FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 232, 28 September 1872, Page 2

FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

[En th'i following summary ■.shiiiings and ■ pence;--are on itted], ■ ■-[ ' '- ■ y *;< '• I? The House vent iuto Committee, of Supply. The Colonial Tbeasubf.e ("Hon. T. B. Gillies)made ln's Financial Statement His olvjoet would be to state clearly the financial position of the colony, and the stilt? of the several funds constituting its public account. He would endeavor to do that, not from a sanguine nor from a de.-pond-' ing point of view, dealing with figures only with a desire to render them valuable because accurale. Certainly be would not knowingly permit any feeling as -to the position of part 1 es in the House to cause him to injure the credit of the colony or retard its real progress. The rotai amount of the colonial debt at the present time was £9.955.936, but there was a sum of £576,648 of sinking fund accrued. The annual charge consequent upon the debt, and which must be provided out of general and provincial revenue, was £616,895. From a care!ul)y compiled bnlance set off consolidated • account, he concluded that on the 30th January last there wr*s a deficit of £33,345 on that account to 'bcr provided for, and not' a surplus of £10,562 with which to commence the current year, as was stated by his predecessor. The discrepancy therefore was £43,908. ITo accounted for ibr thus : — He believed the amount recoverable from the provinces was £23,917, or £5360 less than eet down in his predecessor's Sta'ement, He could not treat as an asset any part of the £13 650 for which Irs predecessor took credit as recoverable from the confiscated land account. The Government meant to grant a considerable portion of those lauds to the natives from wlvm they were taken, snd the balance would not do more, if in !ced it would do so, than meet claims and pay" costs of iranagement. His predecessor omitted from his calculations £2,311* of interest due on 30th June upon temporary loan, debentures, deficiency bill?, &c. He also omitted o. liability of £17.585 in respect of savings on Civil Lis% the Native Schools Fund, and the .Armed Constabulary Reward Fun-1. In addition to those few sums he. (the Colonial Treasurer) had ascertained that £5,000 of additional liabilities existed up to 30th June, a great part of the amount having been paid since that date— thus the discrepancy of £+3,963 -was accounted for, and the defivieney of £33.345 on the Consolidated Fund at the commencement of the financial year was shown to exist. Under the Defence and Other Purposes Loan Act, there had been raised up to June 30 a total of £635,000, of which at that date there remained available for Defence services during the current year £106,922. His predecessor estimated the amount available to be £158,247, so that there was a discrepancy of £51,524 to be accounted for. Of that discrepency £23,792 was accounted for by the fact stated by his predecessor, that £158,147 said to be available for the current year was reduced. Of the remaining £'27,531 of discrepancy. £8,35S was accounted for by his predecessor having taken credit for that sum in the Consolidated fund account as recoverable from Defence, but having omitted to debit; it as a liability .'sgainst Defence of the amount raised under Schedule 2; £9,563 was for the redemption of Otago Dock Bonds not yet redeemed, and was therefore a liability against this fund which might have to be met any day. Still further, £9,373 of this discrepancy w:i3 accounted for by that sum. which was advanced on accomt of confiscated lands from the Consolidaied Fund having been treated as an asset — a couvs-s which ha could not follow. Add to the amounts already stated £235-, which represented the charges for raising the last £150,000 of this loan, but of which his predecessor was not aware, and the discrepancy of £55,324 wag accounted for. There had been up to J/une 30th, raised under the Immigration and Public Works loan Act, a total of £1.600,000. of which there remained on the day named £5<J5,006 in cash available for works already contracted for, or which might be contracted for. As reg'irced this fund, but'little discrepancy existed between the accounts of his predecessor and those now submitted, except that his predecessor, in stating'' the available balance at £925,684, 0mitted to take into account £79,250 of liabilities then existing, and that his predecessor did not inclule the charges on raising the last instalment of the loan — the" accounts of which had not at the time been