The Globe. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1, 1877.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 967, 1 August 1877, Page 2

The Globe. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1, 1877.

Teue to his promise, the Hon. Major Atkinson has lost no time in making his financial statement. As he very truly says, a feeling of uneasiness, amounting in some quarters to anxiety, has existed because of the belief that the services of the year could not be provided for except by increased taxation. In the absence of the tables which accompany the printed financial statement, it is not always easy to understand the hon. gentleman's figures. We shall endeavour, however, as far as we are able, to make our present financial position clear to our readers. To begin with our Public Debt. Including Treasury bills, and when the balances of all the loans now authorised are raised, our indebtedness will be £20,895,311. The purposes for which this sum has been expended are as follow: — Railways £8,000,000 Immigration ... ... 3,500,000 Harbours, lighthouses, &c, &c 400,000 Purchase Native Lands... 1,300,000 Native wars 2,000,000 Miscellaneous 5,000,000 When we turn to the past year's transactions, we find that the consolidated revenue had reached £1,614,583, —or £77,267 less than estimated. The Customs revenue has shown a deficiency of £40,621, postal £9152, but sums amounting to £15,923 had been received from the Imperial and Australian Governments, which would convert the postal dimciency into an excess of £6OOO. There was also a deficiency on incidental receipts of £18,117. In addition to the revenue received into the Consolidated Fund, there is the profit on the railways which amounts to £87,921, £IO,OOO transferred from the State Forest account, two per cent, recovered from the land fund, amounting to £71,997, the surplus at the beginning of the year £61,027. The various items of revenue for the past year, ended June 30th, are as follow : Surplus on June 30th, 1876 ... £61,027 Consolidated Fund 1,614,583 Railways 316,220 transfer i'roiu Stale Forests account 10.000 Two per cent, from land i'uud ... 71,097 £2,073,827 The actual revenue for the year is put down at £2,172,792, but this includes realisable asset?, whiift uauefc, if

our figures are correct, amount to £98,905. On the other hand the actual expenditure, including liabilities, for the year amounted to £2,02-1,572, leaving a balance of £148,220 with which to begin the present financial year. In the above statement the receipts from railways are put down at £316,220, and as the expenditure was only £228,295 there was a profit of £87,92-1 on this department for the year. The receipts from the land during the year (exclusive of gold duty) were £1,039,212, and since January Ist, when the Financial Arrangements Act came into force, the receipts from this source have been £544,454, or £322,884 over the estimate. But while the sales in this province have proved enormous, those in Otago, Nelson, Hawkes Bay, Taranaki, and Auckland have been less by £83,000 than estimated. It has been consequently found necessary to make this deficiency up by the issue of Treasury bills to the amout of £150,000, and in addition to advance £53,000 from the Consolidated Fund. When we turn to the estimate of the coming year, we find that the proposed expenditure is put down at £3,109,754, and the revenue at £3,392,085, to which must be added the surplus £148,220, with which Ave begun the present financial year, which brings up the total estimated revenue to £3,540,905. Of the total expenditure referred to above, the treasurer proposes that it shall be charged as follows : Upon the Consolidated Fund ... £2,394,546 U pon the Gold Eevenue 72,000 Upon the Land Fund 643,208 But as the land fund in some districts is insufficient to meet the liabilities placed upon it, the Treasurer says there are several courses open. The consolidated revenue may be supplemented by means of additional taxation, or by aiding it from the Laud Fund. The latter course is the one which Major Atkinson proposes to take. But as Canterbury and Otago are the only provincial districts in a position to make such refunds, it is proposed that £107,000 shall be contributed by these two provinces to the Consolidated Fund. Of the above amount Otago is to contribute £109,000, and Canterbury £58,000. Otago's contribution for this year is to be raised by loan. For Major Atkinson's reasons for the course he intends to take on this point we must, for the present, refer our readers to the Financial [Statement published elsewhere. The revenue for the year 1877-78 is therefore made up as follows : Consolidated Fund £2,263,160 Refunds from Canterbury and Otago Land Funds 167,000 Goldfield Revenue, Gold Duty, &c, 72,000 Land Sales, Licenses, &c 890,525 Balance on Juno 30th 148,220 Total revenue £3,5 10,905 As the proposed expenditure is £3,109,754 there would therefore be an apparent surplus at the end of the financial year of £131,151. But of this sum £329,309 consists of surplus land fund and belongs to those provincial districts in which it has been raised. "When that therefore is handed over, there should be a balance, Avere Major Atkinson's estimates correct, of £101,781 with which to begin the next year. We must leave further comment on the statement, especially upon the provision to be made for public works, till a future issue.