THE FINANCIAL CONDITION OF THE COLONY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 147, 13 June 1876, Page 2

THE FINANCIAL CONDITION OF THE COLONY.

{.Communicated.] No. IV. It wns our original intention to have given in these articles a succint and intelligibledes cription of the plan upon which the public accounts of the colony are kept, but, on attempting the t«k, we found that no such description could be given unless .the readerhad by him, for constant reference, the Finanr cial Statement of the Colonial Treasurer, the Eitimates for this year, the Appropriation Acts, the quarterly returns of income and expenditure, and of export* and impaxti, §

copy of that ! agreeable rollection of "liglft\ literature the statutes of New Zealand, and£ff procurable, a complete collection of all Jttie Provincial Ordinances of all the Provincial Assemblies. With these, a copious supnlj^cif green tea, a wet towel to wrap rouWpiV, heid, and perfect quietness, the reader might posibly get some idea of the finances of the colony in about a week. As it did not appear probable that many of our readers would care to commence such a course of study, we are compelled to pick out little, tit-bits here and there, and present them as samples ofrftlie whole. Tue British Treasury contrives to give its quarterly returns of income and expenditure in a space which occipips about a quarter of a column of The Times;our Treasury would require at least t% page printe 1 in the same type./ ; We.: can only illustrate the mode in' winch the' accounts are kept by an example drawn .from private life. Suppose a gentleman, whom we will call Mr Smith, after being engaged] some years in business .in..- Australia'<Felixj had purchased a large tract 4 6f coubtryjand v a good deal of it very rough,"but some of excellent quality, but requiring the usual improvement!, and a large capital to work it pioperly. He still continues in. business,, let' ui say—-a business which Has several branches'; He;keeps ab&.nk account and separate r alance rhset for his soft goads department,' another . ffor his dealings* in 'wool, another.; for <i his ' agency business, and another ior a shipping branch of his business. He opens a'!! fresh account for bis landed property, and^&jicMng thit his spare capital has all been swaUowad up. in the purchase money, he.negotiate* a loan for "general purposes." Some of this he devotes td fencing<«od<b'ther improvements on th« lind, and other portions he employs ' in developing and expending hit ordinary! bucinais .Finding be .cannot attend to his land s 'and !bi» bu,iinWr"as|wefl?, and -ftivfi)^ a ■ number of'rilatldnr.hfltettliessome^of- them " on the |«nd. Knowing him to be a rich man! and being themselves 'for the most'part rather short of coin, they all press him for -loans^ to , enable tham to get the land' into ciflti?aMon| One of Shem, a swell |n. his way,,b.ad.been in a crack regiment, but,' finding' that a' couple of chargers, two or three hunters , Aa, hack,a shire in the regimental.drug, an expensive men, and unlimited 100, could not bs keprupbn • . five hundred a year, had sold out.andre.flol red to beitow his graceful'' person''anxi'^useful accomplishments on the colonies. He was 4 flr»t cousin of Smith';, and originally spelled . bis namt in the same way, but he had, soon after entering the army, " resumed," as he expressed it, " the mole of spelling adopted ' by his ancestor's,''" ahd-now called-hia||elf Smyjthe — Piantagehet>fcmyjthe>v/..(^tkn .Smyjthe was of course glad to avail himseli of the offer of his cousin Smith, but wai . equally, of course, bard up. So Smith effected another loan, with the bank,-: and opened another account,- which he called " the Plantaj-genet-Smyj the account?' Then there was a Scotch cousin -of Smith's wife —Alexander McWhuskey—-whom he put on another part of bis land. McWhuskey.or, as -hwwas familiarly called " Mac," held to the fullest extent by the national proverb, " Our ain fish-guts to our ain, sea-mews," and while he got everything he could out of Smith', took ' care that every human being on i the-part of th« 'property ia 'Vis care should Be; if pot ojf his own kin. at least a fellow-countryman: ' Naturally he wanted money too, and though ' not at all hard-iip himself, be compelled poor Smith,to negotiate a loan; ep there was another account called the "Mc#huskey account.'* With all these various accounts Smith's financial accounts.got.mixed. One account would show a 'large 'credit at the bank, while about another there would come a gentle reminder from the manager that it' •was overdrawn. When this was tb^e^ case 'Smith would borrow irom the 1 Account'with a credit, giving an LOU. for the amount, and lend it to the one in difficulties. The latter would pay interest if it could, or if .not, borrow; more money to pay it, and perhaps repay the advance.' At last affairs became so complicated that Smith gave up all idea of understanding them himself, and put them all into the hands pf his head steward, an exceedingly clever fellow, who showed him that the only way to'get clear from debt was tomorrow more money on a much grander scale, and "develop the resources of his property." Nothing loath, Smith borrowed again and again, until the Banks grewnhy, and he had to pull up and look about him. He was rather dismayed at what ha saw. He found himself overburdened with debt, and bis relatives, some ot whom, McWhuskey in particular, had profited greatly by his ex-; travagant expenditure, refused to assist himi Plantaganet Smyjthe was as impecunious as ever, some of the poorer relations were howl- ■ ing that they were no richer, and even his steward said that things could not go on any longer *t this rate, and that he must get.all. his property into his own hands. Whereupon McWhuskey waxed furious, and even threatened ft resort to " pheetical force," if he were ejected from the management; and several of the under buliffs, land stewards, and others interested in the maintenance of the status quo vehemently opposed any change! ; Such would be but a feeblfl picture of tthe all but hopeless muddle into which New Zealand has fallen. It will require a clear head and a. strong arm to, get hei free. .To show that we are not .exaggerating", let ui tekp ' just ono item, and one only; of; the land-fund account, —that for confiscated lands. ;iiProbaf bly the reader will think that the sale of, confiscated lands should^ at least pay the expenses of management, surveys, &c. Bub . so far ie this from being tfie caseytnatj the confiscated land' fuad has' hid to.be assisted by loans from the defence loan", and the public works loan.' • •]•.'.- „-;< t ..*; j

