The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1866.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume I, Issue 160, 8 September 1866, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1866.

We give the Treasurer's statement more at length than we have previously done. The details of tlie estimated expenditure for the financial year ending June 30, 1867, are thus given. Permanent charges, interest and sinking funds, £266,889; civil list, £27,500; Government house and domain, £7,138 ; public departments, £36,560 ; law and justice, £64,543; postal, £143,15(1; native, £29.986; customs, £46,320; miscellaneous, £30,922; defence, £70,000; supplementary including interest and charges on treasury bills, £15,000; total proposed specific appropriation by General Assembly for colonial and provincial service, £735,30S ; total proposed appropriation by General Assembly to the provinces for special appropriation by the several Provincial Councils, £318,750 ; total proposed ordinary expenditure, £1,057,058. The amount available for provincial appropriation has been attained by reducing the defence estimates to the extent of £39.000; and by eliminating from the current estimates for the year certain charges of a permanent character. The Treasurer gives the ordinary revenue as available to meet the current expenditure, as follows:— Customs, £850,000; ordinary miscellaneous, £146,000; stamp duties, £50.000 ; bonded warehouse duties, £4,500 ; license distillation. £1.000; additional postal revenue, £7,000;' total, £1,058,500. This sum wiil be sufficient, after defraying the first charge fov interest ou loans, to provide for all the ordinary colonial and provincial services; and also to make farther provision to the extent of £318,000, for the use of Provincial Governments. The stimulus of the gold-fields, the increase taxation of 1364, and the restirctiou of departmental expenditure have led to the adjustment referred to. Whilst the Customs revenue has largely increased there has only been a slight increase of expenditure ; and the surprising increase in the Customs revenue of Canterbury, and its steady increase at Wellington aud Nelson have more thau outweighed the decrease at some other ports. There is an increase of expenditure over income, particularly in Ota^o, in the judicial department, whilst in that of registration there is an increase of revenue. Certain changes of a . permanent character are proposed to be eliminated from the current estimates of the year, and the unexpended balance of the loan is to be removed from the revenue side of the account. The following proposal for appropriations in liquidation of appropriations under the Three Million Loan, is submitted :— Military Settlers, £207,000 ; Cook Strait cable and telegraph to Auckland, £38,000; Treasury bills, removal of seat of "Government, £11,600; Liabilities on account final settlement Military Settlers, £50,000. The unexpended balance of the loan is £170,000, consequently the balance to be provided for is £136,500. The £100,000 in debentures, advanced to Auckland, forms part of the sum referred to as the unexpended balance of the loau. In reference to the colonising scheme of 1863, the sums of £38,750, Taranaki Loan Ordinance, and £32,000, Taranaki Land Purchase Fund, having been diverted from their original destination and expended by the General Government on other objects, the good faith of the colony requires they should be reinstated. Against the first item it is proposed to account an asset of £43,000, the amount of debt due by the Province of Southland ; and in reference to the second item it is proposed to commute the liability by a cession of land. In reference to a provision for the deficit of £136,500, the Government propose to bring down a bill to indemnify for the past expenditure of the Three Million Loan, and to appropriate the unexpended balance, the appropriation to consist of so much of the item " military

settlers " as can be covered by the remnant of the loan. They will propose the issue of Treasury bills to the extent of £150,000, having the currency so regulated as to spread the charge on the revenue over a period of three or four years. The Government think it necessary to include the items, "Cook Strait cable," and " Telegraph extension to Auckland," in the scheme having for its object a final settlement of the Three Million Loau appropriations. The surplus revenue system is considered unsatisfactory on account of the complicated partnership arrangements it involves, the delays it creates, and the amount of uncertainty to which it gives rise. No sound and settled system of colonial nuance can be established till this partnership system has been abolished. The Government propose to insert the amout of £318,750 in the Appropriation Act, for the specific service of tbe provinces by means of appropriation by Provincial Councils, to be issued to the several provinces iv monthly instalments, proportioned to the gross customs revenue. If the estimates of revenue should fall short, the treasury bills will be used in aid of current revenue. Such a necessity need not, however, be provided for if the " Surplus Revenue Act" be simply adhered to, and the sum of £318,750 be not included in the Appropriation Act. During the last financial year the provinces received £288,991, or £10,253 less thau §ths of the customs. It is considered desirable to consolidate all the different loans, and it is thought that the conversion ofthe various kinds of securities into one common stock, to be known as "New Zealand Stock," would be of the greatest advantage to the colony and the provinces. A new Government could uot introduce such a subject at the close of the session, even if the state of the money market were favorable. Iv reference to the state of the colonial securities the Government intend to introduce an Enabling Bill during the present session. Acting on the principle that a mixture of direct with indirect taxation is the best for the colony the Government propose stamp duties. If the tax j should be found to realize more than it is estimated, it is proposed next session to relieve the pressure from off the shoulders of those who contribute to the revenue according to the present rates of duties levied on the necessaries of life.