FINANC'AL STATEMENT

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 249, 17 September 1884, Page 2

FINANC'AL STATEMENT

[by telegraph.] • j (In Committbk of Supi'ly, Tuesday, 1()TH SKPTEiMBBH, 1864.) By tub Colonial Thbasurer, the HON. S;U. Voi}E[i. Welmvgtox, Sept. 16. Mr Hamlin -The usual ye.irly \ Financial Statement may We somewhat curtailed m its length and deprived of its dry details, because of my predecessor having; al roady related a history of the year ending the 31st March l:i>:t and its results. I will briefly epitomise the position he doscribed. . The yem- 1883-84 whs com •• meuced with a surplus of £35,549 anil it ended with a deficiency of £152,112, this result, was. represented m the Treasury at the end of March as follows : — There were outstanding deficiency bills still' current amounting to £398,000 to meet them there was cash £203,447 and imprest advances to officers of the Government 442,441. Taking the last as cash it will be seen that the deficiency stood at the amountstated. The revenue and , expenditure of the land fund,, which though kept m a separate account formed part of the consolidated iund shows that -during the past year the payment exceeded the receipts by £p, 1 1 7. The balance of £86,564 with which the year began and which was chargeable with a sum ot £75,203 transferable m respect of the transactions of the year 1882-83 to the main roads account -in the Public Works fund under " The Roads and Bridges Construction' Act J882," thus became £80 t 447 at the close of the year without the repayment to the main roads fund h<ivin« been inado. The £75,203 due on the transactions ot 1882-83 therefore still remain unpaid to the main road account. On the 31st March, 1883, there was m the Public Works account (I] quote my predecessor for the'remainder of the sentence), "An unexpended balance of £877,912 but of this £30^,484 .was advances m the hands of officers, and as hon. members who follow the public accounts ,know advances .outstanding although in'eluded m the balance m hand are not usually available for expendituic." The balance included the whole proceeds of the .second million of tlte three million loan, and also the pro- | ceeds of that odd little colonial iv- i scribed loan of £250,000 which was taken up by the post office. The public debt of the oolony on the 3 1st March, 1883, after deducting the sinking funds accrued, amounted to £29,574,---902 the annual charge m respect 'of which (including the contributions to . the sinking funds) amounts to £11,578,799. This debt was exclusive of the deficiency bills .amounting to L.898,000 issued m aid of revenue' and remaining out-' standing at the close of the year as also of the L 400,000 of deficiency bills issued to facilitate remittances which I consider a contingent though' remote liability, . The Colonial Treasurer (Major Atkiunon), after procuring his Excellency's assent to a dissolution obtained temporary supplies, and m order to provide for them secured also authority to issue extra deficieucy bills to the amount of L 300.000 to- represent first the deficiency of the past year amounting to £150,000, second £50,000 additional to the £400,000 of bills already authorized foi ; the' current wants within each year, and thirdly £100,000 m aid of the Public Works Fund. These aids, the treasurer stated would carry him on to the Ist Sept. and he' was about accurate m saying so— but after him the deluge. Taking the date of my accession to office at the Ist of this month the immediate financial prospects were as I am aoout to describe. It must be understood that the statement is not a bookkeeping one obtained from a balance of the accounts but ■ merely an estimate of the cash requirements tor the month, that estimate showed that taking into consideration the probable income of the month and the liabilities which it was known would have to be satisfied, the consolidated fund would b<>. a tew thousands short, notwithstanding that all the diticiency bills authorized by law were issued and disposed of. There is a further amount not estimated which has come m for payment but about this I .shall say nothing at present. As regards the Public Works Fund the estimate showed that a5 least £100,000 would have to be borrowed iv some shape to the end of September, and that the like process would have to be gone through for meeting liabilities until the third million loan was negotiated, next year. LOAN CONVERSION LAST YEAR. The loan conversions of .