FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIII, Issue 1556, 31 July 1873, Page 2

FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

(BY ELEQTRW., TELEGRAPH.) : Wbllingxon, July 30. " The Colonial Treasurer (the Hon. J. Yogel) made his Financial Statement last evening. The following is but a brief; outline of it : — • "

The Treasurer said he had pleasure in being able to communicate, to Parliament information which would prove that New Zealand had never been in a more prosperous condition than at present. The result of the financial operations of 1871-2 proved to be within L3OQ of what was estimated when he made hiis Statement last year. The new system introduced in connection with the Treasury and Audit was working exceedingly well. The Controller-General and the AuditorGeneral were associated as Commissioners of Audit, and there was really a pre-audit as to all expenditure. In order that the accounts in the Treasury and those in the Audit office might be made identical, he had this year taken , into account, uot the actual receipts dur- • ing the year, but only so much as was re- ■ ceived at the Treasury iir Wellington up , to the 30th June. Hitherto the Treasury accounts had been kept open after the end of the financial year, so tbat all receipts might be included, and, by the course now adopted, L 4500 of the revenue received during 1872-3 would not b.e included in the year's accounts. The Treasury were, for the year's purposes, losers to that amount, but such a thing would • only happen this once, and the practical ! gain from the new system would - be a great one. The present tem--1 poral indebtedness of the Colony 1 for Colonial loans was L6,881,26t. The • indebtedness of the Provinces for Pro- ; vincial loans was L 3,448,475. The " Colony was contingently liable for the 1 Jatter, and it was, no doubt, open to those : who desired to exaggerate the Colonial L indebtedness to treat the contingent liability as one required to be met out of 1 Colonial revenue, but the Provincial loans 1 were primarily charged on Provincial 1 ordinary revenues, including : the land • revenue, and there was no room to antici--1 pate any difficulty in recovering the 1 amounts. The risk of the Colony, as for the Provincial loans, could certainly be 1 underwritten for a comparatively small sum. From the Colonial liability of L 6,881,261, 881, 261 had to be deducted L 410,352 for Sinking Fund accrued, leaving a net liability of L 6,665,908., 665,908. During the past year L 45,000 of Treasury Bills on account of the deficit from 1869-70. This was the second in. stalment, and, as it was proposed to pay off another L 45,000 during the current year, the. deficit would be made good without any addition being made to the ' permanent debt. He proposed also to pay off L 20,000 of Treasury Bills issued on account of confiscated lands. There would then remain a balance of L 500,000 of Treasury Bills outstanding. These the Government thought could be paid off during a short term of years, and there-: fore it was proposed to renew them temporarily instead of making them part of the permanent debt of the Colony. It was. stated that several thousand pounds per year of interest 'mignt be saved by this course, One ; matter : which he considered of [great importance to the Colony, was the 'bold arid determined attempt had been made to reduce the rate of interest. All the Colonies had, in fact, gone in the same direction. New Zealand had issued certain amounts of 4 percent, debentures, and the minimum price was fixed at L9O 10s. Of the parcel of L 20,000 offered in New Zealand, nearly the' whole had been taken up by the Trust Fund Commissioners. In Australia, about L 150,000 \of the new loan had been. sold. The operation compared favorably with what had been done by other Colonies, more especially by Queensland. That Colony issued 4 per cent, debentures at 86, and the result: was really: a splendid one as compared with previous borrowing at higher rates of \ interest. After he had called for tenders for these 4 per cent, debentures in Australia, he was glad to receive a telegram from the loan agents announcing their recommending that in future the rate of interest should be made 4J, and that sinking or drawing funds should be abolished. The agents expressed their preference fora

