LATEST TELEGRAMS.

Patea Mail, Volume III, Issue 242, 4 August 1877, Page 2

LATEST TELEGRAMS.

[PER PRESS AGENCY.] 4. PABLIAMENTAR Y. - 0 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. WELLINGTON. August 3. There was no business done last night. The House met to-day at 2.30 p.m. Mr Sharpe will move to abolish free passes on railways. The Native Lands Bill comes on for second reading on Tuesday. Government replying to Mr Travers, said they hoped to be able to propose an appropriation for opening up bye-roads in isolated districts in the colony. Several bills read first time. Discussion arose on the Fencing Bill. Some hon. members arguing there should be no Fencing law at all in the colony. Sheep and Cattle, and Slaughter-house Bills, are the two other consolidating measures which- come nest.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT. The Hon. Major Atkinson delivered Ins Financial Statement to the House of Representatives on Tuesday evening last, and in opening said that the colony had reached that point imthe scheme of public works and immigration where the revenue was suffering to the greatest extent possible from the large unproductive expenditure upon railways in course of construction, and that there existed a feeling of uneasiness, amounting in some quarters to anxiety, because of the belief that the services of the year could not be provided for except by increased taxation. He had therefore taken the earliest possible opportunity of giving the fullest information. Referring to the £1,000,000 loan authorized last session, he stated that arrangements made with the Bank of New South Wales for £500,000, and with the Bank of New Zealand for other £500,000, secured upon short dated debentures, had enabled the Government to avoid going on to the London money market. A further agreement had been made for obtaining£4oo,ooo from the Bank of New Zealand. The appropriations last session, for immigration and public works, amounted to £2,032,286. There had been expended up to Juno 30th, £1,480,617, so that there had been a saving of £551,688 during the year on the amount stated. The votes on which the largest savings had been made were : Railways, on which the expenditure had been £333,000, less than the estimate ; water supply ou goldfields, £61.000 less ; land purchase ou North Island, £40,000 less, and roads, £36,000 less. The other savings included £22,000 on immigration, and about the same amount on public buildings, £23,000 on lighthouses, and £12,000 on telegraph extension. Taking the public works amount as a whole, the ways and means had been £11,500,000 from loans, including £750,000 out of the loan of 1876, and £340,620 from receipts in aid, including £264,657 from stamp duties. Up to December last there was thus a total of £11,840,620 of ways and means. The expenditure up to June 30th amounted to £10,869,431, so that there was on that date a balance of £980,189. The principal items of expenditure had been railways £6,129,920, immigration (including location), £1,517,809, roads, £894,571, land purchases (North Island), £533,580 ; water supply on goldfields, £405,063. The charges of raising the loans had amounted to £498,532, and the interest and sinking fund represented £218,500. Of the balance of £980,189 there would be required £645,957 for works under contract or about to be let. It was proposed to ask for appropriations amounting to about £1,274,676, and if these were grained, additional ways and means amounting to about £990,443 would be required for this account during the year. As to provincial liabilities, Treasury Bills amounting to £IIO,OOO had been issued