{last year as described by Major Atkinson consisted of £3,558,300 5-30 debentures and £1,832,000 s .or l dated debentures. But the transactions con-, ■sequent on these conversions are still not completed. A considerable quantity of the converted short dated debentures remains to be sold whilst oi^ly a p'qrtion of the 5-30 issue has come m. Np.tic.e ha.s'howpver been given to pay off so much of the balance as carries 5 per cent, interest m January next. On the whole the annual savings on the conversions of la t year nominally amount to abou'j £30,000 and some £6000 more will be gained by the conversion of the balance of the 5 per cent. 5-30's. Another effect of the 1 conversion has been the postponement of the payment of a stim of about £50,0Q0 for interest from a date within the present financial year to next year, ft is much to be regretted that the converson was commenced with t|je £f-30's (ustead nf -with the consoljdated loan of }$ti7-18t<) which carries With it an aociiumljiting drawing or sinking fund^ The 5.30's could have been paiJ off at par at any time on six mouths notice, this is really now whut it has been found necessary to do with the principal part of the 530's bearing 5 per cent, interest, only half a million of them were brought m. The bulk of the 5.30's which came" m bore 4£ per cent, interest.' They amount to £3,050^000 The profit : 6ii them 'was comparatively ■ trifling aifter payment of expenses aiid 'pre'mjiip. Bi}t ' they. s.ta.nd |h the way of I'urthW operatioas' becaiis.e of the large mass of inscribed stook' that represents them on the market. They ought to have been about the last inbtead of the -first securities operated

on. The operation m connection with the »hort -dated ttaihjntui\3H was more m the nature of a sale thiU upon cojivttrniou. Thay Had .never been placed on the English market,■itvl the real olijeot was to dispose of .the bulk of them, the difference m the rate of interest between a floating and a funded debc can har.lly be all called profit, that is why I use the word " nomuHfly' 1 ' shortly nincc. • , THB FLOATING DBBT. Before proceeding furthr to describe the present position and future plan* I think it will be as veil whilst the BuWjj-ct is m the memory, hon. members to deal with the question of the deficiency bills they amount, as the committee are aware, to £150^000 for last year's deficiency, .£450,000 for em-rent purposes on this year's consolidated fund account, and .£IOO,OOO for public works- account. There me besides the £400,066 contingent liability bills. My friends;! daresay, will, think that I am rather good natnred, not to »ay stupid, vo trouble myself with working out mypredecessors difficulties "fund." They , will say "By adding to the 'pemifiieut,debts so much of thk floating debt as will leave you without any anxiety. tor the future and start m; a fresh career of manufacturing a new floating debt." I shall , not do anything of the kind. lam profoundly impressed with the conviction that it is intricate entauglemeiit father than real difficulty with which New Zealand has to contend. 1 believe ; her finances can he put m .order, and that we may couut from yuar to year on such an improvement m revenue that so n. mih of the present floating debt as does not coino within the catagory of mere aid witliin : the year can be. discharged' within a reasonable period. Th> £150,000 I shall consider us strictly aid within the year, and I shall ask the House to increase the amount by" another 450,000. My predecessor staled his opiuion that the £400,000 was not sufficient^ and actual experience has shown that the additional £50,000 for which he obtained authority still not enough, fpr, as I have told tie committee, there U beyond all the de- ' ficiencv bills a deficiency of a few thousands m the estimate of the present mduth. I shall ask ihen : 'for autority to - add £50,000 to the £450,000 strictly for the purpose of anticipating revenue within the year The £150,000 for last year's deficiency I shall pay off within the next two years or so. The £100,000 for public works can either be allowed to lapse or continue to be used as a means of adjusting Public Works revenue within the year. As to the contingent £400,000 I do not like the arrangement, and shall hope to.be able to do away with it shortly. .That I am not intending to propose! thas most unpopular of all financial operations the converting of floatiju^Mto permanent debt. THS ESTIMATES, fe s /( I have had to take the esiinmses very much a* l found them, /i'liejipp. member for Egraoat m his last Financial Statement led the committee to believe that he proposed to effect great saving m the civil service votes and also that he intended to amend the service by ola-ssification^niid-pro-motion. He did not particularise his proposed reforms, and he thought it undesirable to leave a record of them behind him. The type even of. the bill said to have been prepared waVbroken up. As to promotion . by