THE ESTIMATES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 506, 13 November 1909, Page 3

THE ESTIMATES.

VOTES FOR THE YEAR.

ITEMS OF INTEREST.

The estimates for the year submitted with the Budget contain some interesting figures. For permanent charges for xgog-ioa sum of ,£3,467,297 i s set apart, against £3,176,077 expended last year. In the case of the Hansard staff the charge for extra reporters and assistance (,£750 last year) has disappeared. In the case of the Valuation Department, fees to valuers are set down at ,£I2OO, against £2227 expended last year, and travelling expenses are set down at £2500, against ,£s4o* expended last year. Throughout various departments several charges for high officials disappear in consequence of the operation of the retrench ment policy. The charges for the Finance Department alone are reduced from ,£11:1,619 expended last year to ,£70,322 proposed to be voted this year,, In the Post‘and Telegraph Department the secretary gets an increase of ,£xoo per year in his salary, the superinteudant of electric lines £SO, and the assistant secretary and inspector ,£SO. Gratuities to the San Francisco service are missing this year.

A sum of £3500 is provided for further restoration of the old Parliament Buildings. In the Police Department a compassionate allowance of ,£274 is provided for the widow of Detective A. Henderson, and £2OO for expenses connected with the recovery and burying of bodies of persons drowned in the wreck of the Penguin. An item of appears in the charges of the Department of Internal Affairs for six watchmen.

There is a new charge of for payment to Post Office for services of postmasters as registrars of births, etc.

The charges made in respect of the High Commissioner’s Department show that the Trade and Immigration Representative gets a salary of per year. Typewriters lor use of Government cost ,£1382 last year. This year only £iso is provided. The Inspector of Mental Hospitals has his salary increased by £25 (£9s°)• In the charges against the Public Health Department there is a new item of £7s° f° r " Consulting medical officer in London,” and of £215 for cost of entertaining visitors to the Dominion and of official functions.

Locomotion expenses of the Governor and staff travelling between Palmerston North and Wellington last year cost £122. Then travelling allowances and expenses of officers travelling to London is responsible for a vote of £s o s' For the cost of sending the rifle team to New South Wales £3s° is provided. In the Customs Department, the recent activity against smuggling is accentuated by a new vote of £l9O as salary for a searcher.

There is also an item of £3OO for a drapery expert at Wellington. The old charge for a drapery expert at Dunedin disappears. The upkeep of Government steamers (Hinemoa and Tutanekai) last year cost ,£16,349, and the Amokura ,£6962. Engineroom repairs to the Hinemoa cost ,£1036 last year. A sum of .£ISOO is voted for salaries of Conciliation Commissioners, and £I2OO for fees payable to members of industrial councils. Then there is an item of £4OO for legal expenses re slaughtermen’s strike. Subsidies' to doctors in outlying districts last year amounted to £IO7B. This year £llOO is voted.

In most cases the departmental charges show big reductions, and the number of officers, in consequence of the retrenchment scheme, is correspondingly reduced. For instance, the number of officers in the Department of Agriculture, Commerce and Tourists is reduced from 632 to 560. In this department advertising, distribution of pamphlets, etc., last year cost £3446. The Canadian steam service subsidy is reduced from £xo,ooo to £4BOO. There is a vote of £3OOO for the Imperial International Exhibition, London, and £3500 for a steam service for New Zealand to Tahiti.

The votes in connection with the State nurseries are all reduced.

A sum of £50,000 is provided for the development of State coal mines. East year ,£452 was spent. Commission paid in respect of Government insurances last year amounted to £15,719. This year £f6,000 is voted.