THE FINANCIAL CONDITION OF THE COLONY;

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 164, 3 July 1876, Page 2

THE FINANCIAL CONDITION OF THE COLONY ;

[Communicated.] No. VIII. Thoss readers who have carefully.perused the preceding papers will at least admit thtt they show that the writer must have bestowed some time, attention, and labor on tfie investigation of the Public accounts of -this colony. Probubly few persons, except the officials. immediately concerned have spent as much time over them as we have. Yet, such is ttie manner in which they arc kept, that we candidly confess there ara parts which we cannot understand. Without any wish to use harsh language, we can only say that if the deliberate intention of the Treasury authorities had been to confuse and mislead the pnblic, to prevent them from knowing what the revenue is, and how it is expended, to conceal items of expenditure that might be unpopular, to make accounts show a gain when they ought to »h*iw a loss -r-i' 'his had be h the deliberate intention of the compilers of the public accounts, then ther could not have adopted a better aystam than the one now pursued. If, on the other hand, their wish is that the people who pay the' takes should know what they produce, and how they nre speit, if they desire that thise who will, at some future time, have U pay the interest nn our enormous loans, should h»ve some little insight into the way in which they are expended, an i be capable of putting some cbecfc on extravagance, then tha Treasury officials are either most un.'ortunate or most incapable. We have made a point throughout these articles of indulging in no vague declamation abont extravagance, but have always quoted chipter and verse as we premised. Row in article No VI. reference was made to Railways, and it wa<* shown by a statement of receipts and d'sbursements that so far from* the railways open for traffic having been a source of gain, there had been a loss on them during the present financial year of more than thirteen thousand pounds. In calculating the expenditure, we naturally, look to the item " Railways," and this being put down and added up for the three quarters was erroneously asserted by us to t*e the total expenditure on railways open for traffic. But on examining the Consolidated Fund Account for a different purroie, another item was observed, •• Kail way Stores Account." Now '"-c "Railway Stores Account" is in the Estimates mixed vp 1 with the other expenditure on Railways^ and included in the lump sum of £244,318. Jt ought, therefore to have been included under the item "Railways" in the Public Accounts. But tbis Would . have made t-*e discrepancy betwen the sanguine eatimstes of the Co onial Treasurer, and the actual result too glaring, so it was pot in as a sepuate item with: «< Armed Constabulary " between them. Ihis was done-for the first time in the account for the quarter ending at Christmas iast, and wh-*n it man hive been evident that things were looking very un- ■ pleasant. Instead therefore of a lons of over £13.000 in tha three qunrtera already expired of the financial year, the loss on " Railways open for traffic" amounts to £t7,077 4s 2J. The account t-funds thus : —

We have to apologize to our readers for underesiimating the loss on the Riilways, bnt it any of them feel inclined to be hard on us, let them try wlnt tiiey can make of the public accounts cf New Zja'aud We have vainly endeavored to find any account of the recipts and expenditure ofthe Sinking Funds, or an intelligible balance iheet of the Trust Fund. What is done with tho large sums that ought to be paid into these two funds ? It it not a fact they they are applied to purchasing debentures of the New Z inland Government, and instead of being a seaurty to the public creditor they are only another plan for adding to the indebtedness of the colony? The fact is that tho Government is at its wit's end tor money. The Pullic Works Loin is not only exhausted, but actually indebted to the public account more tba-i fourteen thousand pounds. Treasury Bills are being issued, and the Btnk of New Zealand which officiates in the capacity of whit vulgar French people call "ma tante," and vulg«r Engiih people «' my uncle," has again had to make what i» called "a temporary advance" All this does remind one so much of Mr. Micawber. When ' that gentleman's affairs had reached what Mrs Miciwber called " a crisis." ehe was obliged ta obtain " a temporary advance " on six silver tea<poons. The Colonial Treasurer obtains " a temporary advance " by •' hypothecating" (the genteel term for pawning) the debentures guaranteed by the Imperial Government. These unfortunate debentures enact the part bf th*** working-man's Sunday suit in the old country, which goes to the pawnshop on the Monday, and is regularly taken out every Saturday night. When we are in difficulties, we "pop" the Imperial