under the power given by the appropriation Act of last year, and the proceeds had been applied, in the terms of that Act, in making advances to the provincial districts of Auckland, Wellington, and Westland. Out of the loan of 1876, a quarter of a million was appropriated to meet provincial liabilities falling due between the Ist January and 3-Hh June. There had been transferred to the several provincial liabilities amounts for that purpose of £237,500, leaving £12,500 to defray a proportion of the cost of raising the loan, the balance being applicable to outstanding liabilities. Taking the provincial liabilities account as a whole, the receipts up to Juno 30 had been £620,951, and there was a balance of £45,888 to be applied. Compensation to provincial government officers was looked upon as provincial liabilities, and would be included in unauthorized expenditure. The gross public debt of the colony, general and provincial, including Treasury Bills, when the balances of all loans now authorised are raised, will bo £20,825,311. As against tins debt we bad a balance of £980,189 14s Id at the credit of the public works account on the 30th June, £35,416 18s 9d at the credit of the defence loan account, and accrued sinking fund amounting to £1,353,562 2s lOd. Our total revenue last year was £3,061,594 10s 4d, and excluding land sales, £2,171,059 13s. That is, after setting apart that portion of our income derived from the sale of land, which in most colonies is called revenue, our net public debt is eight and a half rimes our revenue ; or, if we include our income from land sales, our public debt is equal to six times our revenue, while the public debt of Great Britain is more than ten times the amount of her revenue. It was explained that the public debt of England had been incurred for war purposes, while that of New Zealand had been incurred for reproductive works. From the several Loan Acts it had been ascertained that the general and provincial Government Loans of the colony had been spent —about £8,300,000 upon railways, £3,500,000 on immigration, £4.400,000 ou harbours, lighthouses, public buildings, roads, bridges, and other public works for opening "up the country, £1,300,000 in the purchase of native lands, including the payment of the debt to the New Zealand Company, £2,000,000 in the suppression of the native outbreak, and the remaining £500,000 on miscellaneous purposes.— 1876-77. The expenditure as authorised by Parliament last session exclusive of that for railways, was £1,858, 467, and there had been a saving of £194,084 upon the votes of that amount. £73,323 under the head of Interest and Sinking Fund, was mainly due to a year’s interest on £1,250,000, having been provided for, and and only a half year’s payment being necessary. Deducting this, there would still remain a saving of £123.566 on the appropriations for the year. Hie amalgamation of the armed constabulary with the police force of the colony had effected a saving of £IO,OOO on the six months, which would have been more except for the necessity of paying bonuses to men discharged. Under each bead of railways there had been a diminution, owing to certain extensions not being opened as earlv as was anticipated. Last session be estimated a profit of £84,000, the receipts bein°- set down at £345,000 and the expenditure at £260,758. But it was a fact upon which the colony might well congratulate itself, that the profits from railways had been £87,924 during the year, the receipts having been £316,220, and the expenditure L 228,295. His estimate of the consolidated revenue was that the surplus with which to begin 1876-77 would

