PARLIAMENT

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 276, 28 June 1889, Page 2

PARLIAMENT

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Tuesday. June 25. The House met ac 2.20. NEW MEMBER. Mr E. W. Humphreys, the newly elected member for Christohurch North, w-a introduced by the Minister of Lands, and took the oath and his seat. . EVENING SITTING. The House resumed at 7.30. FINANCIAL STATEMENT. Tho Colonial Treasurer, Sir Henry Atkinson, moved the House into Committee of Supply, and delivered the Financial statement. He stated that our trade is revising, our foreign markets have much j improved, and our industries large and small, with hardly an exceptio •, show increased activi y and steady progress, and that he was able to announce a surplus. The estimated expenditure for the year 1888-9, including the votes taken upon the supplementary Estimates and charges under special Acts, amouuted to £4,084,054 The actual expenditure was L 3,97-7--20 5; there, were therefore unexpended of the amount authorised L 106,789. The total, revenue estimated to be received 'during the year"" 1888-89 was L 4,162,400, 162,400 ; the actual amount received was L 4,055,034, so that th.i revenue as estimated in the Financial Statement exceeded the actual receipts by LlO7 366. The Customs duties yielded : ess than the estimates by about £55,392. This wil not sui'prise member—it is certainly, under the circumstances, not an unreasonable margin of error, t ikiug into account the great difficulty in forming an accui ate estimate when something like a compe te revision of the tariff takes place during the year for which the estimate is made. The estimated expenditure of the Land !<und was £127,493. The actual expenditure proved to be Ll 19,496. The expenditure was therefore less than the ' estimate by L 7927. Of the expenditure, L 23-,--:336 was paid to local bodies as cjntributi ns in respect of receipts from deforred.payment and perpetuallease land, and L15.4U7 ior rates on C: own lands. The estimated revenue of the Land Fund was Ll 19,000. The actual receipts were L 105.007, being L 10,993 less than estimated. The total ordinary revenue reaeived was L 4,054,034, and that the total ordinary expenditure amounted to L 3,977,265 ; there was, therefore, a surplus fo* tho year of L 77,769. The colony may we'll be satisfied, especially when it is remembered that all this has been accomplished with a large decrease in the public works expenditure I excluding chaiges and expenses of raising loans), which has been for the last four years respectively; 1885-86, L 1.239,828; 188688, L 1,166,374; 1887,8^, L966JIL; and last year, L 528,45 2; and of these amounts ther * was spent within the colony in 1885-86 1,013,328; in 18S6-87, •/1,0G0'474;in 1837-88, L 802,711 ; and ast year, L 450,353. The gross public debt on the 31st March, 1838, was L 36.758.447 ; on the 81st March, 1888, it was L 38,375,050, but deducting the sinking funds accrued, now amounting to L 1,395,389,, 395,389, the net debt was L 36,979,661, as against L 35,545,610 on the 31st March, 1888. The ad dition to the permanent debt during the last financial year was L 1.91-6--013. There were old loans paid off and new left as raised, the result of the yeai*'s operation on the L»in Account beias an addition to the permanent debt of i 1,616,613; but ou the the other hand, it is material to n >te that by far the greater part of this sum though borrowed, vras not spent, but remained in hand, to the amount of L 1,357,696,, 357,696, on the 31st March last.

He now came to the consideration of the expenditure and revenue of the current year - r and, according to custom, first dealt with the expenditure. The estimated ordinary total expenditure is L4,l 19,331, Of this L 1,613,20.5, 613,20.5 is for interest. Hn. members will bear in mind that, of the L 1,888,405, 888,405 which appears as interest and sinking fund under the permanent Acts, about L275,20fy although charged aginst revenue ia recouped 10 the < onsolidated Stock Act of 1 884. It is very necessary to remember this fact, as the larger sum is often spoken bf atrtho amount of annaal interest we have to pay, and so our financial position is assumed to be worse 1 than it really is. There are no it'emi requiring special remark, but hon members' attention to the increase in the education vote iff necessitated by the usual annual inci^ase in children of the school age. The estimates also indued L 25,000 for school buildings. He must, however, point out that, although . we have increased the salaries of officers receiving ess tfran L2OO a year by a total of L 452£, and of officers of higher grades, to rectify inequalities, whicn he Ist session announced shou d be inquired into, by L 1605, and have also in increased the expenses of the Native Land I'ourt by L3OOO to enable the Court to cope with the large increase of work coming before it< He said that,notwithstanding these increases, the proposed expenditure under the thirteen classes annually voted i» | L 39,733 less than the amouat ! granted last year. I hope that this fact wi 1 reconcile the Committee to the moderate increases which we have thought it fair to propose. Provision is also made for the continuation of the subsidies to the local bodies at the s*me rate as was paid last year. From what he had said, hon members will see that he estimated «o rec iVer a total revenue of L 4,32-3--900, against a total expenditure of L 4,239,33 1; bat excluding the Land Fund from both sides of the account we get a revenue of L 4",187,800, against ah expenditure of LM r ll7---331, thus showing a balance of L 70,460 at the end of the year 1889 90, if his anticipations arff realised. But to this amoun the adds what is left of last year's surplus of L 79,799 after paying off L 50,000 of the deficit of the year before— namely, L27,769— and gets a surplus of L 98,238, of which about L 55,000 will be applied to the further redemption of floating debt,, leaving a. sum of 43,238 at the eild of the 1 current year, which is certainly not 'too large a margin to work upfln, especially if the proposal the Government will make for the continuance of th£ Otago Central railway shall be adopted ; but with careful management it will prove sufficient. He proposed amongst oiher thmgs in the Property T x, to exempt from the tax all machinery, which^*^ however, will be strictly defined; and to allow any owner, or the Property Tax Commissioner, to have x properties re- valued under reasonable restrictions without awaiting the trieuniiil period. 'I'hese remis-. sions, and the fall in the new vauation, will cause an estimated loss to ! the revenue of about L 20,000, as compared with the amount received i from property-tax last year ; but the Grovernme it do not propose to ask for any new tax to meet this falling off, hoping that there will prove to be sufficient elasticity in the general revenue to make it good. In fulfilment of that promise the Minister for Public Works the Minister of Defence, several members of the House, the Assistant Engineer-in Chief, and himsalf visited the « eutral Otago district shortly before last Christmas. He was very much pleased with the country, and came o the conclusion, without any doubt, : that the railway ought to be 3ontinueJ, if it could be done without infraction of the policy we are all agreed on —that is, without recourse to a new loan. They think it can be done, and a Bill to give effect to our proposal of at once continuing the line will be submitted for the consideration of Parliament. The Treasurer concluded amidst cheers. The Minister for Public Works stated he would deliver his Statement in 14 days, and the Minister of Lands stated his report would be brought down in a few days. The House then adjourned.