : — £ £

It is utterly hopeless to expect that the position will not be considerably worse at the end of the current quarter ; for the only source of receipt is now the ordinary revenue, which, during the past three quarters has been supplemented by the sum of i' 412,621 from other sources, and even with that aid £34,173 more has been required to meet the ordinary expenditure alone. These figures need little comment. They speak eloquently enough for themselves—of the reliance to be placed on the Colonial Treasurer's finance - of the economy of this Liberal and non-bor-rowing Government, and of the certainty of further loans and heavier taxation to meet the demands of Messrs Seddon and Co. A. FOLLETT HALCO3IBE. Feilding, January 28th, 1895. P.S. — Since writing the above I learn from the report of Mr Ward's Dunedin speech that he scoffs at the suggestion of a deficit and estimates " that after the 31st March the surplus would be over 1350,000." It matters little apparently to Mr Ward, that the published Treasury returns show such a result to be an impossibility. The majority of his audience had not access to the official figures, and would not understand them if they had. I remember in my early days seeing " The Wizard of the North " pour out from an empty bag hundreds of substantial presents for the benefit of an expectant and astonished audience. It is to be hoped that Mr Ward, after the manner of his celebrated prototype in the conjuring line, may have a spare half a million or so up his sleeve to replenish his empty treasury ; but I venture to prophesy that his promissary note for .£350,000, made payable at the Treasury on 31st March, and backed by the credulity of bis Dunedin audience, will be returned marked " N.S.F." with an urgent note besides, addressed to the taxpaying guarantors, reminding I;hem that the public account had already been overdrawn to the tune of a couple of hundred thousand pounds.— A. F. H.

Estimated revenue J of 1-4,234,000 3,176,250 Ee venue received to December 31st 2,99.5,842 Deficiency 180,408 Expenditure to 31st December 3,442,636 Est'ed expenditure i 3 , of £4,301,098 3,225,822 Over expenditure 216,814 £397,222

A -fc Ordinary expendit're 3,442,636 Transfer to Public Works 50,000 3,492,636 Receipts. — Surplus, 1893-4 290,233 Sink'g funds releas'd 117,800 Recoveries Cheviot estate, etc. 4,583 Ordinary revenue 2,990,842 3,408,463 Deficit 84,173

£ £ Surplus, 1893-4 290,238 Siuk'g funds releas'd 117,800 Ordinary revenue 4,235,000 4,643,038 Esti'd. expenditure, 1894-5.— Ordinary exp'ndit're 4,301,098 Transfer to Public Works Fund 250,000 4,551,098 Net avail'ble surplus March 31st 1895 91,940