FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 694, 30 June 1870, Page 2

FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

[BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.] Wellington, June 28, By the favor oi J sie" 6eneral Government, k we areienabiedrtcKlay befar&our readers the Treasurer's Financial^Stateraent, which was delivered this evening. The following is a brief abstract : — ; /TheCoLow^ j TKEASUKißit;\comnienced by asking the indulgence of the Committee, on the; grounds ©f. the! early period at which the statement was made, which had /entailed a' very la^e'iamourtt of litra labor. The financial measures of l&sV&ession had anqwere^ their purpose. The curtailment of an advanced system had enabled brought to account at. the end 'of the year, which would; otherwise?,^ have as a _ charge -agamat ihis year. Tie Annuities and,. Life Insurance, «Act had been I)r6ughtjaitb operatioa irith great success; and' measures would? be proposed to increase f ittf twefulnfess:' The total debt on. Colonial account, less Sinking Fund, accrued, was L^m,m t of which L 528,000 was. represented by Treasury Bills. Thosebilla' would remain afloating, debt until' yeyembetwiUMte, when it UL C Ilj i;.A;j»Aiirt»>^|igreTle^indurit should; be. paid off or added to perMent debt. Last year's statement was >defifered before (accounts, were cpmphiteto made up but computations have J&een closely borne out. He > waned* tb remove any misunderstanding arising from what he said'/lasl year, ' for the large apparent excessive expenditure arising out of an advanced system. That system was to.b^ame,; and not those whoj&nunistered itl He would endeavor io ipply in the pr^nj;,-ata,temeni^ as rigorous a criticism of the position of affairs as might be applied by an impartial judge. After -payipg oflf Uabilitiep and, engagements on account of last year, and Ibnnging to accoui3t T Li5O,OOO : of -Treasury Bills, authorised, there would remain a surplus of % the present 7 year. ',That amount was exclusive of L 60,000 of an overdraft, which had not been paid off, as : th© /overdraft was ..merely a convenient mode of anticipaiang the revenue distributed over the v Colony,>nd there Was Virtually ho cost i6i interi* on it. . r .Th^Tijust j;und-waß in a.satiafaclory condition. The state of the ±»bst Office* Sayings Bank account wajs apleasing^testimony of the frugal habits of the people. " T , h .9 s fi, e P¥^ fe^ppco^yfeiyery complicated, owing rtQ $he number of old balaaces,: It was believed- that L 25,000 would Be recovetablevfrtnti spetnat^lnd paid over to Consolidated Kjesenue^ex^ elusive ot balance to Credit under 1^», fSlealanA Settlements Act, which ;wptddt be applied- to- payment) io( {Treasury bills under ,tha,t Abt. ; A h aepara** . Unkmg account is to ; be kfg&z io? tfie bpecial Fund in future/ uf|e^jMncial . year was not .yet ended, ,an<£ only ; , an estimate could be made for nearly the whole ofjthe present quarter.* AUKa|ili- ' ties payable on accounit. of. the jwar's services being included, there would b&» an expenditure of L 74,000 in excess 6^ votes, b^t;on other votes thefelwd been tt'saVnig of Ll2,ooo r^oLf4jOfl©. including L40;(>00 bi . an expenditure under •special order for defence purposes were satisfied^ but, those excesses wereiißde's pendent of credits to votes, which irqud .reduce tiiem iby- a i considerable jsum. Although incurring the excess of L 40,000 was legal, he was wilfing to admit that it was a violation of the understanding CQme.it to last session ifami should be con suited if the E2oo,ooovtAed for contingent defence was exceeded 3 but it must' be' stated in explanWtionHhiPas soon as it was ascertained there wouM be excess on the L2oo,ooo,Parliam^rit was convened to meet at the earliest possible momerit-^the Colony 'fiad been saved any contribution for detention of troops. The year's r^'Ventie'h'ad^idd^a as <am\v as it was /estimated. .The total expenditure would exceed the total receipts bylM«0O; but agaipst. the it. mustibe reBollected that the expenditure included L 24,000 for 'advanc^^to Southland; L } s tWl for Wanganui bridge ; 1,10,000 wvahes to Patea settlers, : and L 25 ,000 tor roads in the North Island. To disprove the statement that we were"boriQW; lad analysed tlie eipendiftire,pf laat^r. Se found th^t the ordinary expenditure imounted t6 : L 442.0001 repayment of lebtß b'ysinkiri^ fbhd, L^e,^;; PW ContiiyiMtioii ofNmvs^m^eoev } 4.)

