Intest Telegraphic Items.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 15, Issue 800, 30 June 1870, Page 3

Intest Telegraphic Items.

THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT. Wellington, 28fch June, 1870. The Financial Statement was delivered this evening. The following is a brief abstract: — The Colonial Teeasueeb commenced by asking the indulgence of the Committee, on the ground of the early period at which the statement was made, which had entidied a very large amount of extra labor The financial measures of last session had answered their purpose. The curtailment of the advanced system had enabled a large sum to be brought to account at the end of the year, which would otherwise have appeared as a charge against this year. The Annuities and Life Insurance Act had been brought into operation with great success, and measures would be proposed to increase its usefulness. The total debit ou colonial account, less sinking fund accrued, was £4.200,000, of which £528,000 was represented by Treasury Bills. Those bills would remain a floating debt untd November, 1874, when it would be finally decided whether the amount should be paid olf or added to the permanent debt. Last year's statement was delivered before the accounts were completely made up, but computations had been closely borne out He wished to remove any misunderstanding arising from what he said last year. For !}he large apparent excessive expenditure arising out of the advanced pystem, that system was to blame, and not those who administered it. He would endeavor to apply in the present statement as rigorous a criticism of the position of affairs as might be applied by an impartial person, not responsible for the proceedings. After paying off liabilities and engagements on account of last year, and bringing to account £150,000 Treasury 13ills authorised, there would remain a surplus of £76,000 for present year. That amount was exclusive of £60,000 overdrafts which had not been paid off, as the overdraft was merely a convenient mode of anticipating the revenue disiributed over the Colony, and there was virtually no cost for interest on account of it. The Trust Fund was in a satisfactory condition. The state of the Post Office Savings Bank accounts was a pleasing testimony to the frugal habits of the oeople. The special fund account was very complicated, owing to its including a number of old balances. It was proposed to clear off those balances. It was believed that £25,000 would be recoverable from the special fund, to be paid over to the consolidated revenue, exclusive of balance to

! credit under the New Zealand Settlements Act, which would be applied to the payment of Treasury Bills issued under that Act. Seperate banking accounts were to be kept in future for the special fund. The financial year was not yet ended, and onlv an estimate could be made for nearly the •whole of the present quarter. All liabilities 'payable on account of the year's services ' being included, there would be an expenditure of £74,00-> in excess of votes, but, on other votes, there had been a saving of £12,000. The £74,000 included £IO,OOO expended under special order for defence purposes. Possibly, another £IO,OOO might i have to be paid before all liabilities for the year for defence purposes were satisfied ; but those excesses wero independent of credits to vote, which would reduce them by a considerable sum. Although incurring the excess of £IO,OOO was quite legal, he was willing to admit that it was a violation of the spirit, of the understanding come to last session, that Parliament should be convened if the £200,000 voted for contingent defence purposes was exceeded; but it must be stated in explanation that as soonas it was ascertained that there would be an excess of the £200,000, Parliament was convened to meet at the earliest possible moment. The Colony had been saved any contribution for detention of the troops. The year's revenue had yielded closely as estimated. The total expenditure would exceed the receipts by £35,000; but against the deficiency it must be recollected that the expenditure included £24,000 for advance to Southland, £15,000 for Wanganui bridge, £IO.OOO advance to Patea settlers, and £25,000 (or roads in the North Island. To disprove the statement that we were borrowing money to pay ordinary charges, he had analysed the expenditure of the past year. He found that the ordinary expenditure amounted to £442,000; repayment of debtri by sinkicg fund, £46,000; . and exceptional and reproductive expenditure, £331,000. The General Government share of revenue amounts to £540,000, so that the total of ordinary expenditure, with sinking fund added, was considerably within the amount of ordinary revenue. In those computations defence 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 thatannual charge, and also to pay out of th? revenue a heavy current war expenditure, —out of borrowed money was the only I plan by which to fasten upon the North 'lsland a fair sh ire of the liability paid out of the current revenue; the defence expenditure tvas finally settled year by year between the two islands, according to their share of current revenue. But if it was considered that the North 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 colonising operations. The principles on which proposals were based were—lst, both islands should aid in the work ; 2nd, both should share in its results ; 3rd, that as few political changes as possible should be made ; and ? 4th, that allowances should be made for the varying conditions and circumstances of different parts of the Colony. The want of the Colony was public works, in the shape of roads and railways and immigration, the two being most closely allied. It was proposed to enable the provinces of the North Island to acquire a , landed estate to the amount of £200,000, the cost to be charged upon the provinces, and the lands, or their proceeds, to be used for railways or immigration purposes. It was proposed to spend £400,000 upon roads in the North Island, and to give an equal amount to the Middle Island, to be spent exclusively on railways, and to be .divided amongst the provinces in proportion to their receipts from the consolidated revenue. It was proposed that during the next 10 years a system of railways should be constructed in the North Island, from Auckland to Wanganui via Taupo, with connection to Napier, New Plymouth, and Wellington. In the Middle Island, from Nelson to Grey mouth and Hokitika, with connection to West-port; also, from Picton to Amuri, Chrfstehurch, Timaru, Oamaru Waikouati, Dunedin, Tokomaisiro, Molyneux, and Winton, with connection to Tuapeka, Clyde, Cromwell, Arrow, and Queenstown. Those railways should bo com menced from a number of different points, and be constructed as, cheaply as possible, the works being continued as traffic demanded Payments should be made in money, or by guarantee, or by subsidy; or by land, or by two or more of these modes , —the General Government to enter into constracts for the construction of lines at the wish of provinces; the cost to be cuarged to provinces, or to be defrayed by land, but half the amount of stamp duties to be allocated specially for railway purposes. The price should be so devised and constructed that a considerable . portion of the cost could be defrayed out of the returns as the works were pushed on. It was proposed to authorize £200,000 to be advanced to Provinces for water supply on gold-fields; £60,000 to be sp itt on telegraphic extension ; and £1,500,000 on immigration. The total expenditure of £10,000,000 •'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 represented by guarantees of interest. Immigration should be regarded as essentially a reproductive work. The otal amount proposed to be borrowed dm,'-