the classification system, irrespective of merit, X am uot an advocate of it. It reduces officers to a de&d. level aud leaves little incentive to individual exertion. I have been told that m an adjacent colony at one time under the influence of this system it:' was fonud necessary to have an. army of supernuinaries outside the Civil- Service regulations m order to carry on the business efficiently. I will proceed to state the principal aliei-iitiona^we propobe m the estimates. One is a reduction of the Armed CoWabulary expenditure at the rate of £20,000 a year, but it can ouly come into force for the last quarter. We purpose on the other hand to add 5--*' go the capitation allowance of volunteers, " this will be for the Jasi six months of the year at the rate of ten shillings yearly, at which we propose it shall continue, we shall also ask authority torappointing a commanding officer of Volunteers.; and we shall place a sum on the Estimates to defray the expenses of members attending the annual competitions, of those singularly add meritoi'ibus^nd valuable bodies,' the Volunteer Fire Brigades. These three items, will appear on the SupplemeutaV'y ' Estimates. As regai'ds the department of Education, we think the time has come when the large annual increase of scholars renders it unnecessary to aljow the extra capitation fee of 5/- a head outside of the proyxsionjmaile id; the Act. This, reduction we propose shall commence with t|io last quarter iv the year, so tliat it will duly amount to is 3d a head. We shall ask the House to except frbin it t«Q schools m the Westlau'd 'Proyincja^ District, the, funds of wlijc.hu are, scjnjQ; what contracted. There has been no time to minutely analyso the receipts and expenditure of* the Kail way* Department. We are of opiniod "that closer and more intiniaie business inspection will materially aid 'the economy and efficiency of the management of railways. We design no reflection on the present manager. £ know of many systems of railways not so large as that of New Zealand, where it would be thought absuid to leave to one <»Van the virti^ily irresponsible control, no !: niatfer' what his experience, and though he w^VsWceiv* ing Jfve tijnes the salary "tit Hjie pra. sent maritj&etv H°W^ff»dHnfa£ ager limy lie he. derived '* immense strength from being; able to refer dimcult points to the calm ootiudeftniion and judgment of a board of able%usi-ness-l.ko men. The expense of such aid is nothing when you ha Ve* to do with an .undertaking leturriirigover* mil lion a year of re veuve and absorbing over half a mill ion .of expenditure At the same time the session has fceen so . much wasted, and so much iemains to be done that it is possible we inaVnot press onr proposals for local Sards' "jH^V * »opo to etfeqt a savingj>f ■' 'ojjuettdijurer and U; to m *|s beneficial tkorms :in connection with the % present system of audit, and of keeping acoonnts. Viiv. tually at present three sets of books

of the accounts, of the colony are. kept by three independent departments, each department beside the TieVbriry and the Audio departments keeps severally its sets of books. They are not precisely the same books, but they are of an allied character, and they are, 1 kept by 'separate 'staffs. I am disjKwed to effect an entii'u change by which the Audit department and the accounting portion of the Treasury would be abolished and to substitute an Accountant- Generals department," - The Accountant-General would, like the Auditor-Genera), be a Parliamen tary officer and have" all the powers of controlling expenditure and receipts and reporting to Parliament that the present auditor possesses. But he would also keep the books of the colony,aud his officers would keep the books of departments or regulate tlie ■way m which they are kept. The al tera- ' ' toon would, I believe, lead to a consid erable saving, but that would be its least merit. Its great advantage -would be that it would assist m con-, ; necting • the 'departments and m re- 1 ducing* their separate action m the way of controlling liabilities. It would also lead to a much' needed reform m facilitating the dfechavge of accounts. I referred on a previous occasion to • the serious coniplaints made as to the « difficulty of obtaining payment of inon-: lies due by the Government. Jt would '- 4 \%tA also.l think; to making it cheap. . tbr to obtain the returns which are re-. quired for ho wan j purposes. But lall these are opinions founded on theoiy and before I can give effect to them, I innSt narrowly investigate their probable practical operation. I am having enquiries now made ou the subject ; at any 'rate, there tseems . little doubt that as bet« een the Audit and Ireasury the books may be kept with more economy." 