The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 1877,

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 185, 7 August 1877, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 1877,

In marked contrast to the Governor's speech on opening Parliament, tiie Financial Statement, upou which circumstances have hitherto prevented our offering any comment, does not suffuse witha rose-colored tint the picture that it paints of the condition of the colony, but tells us pretty plainly what i3 our position at the present moment. First of all we are iuformed that since last session half a million has been borrowed in Sydney, and a similar amount from the Bank of New Zealand. The former sum is repayable in three equal instalments at intervals of one month, the first falling due on the Ist December, 1878. The amount borrowed from the Bank is to be repaid on the 16th February, 1879, so that in addition to our liabilities in the shape of interest and sinking fund and ordinary expenditure, we shall be called upon between the Ist of December, 1878, and the 16th of February, 18/9, to hand over a million of money to the public creditor. The tide of our affairs will have to turn considerably in our favor to place us in a position to meet our engagements at that time. Not at all afraid of alavmiug the people of the colony, the Treasurer proceeds to bring them face to face with their liabilities by informing them that the total of the colonial debt has now reached the respectable sum of very nearly twentyoue millions, but he then attempts to allay any feelings of uneasiness that this may raise in their minds by assuring them that there is no cause for disquietude, because our debt, is only equal to six times our revenue, if we include our income from land sales, while that of Great Britaiu is ten times the amount of her revenue. But he forgets to add that for all practical purposes a comparison between the two is absolutely valueless. He knows, although he does not say so, tha; Gre t Britain merely borrows from within her own limits, and that on the days on which the interest falls due a large sm of money is set at liberty, either for re-invest-me -t or for meeting the current expenses cf tt ose who have money in the funds, and he also knows that with us a totally different state of affairs obtains ; that on. those dates when our interest is due, a vast sum of money leaves the colony never to return again. It finds its way into the pockets of foreign c jditors, not into those of our o,vn people. For every million that we borrow the colony is impoverished to the extent of at least £50,000 a year, and yet we are invited to derive comfort from the fact that the proportion which our debt bears to our revenue is smaller than that of Great Britain's national debt to its annual income. To compare the positions of the two countries in this respect is an absurdity, to attempt to . soothe ourselves with the result of the comparison is the purest folly. But' perhaps this was a pardonable device, introduced for the purpose of paving the way to what was to follow, aud of removing from the minds of members any alarm that they might otherwise feel at the prospect of having to go into the market for the additional two millions tb ,t we are assured will be required to carry out the contemplated public works. The profit on the working of the railways haa amounted to a trifle over one' per cent on their cost, which was £8,300,000, the surplus of revenue they have yielded for the year over and above working expenses being £87,924, and the colony is asked to congratulate itself upon the fact that this is nearly £4000 in excess of the estimated profit. It is, of course, a matter for congratulation whenever the actual receipts exceed the estimate, no matter what is the department in which so fortunate a circumstance occurs, but it is worthy of notice that in the present instance the excess is due, not to the receipts being larger than was anticipated, but to the fact that the expenditure was less than was estimated. Thus, although the receipts were expected to be £345,000, they only reached £316,220, while the expenditure, which was set down at £260,758, fortunately amounted to but £228,295. The excess of actual over anticipated profits is, thefore, clearly owing to a miscalculation of the probable cost of the up keep of the railways, and not to the traffic being greater than was' expected. In other words, had the expenses proved as great as they were expected to be, the profits, with the receipts so far below the estimated amount, would, instead of being £87,000, have been limited to £27,000. The sole cause for congratulation, therefore, is that, since there was an error in the estimate of expenditure, it was on the right side. The estimated receipts from railways for the current year are set down at £604,000, and the expenses at £434,000, leaving a profit of £170,000, or nearly double that for the past twelve months. The event will, we trust, prove that no mistakes have been made in this calculation or that if they do exist they will also prove to be in our favor. The Treasurer, we find, takes credit to himself, for certain savings on the Public Works Account amounting in the aggregate to £549,000, the details being as follows*— Railways, £333,000 less thau the sum voted* waier supply on gold-fields, £61,000 lessland purchase in the North Island, £40,000 less ; roads, £36,000 less ; immigration, £22,000 less; public buildings, £22,000 lesslighthouses £23,000 less; telegraph extensions, £ 12,000 less. We presume that Major Atkinson docs not mean to assert that the work's for which the money was voted have been carried out, and that the above figures represent an actual saving on the expenditure estimated to be necessary for their construction, but merely that public works to the value of £54 r ,OOO have been left undone, and will have to be completed at some other time. If the. money had beeu spent there would have been something to show for it; as it is we have the money and not the works. Surely this canscarcely be called " a saving." One cannot but admire the wary maijner in which the Treastiser makes his first move in the direction of attacking the land fuud of Otago and Canterbury. It is ushered in by a brief essay on the meaning of the term " localisation "of tho 'laud fund. Through this ve will not follow the Treasurer but will leap at once to the point at which his remarks are aimed. This is that the land fund of those two great provinces is to be made to contribute towards the consolidated fund uuder the guise of back interest upon the sums that have been expended upon public works in those districts. This is but an affair of outposts, but it looks like the prelude to a general attack upon the southern land revenue. We do not propose to follow the Colonial Treasurer in his travels through the maze of figures with the iutricacies of which he appears to be so well acquainted. There are very few men who would be bold enough to state that they understand New Zealand finance, and those few would find many to doubt their assertion, however honest they might be in making it. "In New Zealand " said oue of the members the other day when speaking on the Charitable Institutions Bill, " financial language is very peculiar." With this we quite agree, and we will even go so far as to admit that many of tbe peculiarities of our financial language are to us incomprehensible. Therefore we are not going to follow Major Atkinson through all his figures, but will satisfy ourselves with quoting the results at which he arrives. He tells us that he commences tbis year with a surplus from last year of £148,220, which, added to the estimated receipts for the next twelve months, will bring the revenue up to £3,540,905* If bis estimate of expenditure proves correct, he will have a surplus this year of £431,150,