ing the ten years was £6,000,000, inclusive of any loan obtained from the Imperial Government. It was a gratifying announcement of the Commissioners about £1,000,000 guarantee, but. the conditions were not yet known. Immigration, it was proposed, should be conducted systematically, under varied forms, to make it j suitable to the peculiar circumstances of the Colony ; each province to be supplied I with immigrants at the request of the Projviucial Government, half the cost of bringing the immigrants out being defrayed by the provinces by an annual charge of 30s per immigrant. Calculations proved that all these proposals, supposing they came sooner or later, under one management, could not entail upon the Colony liabilities which it would be h&s'-ond the power of the Colony to meet. \E[e was not of opinion that iucreased taxation would be necessary; indeed, he proposed that the tariff should be reduced, But even supposing that the construction of railways and the introduction of immigrants did necessitate some amount of direct taxation after the lapse of three or font years, the benefits would fully compensate for such taxation. He repeated, however, that he was not expressing an opinion that such taxation would be Ho laid it down as indispensable that" immigrants should be carefully selected ;. that the Colony and not the mother country must have the whole charge of the work, and that the Colony would not consent to accept the refuse population of the Imperial country. In carrying out these arrangements, specially 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 population be substituted. But in order to preserve existing relations, and to prevent inordinate demands for Government services, it was desirable that the charges upon the Provinces should be kept just as at present, and the capitation allowance would be simply a substitute for the moiety of revenue. It was proposed that the allowance should be £3 per head for the iir.-t year, and should be reduced 2s a year for five years, the allowance then remaining at 30» per head, a special allowance of 5s per head to be added in the case of Westland, on account of a large proportion of adult population ; for the Maoris—a special al lowance of £3OOO to Auckland and to Hawke's Bay, £1,500 to Wellington, ana £SOO to Tu.iv.naki. The Government proposed that £50,003 should be annually allocated to provinces, in proportion to their population, to be divided as subsidies to road districts —the use of that sum for the specified purpose to be carefully guarded, and the yearly distribution to be

