COUNTY REVENUE UNDER GOVERNMENT PROPOSALS.
We-have been at some pains to calculate'the revenues which would be available for expenditure -bj the governing bodies of the Otago Counties. A very vague impression prevails on the'point, and therefore the figures which we advance with some confidence are worthy of attention. The -revenues at the disposal of the Counties are made up' of iJoldfields revenue, licenses, tolls, and Bhare of land
revenue. Of these, the land revenue we cannot calculate upon. It will, therefore, be understood that the revenues of each County are exclusive of any amount that may be forthcoming from land. Considering that the loss of direct revenue to Otago under the Government proposals amounts to £150,000, while the average land re-
venue cannot be put as high as £160,000, there is no great margin for balance even if wo disregard the charges to be levied before such balance comes back to the Provincial district for distribution.
Goldfields Ordinary „, , llevenue. Revenue. ° tt • £ & & Otago 793 10,469 11,262 Clyde 8486 758 9244 Wakatipu ... 10,183 758 10,941 Southland ... 1591 758 2319 Waitaki 310 2008 2318 Clutha 3636 2768 6105 Wallace 688 ' 1508 2195
In this table fractious are disregarded. The Groldfields revenue is divided according to tho proportion the number of miners in each Couuty bears to the whole number of miners in tho Province. The allocation of ordinary Provincial revenue is rr.oro difficult, as tho licenses iu Municipalities have to be excluded, and the bulk of general licenses outside Municipalities abound in tho settled districts and suburbs of towns. Kememberim-, however, the recent creation of Municipalities around Dunedin, the revenue from that source for Otago County may be less than last year's Provincial returns justify us in apportioning. For purposes of comparison we append the amount of money actually expended in the Provincial Goluliekl Electoral Districts last year:— Mount Ida 5370 Waikaia ... 6*50 Tuapeka „. 5351 Wakatipu 7730 Duustan ... ... ... 8444 Under the present proposals the Couuty would have to find 15s. in the £ for all moneys collected for the Mount Ida and Clyde Hospitals, if they kept these institutions up to their present scale, it would also have to find a salary for the County Chairman, and salaries for a Clerk, Treasurer, Auditors, &c. . It mil be seen from these figures that County finance will not be a bed of roses for either Centralists or more stupid Provincialists. Of course the County Councils are given power to rate the residents to almost auy extent by way of ordinary rates, and special rates for special loans.
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Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 386, 4 August 1876, Page 3
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421COUNTY REVENUE UNDER GOVERNMENT PROPOSALS. Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 386, 4 August 1876, Page 3
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