ceptional and reproductive expenditure^ L 334,000. The General Government share of the revenue amounted to L 540,000 ; so that the total of ordinary expenditure, with sinking fund added; was considerably within the amount of ordinary revenue in those computations. Defenpe expenditure was regarded as being extraordinary expenditure., The Government submitted that, when, in 1863, it was agreed to borrow money for defence purposes, and a large annual charge was thereby imposed, it was rendered impossible for the Colony to continue to pay out of the revenue that annual charge, and also to pay out of the revenue a heavy current war expenditure out of borrowed money, as the only plan by which to fasten npon the North Island a fair share of the liability. Paid out of current revenue, the defence expenditure was finally settled, year by year, between the two islands, according .to their share of current reveniie, but if itwas considered that the Sorth Island would,, when settled, contribute fully an equal share to the revenue it would be seen that by defraying war expenditure out of borrowed money the ultimate, cost would be more equally distributed. That plan would leave the surplus ordinary revenue to be employed either for reproductive purposes, or to enable taxation to be reduced. He would now describe the proposed colonisation operations,- the principles on which the proposals were based: Ist. That both Islands should aid in the working. 2nd. Both should share iv its result. 3rd. That as few political changes as possible bemade. v4th. That allowances should be made for the varying conditions and circumstances of the different parts of. the Colony. The wants of the Colony were public works, in the shape of roads, railways and immigration. ! It was proposed to enable the Provinces •■ of -the ( North . Island, ,tp acquire a landed estate to the amount of L2Q9,00b, the cost to be charged upon the Provinces, and their lands, or , their proceeds,; to be used for railways and immigration purposes.- It was proposed to expend L 400,000 upon roads in the North" Island, and to give an equal amount to the Middle Island, to ibe spent exclusively on railways, and to be 'divided amongst the Provinces in proportion to the receipts from Consolidated Revenue. It was proposed that during the next ten years a system of railwaysshould be constructed in the North Island, from Auckland to Wanganni, via Taupp and Wellington, with connections to Napier and JSew Plymouth. i s^lji' the Middle Island, from Nelson to Picton, imun, Cflrisichureh, Timaru> O&maru, Waikouaiti, Dunedin, Tokomaririro, Molyneux, with connections to Tuapeka, Clyde, Cromwell, Arrow, andQueenstown. Those railways should be commenced from' a number of different points, and be constructed as cheaply as possible, the work being continued as the traffic demanded, for payments should be made ', ;& .money or by a subsidy of .those modes. The General Government, ti? enter into contracts for construction of lines, at the wish of the Provinces, the cost to be charged : to the provinceg, r or to be defrayed by land, but half the : amount of s'tatnp duties ; to be aioca'ted specially for railway purposes. The lines should be so devised and constructed, that a considerable portion of r cost could be x defrayed out of returns, as the works- were. -pushed on. It wayproposedto authorise L 200 ,000 tobeadvanced by Provinces for water supply on Gold Felds, L 60,000 to be spent on telegraph erections, and L 1,500,000 on immigration. The. total .expenditure of the million would be spread over ten years ; but it was computed, .that, a great part of that sum would be defrayed out of land, or be rep* resented by a guarantee of interest. Immigrationjhould be regarded as essentially « r^p^a€titU;w.ork. The total amountpioposed'to be'itborrowed during the ten years was. LQ,OO9,OQP, t inclusive of any. loan obtained from ihe Imperial Government. It was a gratifying an'iioiin<ieaierit from the Horne 5 OomnSis- • sioners about a million > loan guarantee, bnt ; ; t^e .conditions