debentures •, when we ais in funds wa take thera cat n-gain, to be" kept in reserve for another occasion. 1 j Among the "receipts"' for the quarter ending March 3' at, 1^76, appear ;ihe sums of £60.000 advance Iby the Bank of New ZeaUqd on security of. Treasury Bills— another " mode of raiding money- and £150,000 transferred from the Public Works account, making a total of £210,000 in one quarter alone, to meet the current exoenses of the < 'oasolidatei Fund, and y<st there was only left io hand a cash balance of £87,000 at the end of the quarter. During the half-year ending M«rch, the total sum obtained from l.'an to meet the or Unary expenditure of the Consolidated Fund, in addition to the ordinary revenue of the colony, which ought to have more than sufficed, was no less than £187,0-30 —nearly half a million ! And we were promised a surplus ! **• • '*•* • _ Of course this sort of thing cannot go on indefinitely. There must ba a stop soon to the career of unbridle I extravagance pursued by our Government. The p'Opfe.bf this colony— those "who hive made ittheir homes, and, as they hope, the home of their children and children's children, are not to be burdened with debt and taxes to enrich a few landsharks and. speculators. T'-e expenditure niiCst be largely reduce I, a stop must be put • 10 all puMic works except those already in course of construction, and a new loan must be negotiated to enable them to be compUt .d. To meet the interest on . this and the other loans it will be n-'cessary to take the Land' Fund, snd aft'-r defraying absolutely neces-* rary Provincial works, devote the surplus to "' the general' revenue. -An -income pjrty tax ought also to be imposed, so that the weight or taxation may fill on those beat able to bear it, to be double lon absentee . owner?. The exemptions' hb*v made oh articles imported for the u«e of partcular trades and businesses ought to be removed," and' protective duties lowered, so - ihat-* all*" duti*-s should be levied for purposes of revenue merely. The maintenance and -repair of* railways should b^ thrown, like that of oth- r roads, oh the' localities which they' specially benefit, and, in which . they have -so large'y increased the value of pr6pe*-ty. : ' A. siic'ce--sion duty may also be imposed.. If,, rigid economy is practised, and some such m'-ang aa these tskeh to intra*! se the' revenue; New 1 . Zealand may still struggle throtuh her difficultiet, and with the great natural resourcei of the country, agricultural and mineral, reach a state of quiet but permanent prosperity, far b*tter and 'healthier than the feverish excitement which has marked her career during the past four years. Thre will be-much temporary distress no doubt, and land will fait in price ehorai-ni'-ily, because it never ought to have risen so high, but at the same time labor will be ome cheaper, and many industries which are n>w unprofitable, or which have never been- undertaken because it was secni-ihey would not pay, will bs developed and open up new' sources ot j wealth to the colonist, and enable us to suppy the wants of our daily hfe without send--1 ing to Eng'and or America for every manufactured article we use. It is not opi'al that is wante ll— it is the proper use of cipiial As long as money emp'o>eJ in land speculations will bring in hundreds and thooeanls per cnt. it will not be employed in ordinarybusiness or manufactures, and consequent'y we have to send to New South Walts for our coal, and to England for our iron and copper, when unworked mines of boundless productiveness aie found on our shores These will be our real arid permanent sources of wealth, and it is to them, and not merely to wool and gold that we must look if ever New Zealand is to be "the Britain of the South." . . And above all, and flr-stof all, the members of tbe House of Representatives must insist en a pi-tin, honest, and accurate . account of the public revenue and expenditure being published. Let us have all the receipts of tthe colony from whatever source — whether loan or revenue— on one side, and all the ex-p-*ndita»e on v the other.' If the present system of accounts were abolished, and a proper„one substituted, the people woild know what they have to p»y, a wholesome check m extravagance would be exercised by public opinion, and gradually the moral standard of our leading public men would be laised, and it would no. longer be thought the greatest triumph and the noblest achievement of a New Zealand Premier to succeed in borrowiog four millions s'erling. We are founding a nation— a nation which those of us who are English fon lly hops will perpetuate to generations yet unborn the traditions of our native land, but the gran Jest of these traditions has been the strict honesty with which she has ever acted in all money matters. Whatever may have bten the faults of England her h nes'y has been unquestioned, and unquestionable, and at any and every sacrifice the has always dealt openly and candidly with her creditors. L t us do the same, for, to take the lowest ground, honesty is the best policy, and th* truth is cure to leak out at last. Let it not be that the words Horace wrote in bitter satire should be applicable to us as a simple truth, " O cives, cives, querenda pecun'a primum, , Virtus post numrnos; hese Janus summits abimo Perdocet : hcec reciaunt juaenes dictata senesquc." Epist., Lb. I, 1.

Expenditure for 9 months, £ a. d. 1875 6 90,171 17 R Receipts for 9 month) 43,014 13 6 j Excess of expenditure — ! cmr receipts 47,077 4 2 j