THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 115, 15 May 1872, Page 2

THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

In moving last night that the Council go into Committee on the Estimates, the Provincial Tkeasurek, after making a few prefatory remarks, went on to say that the receipts for the last year in some slight instances showed an increase over what was estimated, and in most there was a decline, but that this latter was not owing to a decay in the revenue but to special circumstances which he hoped to see remedied this year. First then, there was the capitation allowance which had been set down at £24,000, and that it was not unreasonable to calculate upon that sum must be clear to all, as it was based upon the Payment to Provinces Act, 1870, which was to extend over seven years, and by which 40s. per head of the population had been paid for the first and 38s. per head set down for last year, but a change had been made which reduced the head money from 38s. to 155., the total amount directly received as capitation allowance and on account of public works being £7500 less than had been anticipated. When he spoke of the rate being reduced from 38s. to 15s. he did not mean that there was an actual loss of 235. per head, because when the reduction was made a large proportion of the charges for public services that had previously been paid out of the Provincial revenue were taken over by the General Government, the chief among which were the Customs, Law and Justice in the settled districts, Postal, except inland services, Registration, &c., the charges left on the 15s. being inland postal service, administration of Crown Lands, salary of Provincial Auditor, and the comparatively moderate charge for interest on the Provincial debt. There was one item which was not taken over by the General Government, but which he thought ought to be so, namely, the administration of Justice on the goldfields where, man for man, the inhabitants paid more to the revenue than those of the other parts of the colony. He could not see why there should not be one uniform system for the goldfields and the settled districts. This sum of £7,500 was not the total reduction to be anticipated on the capitation allowance for the ensuing year as during four months of that which was passed it had been paid on the scale of 405., and the reduction to 15s. would consequently operate more on the coming than on the past year. Grants for public works had also been made as a just concession to the Provincial Governments which had commenced such works on the faith of receiving the promised allowance. There was one part of the change which wasjfavorable to the provinces, namely, that the cost of immigration was now taken over by the General Government so that there need be no hesitation in pushing on settlements which would be advantageous to the province in various ways. The land for those settlements would be paid for by the General Government, the money being handed over to the province enabling them to lay it out upon public works, and if advantage were taken of this the means would be provided for opening up the country, and thus assisting the revenue from increased gold duties and other sources. The land revenue for the past year had been estimated at £5000, as it was expected that a considerable quantity would be sold in the Inangahua Valley, but this had not been realised on account of the time occupied in the survey, which, however, was how completed, but notwith-

standing this the actual receipts amounted to £4500. The gold duties, which actually, though Dot apparently, amounted to £14,800, showed a deficiency of £3200 on the amount estimated. This, he believed, paradoxical as it might seem, was to be accounted for by the large population that had accumulated at the Inaugahua, but it must be remembered that they had not all come from distant parts, but principally from the goldfields in other portions of the province, thus reducing the yield of gold from the alluvial diggings. No doubt the reefs would eventually prove the more valuable, but, for the present, their discovery had operated unfavorably on this source of the revenue. • The Goldfields Revenue showed a production less than expected of £1,000, which was not wholly to be attributed to the same reasons as was the reduction of the gold duty, yet it was clear that to some extent those causes would apply, though not in the same degree. Statements had been made that large sums had been received from the Inangahua, which seemed to show that the Provincial Government was in receipt of a largely increased revenue, but this was not so, aB the total amount for last year was £3,600, the whole of which was lost from the other districts, so that while the departmental expenditure was increased by the discoveries at the Inangahua, the receipts had fallen off elsewhere for the same reason. Lare sums had been received as deposits on goldfield leases, but these passed not to the Provincial Government, but to the Receiver General. The goldfields deposits had been put down last year at £2,000, as it was then expected that they would be paid over to the Provincial account, to be treated in the same way as they were now dealt with by the Receiver General, but, when in Wellington, he and the Superintendent had found that the regulations of the Treasury Department prevented their being paid in that way, but arrangements were ultimately made with the Treasury that an account should be opened with tbe Bank in Nelson to be called the Receiver General's deposit account, which was to be considered, with regard to the calculation of interest, as reducing the overdraft. The result of this was that as there were at present nearly £4000 standing to account, interest would be saved on an equal amount of overdraft whenever it might exist. The amounts received for licenses of va.ious descriptions, and on account of the Scab Act fitted very closely with the estimates. Tn harbor dues there had been a falling off of £150, and on wharves an increase of £140. The Education rate, he considered, was eminently unsatisfactory, as it did not produce so much as it should do, and he hoped the Central Board and Local Committees would see that the collectors insisted upon all the rates being paid by those who were in a position to do so. The whole system would thus be placed on a broader and firmer basis, instead of showing the enormous deficiency that now existed. With reference to the Brunuer Coalmine, the receipts had been £6240, instead of £8000 as estimated, but this difference did not operate injuriously upon the revenue, as the whole sum of £8000 had been set down for expenditure against the estimated receipts. Had it not been for the long drought, which prevented boats going up the river, the stoppage of trade by the heavy floods, and the damage done by these latter to the mine, the receipts would no doubt have reached the amount estimated. The receipts under the head Miscellaneous had only been. £1200 instead of £2000, but this deficiency would have been nearly made up had Marlborough paid her share of tbe interest on the debt, which was now in arrear from June 1871. He now came to the Expenditure, and he must congratulate the Council that for tbe first time they were not called upoa to vote anything for unauthorised expenditure. This meant that the fullest information had been obtained before framing the Estimates last year, and Bince then tbe object of the Executive hsd been to economise in every department so far as could be done without impairing their efficiency. The departmental expenditure showed a reduction upon the sum appropriated of £2600, but this included £1500 in the Survey department, which he would rather have seen spent, as it would have produced good results in the settlement of the country, and in the goldfields water supply. With regard to the Hospital it waa gratifying to find that the present system bad resulted in a saving of £350 in the year, and this, not at the expense of the sick poor, but without doing an injury to any one. As he had previously mentioned, there had been a considerable saving effected in the shape of interest on the overdraft by the deposit account, and arrangements had also been made by which the amount of funds placed under his charge and which