were not yet known. \ Immigration, it was proposed, should; be !;£ c6ridncted systematically' under varied > forms,' to make it suitable to the peculiar circumstances of the Colony-reach Province to be supplied with immigrants at tithe request of the Provincial Government, half of the coaiof bringing the immigrants out being defrayed by the ''Province by 'ah/arinual charge of thirty shillings per immigrant. Calculations proved that all thes^ supposing they come i jfoqrier. or, later under one management^ could not entail upon the Colony liabili- • ;ties which would be beyond tho pbwer of the Colony to meet. He .was not of opinion that increased taxation would be necessary ; indeed, he proposed that the tariff should be reduced ; but he supposed that, should the construction of railways and the introduction ot immigrants, necessitate some amount of direct taxation, after the lapse of three or four years, the .benefits would fully compensate for such taxation. He repeated, however, that he was not expressing an opinion that such taxation would be necessary. He laid it down as indispensible that immigrants /should be carefully selected — that the '' Colony, and not the mother country, must have sole charge, of the work ; and that the Colony' would not consent lo accept the refuse population of the Imperial countify. In carrying Out these arrangements, especially with a view of dealing with the taxation, it became imperative that the partnership between the Provinces and the Colony should be dissolved, and a fixed payment per head of popula- . tion .be substituted ; but, in, order tojpre'serve','existing' relations,. 'toil to prevent inordinate' demands from ''Government sources, it was desirable that the charges upon* tite I 'Provinces should b^fcept just as ,at present ; . and the capitation allowance irould < 'itfe siriiply a substitute' for the moiety" of revenue. It was'proposed that the allowance should be L 2 per head for , the first year, arid should be, reduced 2a a Vyear for five, years. The allpWjarice', then remaining at 30s per head, to be added to ■in. the case of Wesjbkuid, ,on account of the large proportion of adult population, , For the, Maoris, a special allowance of L3OOO "would bY given to Auckland and to -i Hawke'sißay, LISOO to Wellington, *nd L&WtO-Taranaki. - The Government proposed that L 50,000 should be- annually. , allqcatedjto Froyinces in proportion, to '>*$& jjppuUtiwii to be diyideii^ as /; «dj^s;,^p road dwtric^ ttie use. of that; Bvm for the specified purpose to ; be '.pare - folly guarded, and the yearly distribution isi ; be tippfpved; by the v As3embly. r |Phe totrfTprb^ostid jJaymiinto to Provinces^ in- , for.rosfi ? <%^ote, would be L 52,000 more than the Provinces had received this year. .. At stftteflient of

separate results of the change showed how very, unfairly the present system had worked, for under it Canterbury had been an extraordinary loser and Westtanda large gainer* Westland was supposed to have absorbed a great, deal of Nelson revenue. Under the capitation allowance scheme Auckland would gain LB4OO, Taianaki, ! L6600 ; Wellington, LB9OO ; Nelson, LBSOO ; Marlborough, L 5400 ; Canterbury, L 25,000 ; Otago and Southland, together, L 2600; Hawke's Bay wpuldMose'LlpO, and Westland, would- be^a loser by E13,000. Against the proposed yearly deduction of capitation allowance down to 30s riiust be set the fact, that after this year one half of 'the;, stapp; duties would, be set apart for railway purposes, independently of that allowance. Upon the important subject of reciprocal arrangements with other colonies and countries it was proposed to avoid technical duties, and the imposition of deferential duties, by taking power by Act to pay bonuses on certain imports according tp. agreement, such bonuses not:^ Hhd exceed ni< any case the amount' of the duty. As an assertion of the principle it was proposed at once to give bonuses of the importation of Australian wines. He considered that the tariff required adjustment, and without raising questions as