of which £339,369 will he distributable among the Counties, leaving a balance of £101,781 to meet possible deficiencies. We ea-nestly hope that the surplus is not over estimated, and that the "possible deficiene'es" will be non-existent.

The adjourned meeting of the City Council will be held this evening, when it is probable that the vexed question of levelling the hill in Waimea-street near Mrs Snow's residence will again crop up. We trust that the Council will pause before sanctioning ao unnecessary an expenditure of the public money. There has been quite enough fancy work authorised already in the formation of an unused portion of Halifax-street, and the widening of that portion of the Port Road which, even in its present state, is considerably wider than any other part of it. This should suffice for the present, and if there is no other work of a really useful character that requires immediate completion, it would be better that the Council should husband their resources until the money can be turned to good account. The new Courthouse at Spring Grove was opened this morning for the first time, when the Resident Magistrate was in attendance, aud a number of cases were heard, the only one of interest being that of White v. Ashcroft, ia which Mr W. White sued the manager of the railway for the non-delivery of a box of isinglass sent by rail. The defence was that a truck of firewood had been received by the plaintiff some time previously, for which carriage had not been paid, and the railway regulations Drovided that in such cases the Minister of Public Works might detain, and, if necessary, sell goods afterwards consigned to the debtor. Mr Acton Adams appeared for the defendant, for whom judgment was given with costs. Two deserters from H.M.S. Sappho were this morning brought up on remand-before the Magistrates and further remanded to Wellington, to which place they will be forwarded by the Taupo this evening. Messrs. Adams & Kingdon have recently disposed of Apple Tree Farm, Spring Grove, to Mr J. Arnold, jun., for £575. and of Allington to Mr R. Edmunds for £1800. The following appears among the obituary notices in the Illustrated London Newt-.— "On the 30th April, afc Holborn Union Workhouse, William Fraser, only surviving brother of the Hon. Alexander Fraser, late Her Majesty's Minister of Public Works, Victoria, aged 74. Australian papers please copy." r * * When the storm cloud threatens, mariners hasten to close-reef the sails of the ship. Those who are admonished of approaching danger by the preliminary symptoms of disease, may well profit by the exam >le of the sailor and take measures to avert it. Bodily weakness and trifling irregularities in the discharge of the physical functions are the forerunners of disease. Be warne d in time and use that sovereign protective, Udolpho Wolfb's Schiedam Abosiatio Schnapps.— Advt.