The Patea Mail. (Published Wednesdays and Saturdays.) SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1879.

Patea Mail, Volume V, Issue 468, 18 October 1879, Page 2

The Patea Mail. (Published Wednesdays and Saturdays.) SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1879.

The Detective Ministry, is the sobriquet by which the present Opposition wish the Hall Cabinet to be known. No doubt a happy and ludicrous nickname is a useful weapon, for there are many thin-skinned people in the world who are very sensitive as to what name they are called by, and who would go far out of their way to escape a name that might turn the laugh against them. But it is not every clumsy wit that can invent such a name; edged tools often cut the novice who attempts to use them. In the present instance, the nickname is suggestive rather of the guilty fear of those who give it than of the meanness of those to whom it is applied. To criminals there is no name so hateful as that of “ Detective,” or “ Informer,” and they think that they have annihilated an enemy when they have called him by one of. these terrible names. But to honest people, in whose life there is nothing to detect or to inform against, the detective officer appears, as ho really is, an ingenious, useful, and honourable member of society. The Hall Government having declared that it will use all the influence of its position, and all the forms of the House, to retain possession of thei Treasury Benches until it has thoroughly investigated the state of the finances of the country and of native affairs, called forth a howl of shame and fear from the dethroned Liberals, and the sobriquet to which wo have alluded was part oi this howl. In spite of all the frantic struggles, expostulations, and beseechings of the Opposition, the political Detectives prosecute their work for the public good, and have not failed to bring to light some startling facts, and for the first time in fifteen months the colony has heard how its accounts stand. Major Atkinson made his Financial Statement on Tuesday evening, and considering the short time allowed him, it must be admitted that he entered more fully into details than could have been reasonably demanded. We will tabulate as concisely and as clearly as possible the main facts adduced. Taking first the year 1878-79, which began with a surplus, we get the following :

Estimated. Realised* Surplus .... £120,468 ... £116,044 Revenue ... 4,045,537 ... 3,751,593 Total... £4,166,005 £3,867,637 The amount realised, therefore, fell below the estimate by £298,368.. In the same year the Expenditure was estimated at £4,210,000, but the actual payments did not greatly exceed £4,000,000.. Sir George Grey last session stated the actual expenditure at £3,652,048, showing a saving of £558,000; hut this saving was more apparent than real, as £348,219 was unpaid liabilities. The actual saving was, therefore, only £209,733. But notwithstanding this saving, the exp,en r ditnre was largely in excess of the income, thns^—Actual Expenditure .... £4,000,267 Income Realised 3,867,637 Deficit ~. £132,630 The Liberal Government, therefore, began the year 1878-9 with a surplus of £116,044, and ended it with a deficit of £132,630. In other words, with all their saving, they spent £248,674 more than the income of the country. We now pass on to the current year, 1879-80. The Revenue, as estimated by the late Government, is made up thus:— Taxation ... ... £1,580,000 For Services 1,362,000 Land ... 500,000 £3,442,000 The expenditure for the current year, as estimated by the late Treasurer, will be £3,973,425, At the end of the present year, therefore, things will stand thus;— Expenditure ... ... £3,973,425 Revenue ... ... 3,442,000 Deficit ... ... £531,425 Add deficit 1878-9 ... 132,630 Total deficit ... £664,055 This is bad enough in all conscience, but Major Atkinson, in revising the estimates, comes to the conclusion that the receipts for the year will fall short of the late Treasurer’s estimate by £248,100. By adding this amount to the total deficit, as stated above, we get £912,155. This is a deficiency that ought to satisfy the Grand Turk. The Major estimates the Land Revenue for the year at '£380,000, which is certainly very low, and indicates clearly that there is no intention of selling the Waimate during the current financial year, which has nine months yet to run, But there are, no donbt, good reasons for the all round reduction of the late Treasurer’s estimates, which the Major has made. He says, for instance, that during the first quarter the “receipts had not come up to the pay-.

inonts made by a sum of£33u,oou. The late Government, had issued £4OO,UOU of deficiency bills, and used the whole oi the proceeds. No provision had been made for paying subsidies to local bodies now due, or to meet other payments wtiich it was absolutely necessary for them to make. To provide for these they proposed to take power to issue a further £200,000 of deficiency bills in order to enable Them on the necessary services of the colony up to October or November, and by that time he hoped the House would have determined how the deficiency was to be made up.” Referring to the pretended retrenchment of the late Government, Major Atkinson showed that in the departments of Law, Justice, and Customs, the expenditure in 1877-8 was £IO,OOO more than the vote; and m 1878-9, £53,000 more than the vote. In the Native Department the expenditure had risen from £34,000 in 1876-7, to £58,000 in 1878-9. In the latter year the salaries alone amounted to £19,000. The statements made with regard to the Public Works Account are even more surprising than those referring to the ordinary revenue and expenditure. The Public Works Department began the present year with a credit balance of £207,000, and during the first quarter expended the astounding sum of £712,000. This not only absorbed the credit balance, but drew to the extent of £505,000 on the loan that is not yet raised. But besides this there are engagements entered into for the present quarter—ending December 30th—to the extent of £774,000 more. Thus before next New Year’s Day £1,238,000 of the loan will be spent. But only- hall' of“ the financial year will then be passed; for the remaining six months—ending Juno 30th, 1880—the late Government has entered into engagements to the extent of £921,818, which added to the foregoing amount, makes a total of £2,159,818. To begin a year with £207,000 to the good, and end by draw ing upon the five million loan to the extent of £2,160,000, is rather fast spending, even for New Zealand. If we deduct this amount from the loan, together with the £360,000 appropriated to contingent defence, and the £BOO,OOO for recleemingguaranteed debentures, and the £IOO,OOO for the Lyttelton Harbor Board, there will remain very little for any public works besides those which the late Government has already pledged the colony to carry out before the end of next Jnne.