received in the colony. Be need not detain the Committee by reference to the Trust Fund and the Land Fund, because he believed the statements nude to them by his predecessor to be substantially correct. He would next explain the position of the several funds included under the general title of the Immigration and Public Works Loan Eund Account. The date upon which his explanations as to these funds would reach, was September 10th, the cay upon which the present Government took office. First as to the Railways Fund. The amount authorized to ye raised was £2,000,000, to which must be added £37,202 as representing the moiety of stamp duties 1870-71, less refunds. The total amount of accounts passed for payment was £314,365. There were liabilities amounting to £982,347 for rails and rolling stock on railways begun or contracted for, and there were further liabilities amounting to £x 9 8,168, being the estimated cost of rails ordered or contracted for on account of lines not yet begun or contracted for, Thus of the £2,037,202 there remained £451,321 in' cash; and*TJbe rails last mentioned, so that on September lOffi^there was available for railways not yet begun or contracted for, cash and rails representing £740,000. The engineer's estimate of the probable cost of the railways authorised but not contracted for, showed a total of £2,005,110, so that deducting the £740,000, > arid ccn>idering all the facts and contingencies, it was fair to estimate that at least an additional million and a-half would have to be provided before the railways authorised by the Assembly ! could be completed ; but this position of affairs | did not require to be dealt witfrat present. The balance of cash on hand, £845,096, would enable works already contracted for to be carried on during; .the present year, and would also enable the Government to initiate and push forward others, of, the works authorised by Parliament. The Minister, for Public Works, would inform the House what those works would be, and during the recess -the Government would work with a full recollection of the fact, that the policy of Railways and Public Works could not . be reversed, and that to be a benefit to the colony -.it must ;be carried on Vigorously, though atthesametimewiih judgment, prudence, and economy.. Of .the one inijlion authorised to ' be i raised ; for ' Immigration , there remained -oh September . l Oth,, after, providing fojy, liabilities up to the 31st of December., next, as stated by the late Minister for. Public Works, £868,714 ;, of the !£3oo,oooforthe : ; .Goldfieldsf Wafter- Supply, there remained^ 'avaUatile^'after "•. providing £51,495 . for" the Thames Water-race/. £231,855, . The gum

authorised for roads in the North Island, was £400 000, and' there remained £245,082 available, after provi iiiig for. contracts and meeting liabilities up.^o September 10th. On the sßme^te, '•■ JEi3fi;l7's was i available out of the £200$0$for 'land ) purchases '.in. "the North Island. oja £the .Telegraph Extension Account the £60,000 ' appropriated had been over- spent to the atnonnt of £15,3H3. His predecessor proposed to meet thnt axcrfis, and to provide for further extension, by allocating for those purposes £40,000 ■unavportionedof the Immigration and Public Worlds Joan, and the Committee would now bo asked to consent so to allocate for the present £30,000 out of the £40,000. A very disturbing element in the calculations arose from the fact, that the £ ! 00 000 set aside for Road Boards last year was ordered to be paid out of the. Public WorksFund, but was not directed to be charged against' anyone of the -ccounts included in .that fund. A decision on the point must now -be come to, and his recommendation, after very careful consideration was, that the £100,000' should be charged 'againsc the Immigration portion of the loan. He did not purpose to asrain fubsidise l?oad Boards out of the loan, for he believed that tlie riif.mbers'of the Boards themselves rev.ognised " that they gained merely temporary benefit at the ■ cost-of constant future taxation As tp the esti-J luates of revenue and exprnditure -for the current year, he should differ but little from hi 3 preflecessorsave in a few items. , It was unnecebfary for him id enumerate a general financial- policy different from that of his predecessor, for the present Government were called into office on the one ground, that the previous Government had failed in the administration of the policy ngreed xipon. , Uis duty . was to carry but ! the ' existing policy, .subject to such administrative reforms as he should mdiii