The sum spent du'ing the quarter amounted to £6,537 IPs 9d, Jeavinpr, a balance.to credit £5,900 17s lid, of 1 which, however, upwards of £1,100 consisted of "advances to be accounted for." The confiscated lands* account then disappears as a separate account altogether—vanishes, as.. Profepsor,,TyndajH would say, like mists of morning cfaud 'into the infinite t azure of the past! Where its balance goes to, no'man can-'say,'from the published accounts. But in, the '• Land Fund Acco mt" forJlthe quarter ending December 31, 1875, " Confiscated Lands" appears without any bslance to credit, but credited with '

'." "", ..' Now, seeing that the Defence Loan advances . a lump sum of £45,000 ,to pay the debtjs of the Confiscated Land Fund/ we should naturally expect; to,find on' the expenditure side of the ledger a corresponding, amount. No such thing.,., The wbole of the expenditure is as follows: — ' ',':.'.' '■,""'..'" ''\, J \.> '

p°S Fhat has becoma of the remaining |£25,0rd ? It has .gjne-ssoaewhere— but inhere? jit does not appear in the accounts j.6J the fjuarter ending 3 1st March lait, whore &??'£ is put down as, expended for and engagement* to June 30th,. 187-5 ;" and ai the expensed of- management' onlyamouuted to £2,542 is. 7d., while the Land Siles amountei to £7,639 14s. 5d., it is obTious th*t there was no need to infringe upon the ordiniry revenue. Again, we ask, .where is that £25,000 ? .. f j £\ [to bbscontinubd] .;

, " '■;•'£• ''Bi--i. Cash in the public account. ... ' ; Bfi6-<l2 '*! 1 Advances to be accounted for ... 5-690 *4 : 0 ; ' ;: "■ '' , '■■• 6;546'<17-' : ''B ' Receipt (land ■alei I .renti ) &c.) 5,891; 17, 9 . t , Jet2,4'3BU4* 8

. . , £ b. d. Receipts from land sales; &c. ... 6,034 3 7 Credits to votes ... ... ... 90 8 0 Transfers from Defence Loan. ior liabilities arid engage-' ■•• ' "^ mentg to June 80, 1875 ... 24,500 ; 0 0 For repayment to Public ' - ;/;i- : Works Loan ..; •;.. 20^500 qb' . J: £51,124 11 7

Management and Surreys ... £2/270' 0 7 Liabilities and engagements, to, June SOih, 1875 ... ... ' 2.760 14 <L Repayment to Pdbiic WoikB '"•" ; ' °T; Loan ..." „. ... ui i;;. 2O;5O0: ,0' 0 £85,590 15 1 I