Untitled

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4861, 20 October 1876, Page 2

The Dunedin Star of a recent date contains a contributed article by “ An Accountant ” on the subject of; the’ finance of abolition os it affects Otago, and the way in which he, after a careful study of the matter, puts the question, shows very, clearly, that Mr. James Maoandrew and the Otago special pleaders havebeen guilty of more than mere mistakes. He says :—“lt has been stated that Otago loses £150,000 or £200,000 ,a-year ;; that* her railway profits go to Wellington ; that she pays henceforward out ; of land fund what has hitherto been paid put.of her Customs revenue, &c., &c. Now, all this is absolutely untrue, if it .is intended to represent the effect of the measures at present before the House. I would point-out- that pur* railway ‘profits’ simply represent receipts over ,and: above working expenses; that if interest were charged tp the loud fund as. by the Immigration and Public* Works., Acts, of 1871 and 1875, it can be.pharged pu, all finished, portions of lines at Six per cent; on; the capitalised cost,* there are (Up ‘profits/ ' left at',all; .and therefore Otago i

dpsos nothing by this arrangement—in fact, at present the interest \dqe, ’ I 'believe, considerably the profits,..without allowing anything for ‘renewals of line and plant. M ’ * / Then, with regard-to.the interest on ,provinml -loanß,''Whioh,is in future to be paid jojjt of ! | land fundt) This i amounts to about ; £70,0p0 peranuum/ But'is thereno contra to put against this apparent loss ? Henceforward the cost of police, gaols, lunatic asylums, and thatrof education and certain departmental expenditure will come put .of the Consolidated Fund, and’ iCIO,OOO per annum is also saved by. abolishing ‘Executive and Provincial Council ’; and, although we believe on the whole there will be sure loss if we regard the 2 per cent, contribution from land fund as a portion only of-a just debt for which the province gets a valuable return in the shape of railways and increased receipts from land, the utmost limits of that loss, so far as the figures can be at present ascertained, will not be above £20,000 per annum, and the increase in the upset price of land, if passed; will more than cover it. All the other provincial revenues are absolutely secured to us by the Abolition Act, and the Acts founded upon it ; and the only difference is, that it is differently distributed and placed entirely under the control of local bodies. The statement that has been circulated in the city showing that Otago only got back 42 per cent, of her contributions for eighteen years to the general. fund, is entirely misleading, insomuch as it does not point out that the remainder was spent in services in which Otago is as much interested as the rest of the colony; and that she was quite in as good a position in respect to perfection of expenditure as Canterbury and Auckland, except with regard to some insignificant amounts against the provinces of Taranaki and Marlborough. The only ground of complaint as regards the other provinces was an over expenditure averaging £6OOO a year in Nelson and Wellington. Although clear enough from a careful perusal of the document, all this may easily be overlooked by a superficial reader. The amount expended out of loan in Otago is, however, set down as £663,535, and it is only when reading the document carefully that one observes, from certain small figures at the top, that this was up to 30th June, 1874, only. Otago’s real receipts out of loan up to date are over two millions, and unless all the lines now in progress are completed, will be nearer three millions, including cost of immigration, instead of £600,000.