4% per cent rate. They had now been in- o structed to use their discretion in the I matter, but he (the Colonial Treasurer) li had expressed his preference for 4 per c cent instead of 4J. The confiscated lands I had yielded well during the year, and i had enabled a considerable amount ad- 1 vanced with respect to them to be paid off. z Indeed the receipts during the present i month would discharge nearly the whole s of the liabilities excepting the L 20,000 of i Treasury Bills, which would be paid off ' during the year. The receipts for the ] year 1872, exclusive of the L 4500 which, : as already explained, had not been i brought to account at the end of the y.ear, ■ showed; a' total of L1, ; 119,402, being an i excess of L 43,402 over the estimates, and' '. ,of LI 11,987 over the receipts during the year 1871-2. The Customs revenue i showed an increase of L 32,144 over the estimate, and of L 76,960 over the actual receipts of the previous yeah After meeting or providing for all the liabilities of the year, there was a balance of L 3835 left with which to commence the current yearl 873-4. One of the most important matters to be submitted to the • Committee was the question of Provincial, loans for public works. The Government were determined to recommend to Parliament to allow the Provinces to. borrow money, for certain public works in a manner similar to that in which the Metropolitan Board of Works and certain other. local bodies! in England were permitted to -borrow. The proposal would be that the Provinces should borrow only on specific securities, and that it should be plainly provided, that neither the Colony nor the Provinces' concerned should be ■ liable' beyond, the specific securities given. As those specific securities were concerned, how- ; ever, the security of the lender would be absolute, and there would also be a power of law to enforce it. The works for which, it was proposed that Provincial borrowing should be allowed were roads, bridges, harbor works, reclamations, buildings for educational, and, in some cases, for charitable purposes, gold-fields works, aud light branch railways and tramways. The Colony could not possibly execute the main arterial works which it had in charge if it was to be liable to borrow also for local w.orks. That those ; local works were much wanted was in no degree; questioned, only it was said that the Provinces could better appreciate what was needed, and should be allowed to borrow for them. It was proposed that the specific securities to be ; allowed for the. work's mentioned should be in the shape of tolls, and, with the approval of' the inhabitants of any district interested, that special rates also should be levied. In cases of reclamation -the security would be over the proceeds of the work, , and as regarded buildings for educational-, or charitable purposes the security would be over the revenue from endowments. It was further proposed that the Assembly, should in some cases allow loans to be; raised against special blocks of land, and that 15 per cent, of the whole of the land revenue should be paid into the Provincial ! loan account and should, afford security for 3 these works. The Bill which it was pro- . posed to introduce , into the . Assembly . would stringently provide that neither the ordinary revenues of the Province concerned, nor those of the Colony were I to be liable for any one of these specially L authorised loans; in fact, there would I be no more liability on the par of the Colony than there was on the part of the Imperial Government for loans 7 raised in England by local boards. Of the 3 land which was ■to be purchased in! the . North Island, two-thirds of the whole } would be retained as security for 'the jcost ' of railways, and one-third would' be 3 handed to the Province interested, but $ out of -the proceeds of the two-thirds re--1 taiued for railway construction,. .15 j per cent, would be paid either to the Proving . cial Loan Account, or to a separate account in aid of Public Works within the Pro- ' vince. The proposals of; Public- Works in 1 the Colony had fully answered the expec- [ tations held ouc when the proposition' was originally announced. Money s was being borrowed at a less rate, than was anticiJ pated in 1870. It was expected that before r the end of the current financial year 5 125 miles of railway would be opened, in j addition to the 31 that had beenop^ned in Canterbury, and exclusive of the Port ' Chalmers line.. Land was now being I sold, arid large quantities at whatj ap- . peared to be iess than its value. Indeed, : the absolute value of. land had very " much increased of late, and ifc would not be right to construct further railway i. without retaining land a,s security! for their cost. The Government had, in fact, . come to the conclusion that they would not construct any other railways than ' those already authorised, except coal lines, without security in land to: the nominal value of twice, the estimated cost in each case. As in the North Island land security could not be provided, in : the same manner, and as it was ; desirable that Tsland should not be shut put from the benefit of railway construction, it would be proposed that two-thirds of all the lands purchased from Maoris should bs set apart as railway reseryes as already, described. It was. necessary' that a firm stand should be made this year 'in presence of the immense demand there was for local works and of the large sales of land that were taking place, and that was the reason why the Government, had come down with their present proposals. The' Government l ' would : . indicate the additional railways for which they meant to ask authority, arid with one; exception ifc was not intended to' hurry ; on those lines,, for the .