be L 50,052, but it had proved to be L 61,027. The total receipts under these heads were estimated at L 1.691,850, but they bad reached L 1,614.582 only. The Customs revenue showed a deheioney of L 40,621, but looking at the disturbance of trade throughout the world, and to the uncertainty of the wool market during the year - , the Government were prepared to find the deficiency larger, and probably honorable members were similarly prepared. The postal revenue appeared to have fallen L 9,452 below the estimate, but sums amounting L 15,925 had to be received from the Imperial and Australian Governments, so that the seeming deficiency would he converted into an excess of more than L 6.000. In incidental receipts there had been a deficiency of L 18,447, but receipts under this head can never be estimated with more than an approach to accuracy. To the L 1.614,582.614,582 received into the consolidated fund must be added —first, the profits on the railways, L 87,924, the LIO,OOO transferred from State Forests account, the two per cent recovered from the land fund under the Financial Arrangements Act, amounting to L 71,997, the surplus at the In-gin-nini-y of the year, LG1.027, and the assets yet to be realised. These made a total of L 1,882,249.

The total revenue for the year, as estimated, amounted to £2,146,902, or, exclusive of railways, tie £1,801,902 ; to which must bo added the estimated profit on the railways, £84,244, making as estimated receipts for the year £ 1.882,249. being £3,895 less than the estimate. The transactions of the year might be summarised thus: —Actual expenditure, including liabilities, £2,024,572 ; actual reveuve, including realisable assets, £2,172,792 ; leaving a balance of £148,220 as a surplus with which to begin 1877-78. Comparing 1876-77 with 1875-76, the falling off in the Customs revenue was hutsmall, anil notwithstanding this the revenue of the consolidated fund, including revenue assets of the year, showed an increase of £231,278. The receipts from the land fund during the year (exclusive of gold duty) were £1,039,242, or £419.000 more than the average for the preceding seven years. Since the Ist January (said the Colonial Treasurer), when the Financial Arrangements Act came into force, tho receipts have been £514.454. The estimate was £322,610, so that the estimate was exceeded by £221,884. But 1 regret to sa} r that although there is a very large increase on the whole, the deficiency is larger than was provided for by the Financial Arrangements Act. The sales in Canterbury show an enormous excess, while those in Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke’s Bay, Nelson, and Otago, have proved to be less by £83,000 than the sum estimated. In consequence of this, the whole of the Treasury Bills authorised under the Financial Arrangements Act, amounting to L 150.000, have been issued, and an additional sum of L 53,005 has had to be advanced from the consolidated fund in aid of the land fund. The business done by the Bust Office Savings Bank had been satisfactory, and the deposits remaining on 30th Juno were L 720.000. The year’s transactions in the Annuities and Insurance Departments had been most

satisfactory. It. was intended to bring in a Bill to establish a Board of Management, instead of leaving the direction in the bands of a Commissioner. The proposed total expenditure for the year 1877-78 was £3,109,754, The cost of most of the departments had been reduced, through amalgamation and simplification ; although the work had in many cases nearly doubled. Under the head of Public Departments £3U,OO(J was included for hospitals and charitable aid, intended to pay subsidies which would probably he payable under the Charitable Institutions Act. Authority v/onld be asked to deduct from tlic subsidies to counties, boroughs, and road boards, a snffickmt sum to maintain hospitals, and for charitable aid in districts which declined to adopt the Act, or in which it proved insufficient. The House had already been informed of the provisions meant to be made for education. A large increase amounting to £10,989, had been found necessary' in the vote for militia and volunteers. The saving effected by the amalgamation of the police and armed constabulary was equal to £33, Odd a year. Referring next to ways and means for the current year, the Colonial Treasurer said : As I have just shown we have to provide for an aggregate expenditure of £3,109,754:12s Id for the year, of this £2,394,540 12s 9d is chargeable upon tbe consolidated fund ; on the gold revenue £72,000, and £043,208 upon the land fund, being such charges only as cadi fund should support now. If all the charges placed upon the land fund of each district could he recovered, the consolidated fund would be in a position to hear its legitimate burdens without difficulty. As a matter of fact, hov'ever, I do not think that more than L5G0,000 of that sum will be practically recoverable, the land fund in certain districts being insufficient to meet its liabilities. It was, therefore, stated to be necessary either to sapplemeut the consolidated revenue, or relieve it of some of the charges the Premier had proposed it should bear. He was in favour of temporarily aiding the consolidated fund. The question of taxation would bo better deferred till the trunk lines of railway were approaching completion, and the real requirements of the colony could be ascertained, when the whole incidence of taxation could bo dealt with. Referring to the principles which had always been recognised, both in Provincial and General Government legislation, that the land fund should be localised, and that the cost of immigration, roads and railways is a charge against the land fund, the Premier defined the meaning which he attached to the term localisation of the land fund, to be that the money received for the sale of Crown lands within defined district should be spent in opening up and peopling that district. Arguing on that point, he said, when the money has been spent in opening up and peopling the district, the object of localisation is accomplished, our duty to the land is fulfilled, and there, in my opinion, localisation ends. Holding then, as I do, tbe opinion that with the proceeds of the land it is the duty of tbe State to open and settle the land, it seems to me no violation of the principle of localisation, but merely an extension of it, to say that if the State finds the money beforehand for these purposes such an expenditure should be made a charge against the land fund, and that it is in accordance with the