approved by the Assembly. Tne total proposed payments to provinces, including the £50,000 for roan dislricts, would be £52,000 more- than the provinces hau received this year. A statement of separate results of change showed how very unequally and unfairly the present system! had worked ; lor, under it, Canterbury had b.-en an extraordinary loser and Westland a large gainer Weetland was supposed to have absorbed a great deal the Nelson revenue. Under the capitation allowance scheme Auckland would gain £3,400; Taranaki, £6,600; Wellington, £8,900; Nelson, £8,500; Marlborough, £5,400 ; Canterbury, £25,000 ; Otagb and Southland together, £2,600. Hiwke's Bay would lose £IOO ; and Westlaud would lose £13,000. Against the proposed yearly reduction of capitation allowance d<.>\vi\ to 30s must be set the fact that alter this year one half of the stamp duties would be set apart for railway purposes independent of that allowance. Upon the important subject of reciprocal arrangements with other colo' ies and countries, it was proposed to avoid technical duties as to imposition of differential duties by taking power by Act to pay bonusses on certain imports according to agreements, such bonusses not to exceed in any case the amount of duty. As an assertion of the principle it was proposed at once to give a bonus upon the importation of Australian wines. He considered that the tariff required adjustment, and! without raising the question of free trade! or protection, he was willing to admit that rhe amount of revenue requhed should be the test as to the tariff Therefore, while proposing some increase of duty, he also proposed di creases ; and, as far as possible, the articles on the two sides were on a par hs to popular use. It was proposed that the increase should cornc into operation at once, but that the decrease should not take effect until the Ist of October next. The proposed alterations were as follows : Proposed increases : Bacon and hams, from Id per lb. to 1-^.l; beef and pork, salted, from 2s per cwt. to 4s; butter, from Id per lb. to 3d ; cheese, from Id per lb. to 2d ; biscuits, from 3s per cwt. to 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 pe: 1 cubic foot to 5s ; fish, dried ar.d salted, from 2s per cwt. to 4s ; oyst.rs, preserved, from 2s 6A per cubic foot to 5s ; flour, from free to Js per lOOlbs ; wheat, from 4d to 9d per lOOibs ; barley, from free to 9d per lOOibs ; maize, from free to yd per lOOiba ; oats, from free to 9d per 1001 b; ; rice, from 2s per 1121 b tp 2s 6d ; maizena, from Is per cubic foot to 2s; groats, from Is per cubic foot to 2s; hay, from free to 10s per ton : chaff, from free to £1 per ton; eggs, from free to Is per cubic foot; cordage, from 3s per cwt. to 6s ; soap, f»*oin 2s 6d per cwt. to 3s 6d; blankets and rugs, from 3s per cubic foot to si ; leather, other than sole, from Id per lb. to 2d: saddlery and harness, from 2s per cubic foot to 4s; furniture, Irom 6d per cubic foot to 9d ; doors and sashes, from Is each and per pair to 2s; timber, sawn, from Is per 100 ft to 2s j shingles, laths s

'palings, rails, posts, doubled in each ease; wine in bottle, from 4s per gallon to ss. The proposed decreases were—sugar, from 9s 4d per cwt. to 8? 4d ; bags and wool packs, now paying Is 6d per cubic foot., to be free; iron fencing, Is per cwt, free ; iron gates, 4s per cwt., free; nails, tacks, rivets, and tools, now variously charged, free; hollo ware, from Is per cwt., free; weighing machines, 4s per cwt., free : sashweights, 4s per cwt., free ; sad irons, Is per cwt., free; iron safes, 4s per cwt., free; steel, Is per cwt., free; axles and arms, 2.-3 per cwt., free; copying presses, 4s per cwt., free: grindery and pegs, Is per cubic foot, free; copper manufactures, 4s per cwt., free ; japanned and lacquered metal wsre, 4s per cwt., free; papier mache ware, Is per cubic foot, free ; liquorice, 2s 6d per cubic foot, free ; alum, 3s per cubic foot, free ; arsenic, 4s per cwt., free ; sulphur, Is per cwt,, free ; spirits of tar, (3d per gallon, free ; pitch and tar, Is per barrel, free ; American enamelled cloths, 5s per cubic foot, free; hair seating and upholsterers' webbing and springs, now charged various rates, free; brewery and distillery plant, various, free; a bonus under reciprocity arrangement as already described, of 2s per gallon on Australian wine in bottle, and Is per gallon on such wine in wood. The Government proposed that the defence expenditure should be defrayed out of borrowed money, that provision should be taken for five years, theamountfor thefirstyearbeing£lßo,ooo; lor the second year, £160,000; for each of the three yeare, £150,000. The expendi* ture for the ensuing year was estimated at £189,000 for General Government services, and £414,000 for Provincial purposes ; the latter sum to come out of the £561,000 payable to Provinces. Total estimate! expenditure, £1,050,000; estimated revenue, £1,056,000; leaving a surplus of £5,000 or £6,000 on the year. From various sources, recoveries, &c., there would be in addition over £72,000 available for the year, making a surplus of £78,000 at the end of the year That surplus he proposed to leave to be dealt with next session, when a decision could be come to wuether to pay off part, of the debt or reduce taxation. If the house desired it, the Government were ready t carry out the various proposals this session, so impressed were they as to the importance of the measures, and their necessity to the progress of the Colony ; but if the bouse preferred, the Government were witling to go to the country on their proposals. He hoped honorable members would not permit any feelings entertained against the Go ."eminent to interfere with the consideration of proposals winch it was deemed would raise the Colony from its present depressed state to one of prosperity, and enable the population of the Colony to do justice to its large resources.