- rail Ways already in course of construction afforded quite suffi-. cierit occupation for the available-labor in the Cplony. The Government proposed to take authority to fill up the ..three i gaps in the trunk: line between Canterbury and the Bluff, ; and to: ask for authority to spend a further sum of Lloo,ooo on the line between New Plymouth and Wanganui, the expenditure being carried on' slowly, so that the works might progress concurrently with settlement. The House would be asked to sanction a continuation 0 of -the line from Mercer to thp frontier, and from the frontier south in whatever direction might be found best suited for connecting with the main trunk line through the North Island. At present the survey for this line had not been extended further than Ngaruwahia, but this railway it was considered desirable for public reasons to hurry on especially, as it would enable to be massed on frontier $ number of men whose presence would afford the best, possible guarantee against wanton outrages such as that which had lately occurred. It would be proposed that 1 LBOO,OOO of debentures included ! in : the ( « loan alreadyauthorised, being that amount t

oat of the one million guaranted by the Imperial Government, should be kept at home as a reserve, to be available in case of need ; but that, if necessary, those debentures should be borrowed against pending sales of unguaranteed debentures. This would necessitate at present farther authority to borrow. The Committee would remember that in the original scheme it was intended to construct railwa.y 3 partly by cash payments, partly by way of guarantee,, and partly by means of v payments in land, but at the will of the House the whole weight had now -fallen upon cash paymeats, and the original provision by way of loanjwould not be sufficient for present purposes. It was, however, considered that sufficient provision would "be made for some time to come if authority was not given to borrow L 1,500,000 for railway purposes and half a million - for the purpose of Native lands in "the North Island. A separate Loan Bill would be proposed, 1 'authorising the borrowing" of L3OO 060 to cover the cost of /interest on works during construction, including, the restoration to the Public ' Works Loan, the ,amounttaken from that loan for ; this purpose. There would. alspVbe '.'included L 250.000 for the purpose of subsidies to Road Boards, including the restoration to the Public Works Loan oi the. Llso,ooo taken from that loan for subsidies. Fur;her, there; would •in this ; Loan 'Bill be included Li.15,000 for public' buildings, L35,000.f0r light-houses, and L 50,000 for telegraph extension. During ,the .recess there had been much correspondence and several interviews respecting the- luie between • FoxMl and. the Brunner, and it . had been proposed to give certain land as : security for the work, In addition 'to the security, of the Provinc^ in ;the: ; way required in the case of lines in other Pro- - vinces. The land which it was proposed to set apart had been' examined,' and,' unless for its mineral resources, it did not afford adequate ' security. In order that advantage might be taken of the mineral resources of the district more - must be known of them and of their general position j so that ,-the; railway^ might follow * such acourse' as would /be suited] -to the development "of its resources. However, it would be necessary that the question of connecting: .Nelson; •; and the West Coast with the- main trunk system of the Middle Vlsland.- should ibe considered. M For the -present it wbuld^be- proposed/^' with a survey of the line, between Foxhill and the ; 'West 'Coast,-' ■ to combine a thbrbugh investigation of the mineral re- ' "sources of the district. It would also be proposed' to'examine as to 'the besT route for connecting the East to the West Coast; and further" to ascertain whether it would .be. practicable to connect the Mavlborough line with the main trunk system. Respecting coal ■ railways, the Government fully jrecognised, as they had done throughout, that these lines did not come under the category of either "main " or "branch," but that their, construction ought to be looked' upon by the Assembly as Colonial works. A further sum would be asked for towards the Mount Rochfort line and harbor works, and an additional sum would be required to complete the harbor works connected with the Brunner and Greymouth railway. Any;, lands, taken for railway reserves : were to be subject to the ordinary land: laws of the Province in which, they were situated, except, that, with- the consent of the Superintendent, they might be liberally employed for purposes of setffement. The Government would be willing even that lands should be given under the homestead law to people, .who would^actually occupy it, and they proposed to inpoduce a by whiidh immigrantSi who