pvlncipc u£ loc.ii.s.-l’ •» tv charge agamrA the land fund of cue 1 1 district any sum not exceeding the amount expended within that district, in any way which Parliament mav rlet“nnine is the most convenient. Now, there has been raised for railways and immigration a sum in ror.ncl numbers of L‘J,51)0,000, the whole of which is fairly a liability of tlio land fund. The annual charge on this fund for interest and sinking fund is about L 485,000. Out of this sum there had been expended up to the dlst Dee., 1876, the day on which the accounts of the late provinces were closed, a net siim of 1/7,188,245, and the colony had paid interest thereon to the amount of 1,825,482, but had only recovered from the provinces L 160,646, so that in aid of the land fund the consolidated land had actually paid LGSS, lob. J'he Colonial Treasurer stated the results of tables showing how each district land fund had been beneJitted. lie proposed to charge the land fund of Canterbury with a sum of 1.58,000, and that of Otago with a sum of Llob,ooo, being in each ease one moiety of the amount by which the land lands of those districts had been aided, which, considering the relief granted in other ways, he did not think the members repix-scming those places would object to. It had to bo homo in mind that when the colony had incurred a large expenditure for public works and immigration, which is yearly * improving the public estate, at a time when the burden of the expenditure on uncompleted works is most severely lolt, only possible moans of manuaining t'/Kv broad principle of localising the land fiyid was by talcing care that all right hil cuarges upon it wore fairly and justly met. The estimated total revenue of the colony for 1877-78 was L 3,302,685. This total comprised L 2,203,160 of consolidate.; revenue, L1G7,000 of lefimus from Canterbury and Otago land funds, L72.00U goluliolds revenue and gold duly, and 1.800,525 from land sales, licenses, and rvnts. 'll;: Customs revenue was put down at the amount yielded last year, and on other items there was a slight increase. Railway receipts were estimated at 1,004,000, ami the year’s profit on the work done by He railway'was set down, after very' caretul consideration, at L170,'410. Addin Lu dm j estimated revenue the surplus wi:h w;,b-h the year was begun, L148,x2.J, there would be a total of 1.6,540,005. Deducting, then, the estimated expenditure, there appeared a surplus of L 431,150. Of that sum, L62b,3(ib was distributable amongst the Counties as surplus laud fund, .and there would remain a balance of 1.101,781 available to meet possible deficiencies of the land fund in certain districts. For railways, the Government would only ask, this session, for a sum s-nfiicient to unite the already com pleiad sei -ions of the trunk line of; 500 miles from j Amberley to Kingslon, and for extension of the main lines in other parts of toe eolonv. which works would be describi-d in the i’ublic Works Statement. Should the House approve of the recommendations that would there would be made, additional way’s and means to the amount of L 040.4-145 would he required. The total proposed expenditure for (he year on

pub.ie works would bo L 1,700.461. Immigration services were estimated Lo re<julro X. 1 ~-l-. 1 Sli, ami tboru vv'ore provineial liabilities to be met amounting to L25(),556. These sums made a total of 1/2,180,189, and after allowing lot too ba'auce In the credit of the public works account, LI,'iOMX ; O would remain, for ( which ways and menus would have to be provided. The L800,<;00 of gmraideed debentures had, in estimating ways and means, been treated as cash applicable to public works. If the proposals were approved of, authority to raise a loan of Li’,ooo,ouU wpidd have to be asked for. The Government could not recommend that any of the works which would be included in (he Labile Works Statement should be delayed, but if tire House should resolve to reduce the expenditure upon public works by, sav, one half, then the agreement with the Lank of New Zealand would probably avoid the necessity for going upon (he London market for another eighteen months, and next session a complete scheme of Works could, no doubt, be submitted. The Colonial Treasurer, in conclusion, explained why the Government thought it most desirable the country should have time and rest for the complete development of the public works system, and should not at present be troubled by proposals of increased taxation, or by nurfiions of constitutional changes or the idewcnce of existing taxes. The proposals of the Government would secure this slate of things, and ho asked for them early and most careful consideration.