1 have, 1 think, been ale (o effect Some improvement m the telegraph, service, though without the expenditure of money. ; The use of stamps for payment of telegrams will greatly facilitate keeping'the accounts of the Department. i The abolition of receipts for telegrams" will save the receivers of these documents and the department a wholly unnecessary trouble. Another change i.has not. as yet been made public, 'l have been much impressed by-the inconvemencq occasioned by closing a large number of offices at the early horn of five o'clock 1 have arranged that these offices tthall I* opened between seven and eight,.: and closed for half ati hour m the middle of the day Ue- ; tween half |»atft one and two o'clock. . These changes will take place on the Ist October, I should also call the at--1 tention of the committee to the serious \ olqm the, colony has suffered .and i* Bufleving through the diversion of a large part of. Us English correspondto ; the ; Brinuisi route. The English, postal authorities; have, to my mind, behaved most unwarrantably .m the matter. LAND REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE. The statement of the re- . ceipls and expenditure on account of the Land Fund, other than the revenue : from . leases^ cannot be pro- ; .tionnced'Ratisfactory. It must be rememl)ered that tJift year is m a great . vpart gone, andl am giving the results and anticipations as we found them. ' My Colleague, the Minister for Lands, will probably make an exposition of his views on the subject later m the session. It will lie. observed from the st atement that the £75,203, \ due to the Main Roads Account upder the.Boaaii.ttn4 Bridges Qorisiruction Act, is yet unpaid. It was due at the end of 1882-83,. and, as my predecessor left it* so long unpaid, I do not see that it "is of pressing importance for me to, discharge it. In fact, other provision' will have to be made lor the purposes of the Roads and Bridges Construction Act. If it is to remain oh the Statute Book it will absorb the whole" of that Colonial inscribed Stock/Loan which was authorwed for the- purpose of bejng token up from time to time as people re-' quired it, but which was absorbed m ; bulk m the Post Office. t "■•■..;■; ' • SUMMARY OF PROPOSALS. A rate;; notiaf large one, to riieet the cost of Charitable Relief and Hospitals, togetKer with a" few additions to the Stamp Duties,* and the reduction of % Property Tax. by one-half, viz., to three-eights of a penny. We cannot afford to leave the roads unmade, the native land purchases uncompletedi the , gold fields .neglected,, the ; fragments of i ail ways scattered over the country to rot away. We must boi row more, and the question is, wh«t shall be the amount ? We shall ask authority to raise an additional million and a half, out of which we shall replace the amount abstracted jfrboi the Three Million Loan. It is absolutely necessary that members should be reasonable m their demands tor the. prosecution of railways. In j will not say ojf econmy pnljl,, 'but of prudence and common sen&, rail way works must be carried on with some regaid to obtaining returns' as the works p'ronress. : w|U njiw \s%j. a |bw words coacernr ng tjje jailwa-y?! spjpcially nieptioned :p^be«^jralSpeeph. "W«B<aH adhere o tlfe pinion that the North Island Tiunk Railway is ot supreme importance, and must be proceeded with as Vapidly as possible. In connection with it we also recognise the necessity of obtaining large blocks of land along the line of route, and. of making them, the subjects of special settlements. We stlHl regard * Koine pf "..the/lines" as of exceptional iuipor^nce. : Amongst them I may mention the Otago Central end the short piece that will place the Napier line m connection with the line from Wellington noilthwards. Tffis shall in^po|duj^ to' authorise the Goiiernrilent to enter into an arrangement; with a company or syndicate for ihe iohstruetiou of the line bef- ; Iwecnjtlie East and Weat Coasts of the Middle Island. We Hhall make provision m the bill for authority to enter into an agreement on the same conditions with tliOHatne or another syndicate or company, for the extension of the line frem Nelson to connect yith Rome point of tne through tiast and West line, thus giving Nelson communication with both; coasts. The conditions we. shall propose \rijl >not be onerous on the Government, bkt tjiey will be si^ffjoientiy.'fa'you^iable to enable, inour opinion, tliq contractors t«»- procure ] |he J nece'«:iry capital. In ihese and other future arrangements .with privnte persuns for the cjoautruotiou of

railways we shall keep m view that it is desirable that all lines m the countiy should be worked by the Government.