paid their 'own.jpassages.,t6'. i jie, I ;(2olony would receivefree grants of; -iand subject to- occupation, cqhditipnsl,, The .Government fully recognised hq^r-Vdesirable it was that; as the demand, ■ ;f or labor in connection with public works. decreased, and as the laboring, men of the Colony saved up money, they should be induced to become settlers upon the land.; This object would be promoted in, every possible way. There was at .present a very lasge,.necessity for public buildings in differ^df parts of the province. '-^Any loan for such a purpose should obviously be jnade repayable within a not very long term of years, and it was intended so to provide in the Loan Bill which was to be introduced. Coming to the' finances of •- the :? current year the estimated expenditure for 1873-4 amounted to LI, 131, 688. -It included the payment of LBB.OOO out) of \he Consolidated Revenue towards the interest and sinking fund of the Immigration- and Public Works Loan; or L 46,000 more than was paid from that loan for the like purpose last year. It included also capitation allowances to •Provinces, : pu thejsame basiß as last year, and; taking the Reois- f = ti^Gen^'s'eatimate^t'^pnla^n, th§ ML total capitation payments toProvinces, in*^^ eluding special allowances as 'last "year wouldamount t0L217j96455, oranincrease of more than L9OOO as compared with the payments for 1872-3. Tne expenditure, as stated, included also L 45,000 for the last instalmentof Treasury Bills representing the deficit of 1869-70,' which were to be taken up during the year. .He was glad to say that there were no" Deficiency gills outstanding to be taken up. During the past year not only had^ L 45,000 of Treasury Bills ; besn Jiaken up, but LIOO,OOO of v Deficiency BiUsJn'a^'bpjßiJ paid off. It was proposed that during the, current; year. LSp,OOQ should bejagain divided amongst Road Boards. \lt was intended to propose to alter the tariff not because -additional revenue was desired, but because measurement duties :were very ? unfair ■■ in -their" operations. Those, duties were introduced ,-, here, as well as in Tasmania/by Governor Gore Brown, and the only other in which: they existed,. so 3 far as the GovernGovernor Brown came to this papt of the globe. It was -desirable to substitute orf valorem duties, not only because ~they were le_S3 objectionable, but because something like uniformity was necessary to the use of the powers for intercolonial j reciprocity which/had now been conceded, and because those duties would enable a thoroughly liberal system of drawbacks to be establishpdv The ngw 4uties' wi% some incpnsiderable e^ceptibnsy would be. much less ! than those at- present in force in Victoria, and the few^'e^ceptions made were for the purpose of securing uniformity. _. The total estimated Customs revenue for 1873-4 under the new duties would amount to L 900,000, being only L 48,000 over the recejptjj for 18,72-3, and, if the system of duties-had not, been altered, the samp Amount woujd have been estimated as/ natural increase during the current year. The total of the estimated; revenue for 1873-4* 'was

L 1,180,500, to which must be added the estimated surplus of L 62,000, with which the year was commenced, but there would assuredly be demands upon that surplus for supplementary estimates and for unauthorised expenditure.' In conclusion, he might say that this was the fifth occasion on which he had made the annual financial statement. On previous occasions he had urged the colonists to the work of colonisation, and sought to stimulate them to a sense of the resources of the country. It was now his duty to urge caution. The settlers were showing their faith in the Colony by industrial enterprises of all descriptions. They were determined to develop the coal, the iron, the flax, the timber, the minerals, and other resources of the Colony. They were ready to advance their mouey for banking and ' insurance, for steamships, and for other enterprises, and they had with great courage and determination broken down the shipping monopoly which had so lonp overshadowed the Colony. The leading features of the Budget were then that the Colony should confine its attention to the great arterial means of communication, leaving to the Provincial Governments the control of necessary local works. Precautions were proposed to keep the : colonial credit intact, and the reservation of lands for the settlement of the people had been suggested. In addition, a more convenient but certainly not a more oppressive tariff was purposed to be substituted for that. which had been long in existence. The great aim of the colonists, as well as" of the Government, should be to make JSew Zealand the home of a large, contented, and prosperous population. It was with that aim that these proposals had been made, and he hoped they would receive from the Assembly and from the Colony earnest yet kindly consideration. The delivery of the Statement occupied over two hours and three-quarters.