were subject to be operated on day by day were made to act as a set off against the Provincial balance. By this means a saving of interest had been effected to the amount of above £300, and that chiefly in the last half year. The public works in the settled districts had Buffered in proportion to the diminution of the revenue, and he would explain the reasons that had induced the Executive not to pay the full sums voted to the Road Boards. They were, that they were entitled to sums from the General Government which with the amount paid by the Provincial Government brought up the total to more than the sum voted. When the capita! ion allowance was reduced, £4390 was appropriated to the Road Boards of the Province, £1197 of which was held in reserve for Boards to bo established on the goldfields, leaving a balance of £3190, of which ten per cent, was reserved for Boards that might be formed, but which would, after the end of June, be divided amongst the old Boards. The result was that whereas the Waimea Board would have received only £1000 from the Provincial funds, it was entitled to £1356 and ten per cent, reserved, and the Motueka Valley Board for which £200 was voted, received £133 from the Provincial Government, and £426, plus the reserved ten per cent, from the General Government. It might be contended that the Provincial vote was only for keeping roads in repair, but it was always expected that where new works were required they would have boen constructed out of this vote, ordinary repairs being effected from rates and tolls, with moderate aid from the Government. The Nelson Town Board was of course excluded from the Road Board grant, as was the Amuri, the latter because the inhabitants did not raise any rates among themselves during the past year. He did not approve of the mode of distributing the General Government grant, as the result of dividing it in proportion to the amount of rates raised was, even with classification, inevitably to give the largest portion to those who needed it least. The expenditure on the goldfields, although short of the amount voted, had been twice as much as that on the settled districts, as it was believed by the Government that it was more needed there. It was eminently satisfactory that the balance against the Province at the Bank had been reduced during the past year from over £5,500 to under £3,500. It might be alleged that it would have been just as well to let that be, but he thought it better that the Province should always stand well with itß banker, and keep up its credit. The reduction had not been effected by intentionally cutting down public works, but it arose from the fact that the last quarter's revenue came in much faster than they had been led to hope. The land fund, which had only reached

£4,500 last year, was for the ensuing one set down at £15,000. The Government were induced to estimate it at this amount from the fact that increased facilities would be offered for the purchase of land in the Inangahua and Grey Valleys, in the latter of which it was proposed to construct a road to be paid for in land. In the proposed expenditure for the ensuing year it would be seen that it was intended to construct roads connecting thie different parts of the province. The fact of the goldfields producing a large portion of the revenue entitled them to a considerable proportion of the expenditure, but in addition to this it was clear that they required that expenditure more than the other parts of the province, and he trusted that those who were settled on the eastern side would assist the Government in carrying out something like the policy they proposed, The advantages that would result from uniting the extremes of the province by a good line of road must be patent to all. The road up the Grey Valley was of the greatest importance, and the land fund derived from the district would be appropriated to its legitimate purpose in forming that road. It was also proposed to connect the Amuri with the goldfields with a view to benefiting both districts. A road was to be undertaken from the Owen to the Inangahua, and this was designed in no selfish spirit, but with the intention of opeuing up the Marlborough as well as the Nelson stock market. There was no wish on the part of the Government to benefit any one particular place at the expense of another, but they desired to treat the whole province, as far as it was in their power to do so, from a true colonial point of view, and he hoped in this to receive the aid, not only of the West Coast members, but of those on this side, who had gone through the experience of bad roads, and had learned that communication with the interior benefited not ouly those who were settled there, but also the residents on the sea coast. This was not the time for attempting small roads. A small allowance from the Provincial funds should be sufficient for the Road Boards, but if it were necessary that they should make some sacrifice in order to secure main lines into the country, they should not hesitate in doing so, as they would thus be studying the interests of the whole province, and their own not one whit less than those of the more distant settlers. Mr, Takrant complained that the I grants to the Road Boards as set down on the Estimates were insufficient, Mr. O'Conor, that the sum proposed to be expended on public works on the goldfields was totally inadequate for the purpose, and Mr. Gibbs that there was no reduction in the departmental expenditure. The Council then went into Committee, resumed, and shortly afterwards adjourned until this evening.