to free trade or protection, he was willing to admit that the amount of revenue required should be the, test as, to the tariff. Therefore while proposing some increases of duty he also proposed decreases as far as possible. The articles on; the ; two : sides .: were on- a. par as to popular use. -It was proposed that the increases should come into operation at once but that the decreases should not take effect until the lßt of October next. The alterations were bacon and hams from Id per lb to l£d ; beef and pork (salted), from 2s per cwt to 4s ; butter, from Id perlb to 3d; cheese, from Id "per lb to 2d ; biscuits, from 3s petf'cwtto 6s ; potted meats, from 2s 6d per cubic foot to 5s ; jams, from 2s 6d per cubic foot to 5s ; fish, potted and ! preserved,. from 2s 6d per cubic foot to ss ; fish, dried and salted, from 2s per cwt to ss ; oysters, preserved, from 2s 6d per cubic foot to 5s ; flour, from free to Is per 1001 b; wheat, from free to 9d per 1001 b ; barley, from free to 9d per 1001 b; maize, from free to 9d per 1001 b ; oats, ditto ; ric6j from 2s per 1001 bto 2s 6d ; maizena, from Is per cubic foot to 2s ; groats, ditto ditto. Hay, from free to 10s per ton ; chaff, from free to LI per ton. Eggs, from free to Is per cubic foot. Cordage, from 3s per cwt to 6s ; soap, from 2i 6d per cwt to 3s 6d ; blankets and rngs, from 3a p©r cubic foot tosa # , leather, other than sole, from Id per lb to 2d; saddlery and harneasjfrom 2s per cubic foot to 4s ; furniture, from 6d per cubic foot to 9d ; doors and sashes, from Is each, and per pair, to 2s ; timber, sawn, from Is per hundred feet to 2s ; shingles, laths, pailings, rails 'and posts, doubled in each case ; wine, in bottles, from 4s per gallon to 53. The proposed decreases were sugar, from 9s 4d to 8s 4d per cwt ; bags woolpacks, now payjng 8d per cubic foot, to be free. The following articles to be free : — Iron fencing, iron gates, nails, tacks, rivets, tools, hollbwware, weighing machines, sash weights, sad irons, iron safes, steel, axles, arms, grindery, lasts and pegs, copper manufactures, japanned and lacquered metal w^re, papier mache ware, liquorice, alum, arsenic, spirits of tar, pitch and tar, American enamelled cloth, hair-seating, tipholsterers' webbing and springs, brewery and distillery plant. Abonus,under'the reciprocity arrangement already described, of 2s a gallon on Australian > wine in bottle, and Is a a gallon on such wine in wood. Government^ also proposed that all future defence' expenditure should be defrayed out of borrowed money, and that provisionl-fihoUld'be taken for five years' amount as follows : — For the first year, Llßo,oooj for the second, L 160,000; for each of the other three years, L 150,000. ; ,The,expenditure for the ensuing year estimated at L 489,000 for General Government purposes, andL 4 14,000 for f Provincial services, the latter sum to come out of the L 561,000 payable to the Provinces. The total estimated expenditure was L 1,050,000. The estimatedrevenue, L 1,056,000,, 056,000, leaving a surplus of LSOOC or L6OOO on the year. From various, sources, recoveries, &c, there would' be,' in addition, other L 72,000 available for the year, making a surplus of L 78,000 at the end of *he year. That surplus he~'propriseTl~ts~ leave to be~deaTt with next session, when a decision could 'bjß/come\to whether to pjiyvoff |Pcovitßsial debts orrednceoaxafibri J But if « J they : desired it, the Government are ready to carry out <Jthe various proposals this session. So impressed were the Government of the, importance, of these measures, and their necessity for the progress of Ihe; Colony, -that if the: House preferred the Government were willing tog o to the< country on their proposals. He hoped hon. members would not permit any: feelings they entertained ; against the Government to iuterfere with the ■consideration of proposals, which jit was believed were to raise the Colony from its present depressed state, to one/of; prosperity, and enable the population of the Colony. to do justice touts large resources.