cate. The Consolidated Fund revenue had on the whole been, fairly estimated by his predecessor. K is^predecessor hsd npparontly. not taken into account as revenue about £9,000 which would be received from surplns interest on Trust Fund and other accounts. As he now proposed to provide out of the Consolidated Fund for interest oh all the colonial securities, including those held by the Trust Fund, it was but fi.ir that surplus interest on such funds should be treated as revenue, therefore he added £9 00.0 to the then Incidental Hect-ipts, and with the exception stated, accepiin^r the estimates already before the Committee; his calculation would make the estimated revenue for 187^-3 stand at £1,185,000. As regarded expenditure on Consolidated Fun-1, there were three points on which hU proposals would differ from those-of his predecessor. > irstiy, he did not propose to continue to charge inttivst and sinking fund on the Immigration and Public Works luan itself, giviyg as a grant in aid one-half of the stamps duties, and a further contribution for the Consolidated Fund. Instead of that pian he proposed to charge the inte!-est and sinking fund in question directly upon the Consolidated Fund as the law required. He would retain one half of the stamp duties to aid in meeting the charge of first making' the necessary alteration in the law; and he would charge against tho Public Works Loan for the year only such balance of the interest und sinking fund as .the Consolidated Fund could not bear. The cash result for thi3 year would be much the some as that proposed by his predecessor, but it would be arrived at directly,, and not in an indirect and misleading manner. Secondly, ha proposed to increase the capitation allowance to the provinces, by recogniing thatlMaoris were krge consumers of dutiable goods, and-by subs ituting a payment of 10s. a head on account of them instead of. giving an •arbitrary allowance. Taking 15s. .per head as before for Europeans, 10s, per head for Maoris, and continuing the special allowance of is. 6d. per head of Furopcaa population to Westland, the carnation payment would. stand thus — Auckland, £59,8Cfi; Taranaki, £4626; Wellington, £21.422; Hawke's Bay, £6210; Nelson, £17,538; --Marlborough, £4222; Canterbury, £36,933; Westland, £13 492; Otago, £55,880. The .total would.be £200,241-. Thirdly, he proposed to calculate upon a reduction during the remainder of the year of £10,000 "upon jt.be estimates of ordinary expenditure, Classes I. to VIII. , as brought down by his predecessor. There had not been time to recast and reprint them, and to do so would confuse the accounts of the Treasurer and the Coutr/i11er.,.,. TJie.gross estimated expenditnre amounted.- to £1,108,915, deduct the £10,000 savings to be made, and the nett expenditure would be £1,098,915, There must be added the debit balance already stated of £33,445, less £15,222 on account of civil • Ji^t and native school savings, which would probably not be required this year. Then there would be a total estimated expenditure of Consolidated Fund for the year of £1,017,938, which amount included the whole interest and Sinking Fund on the Public Works loan, amounting to £96,000 ; there would thus be an excess of £32,038 of expenditure over receipts, and he proposed for the year. only to debit . the. Immigration and Public Works Fund wit'li £.34.500 of the' interest and Sinking Fund on that loan— the difference between the two: amounts would probably be required for supplementary estimates. If he made the Financial Statement another year he would altogether oppose any portion of the interest, and Sinking Fund on the Immigration and Public Works loan being charged to the loan itself. He would prefer to see and would propose if necessary hereafter to augment the revenue by a change irr the incidence of taxation, rather, than .tye colony should; be?deceired bf theiidea. that iit ? w,as getting public works for borowed money, while that money , : was merely .being spent in paying interest upon the loans themselves. Be believed that reductions amounting.- -t j £25,000 h, year could be made on the "Estimates, atfd the Committee might fairly complain if he brought down Estimates next year Vithout effectingsuch reducductions. He recognised the importance of the reforms instituted in the Treasury department by His predecessor, arid lie hoped during the recess, freed from cares of any, other office, to devote himself to reducing these intended reforms into a practical shape such as would be beneficial alike to the dep^t^ent(ajid i ''tq; f the]publjc; 1 ) ; "*