IMPROVEMENT INDICATED.

Shannon News, 13 February 1923, Page 4

IMPROVEMENT INDICATED.

RECEIPTS INCREASE BY Vfe MILLIONSam. MASSEY’S BUDGET. WELLINGTON, Last Night. , The Finance Statement, which Mr. Massey has promised to .present Parliament, will state that for the ten months ended January 31, 1923, tne revenue " collected under the various headings,' was £19,095,670, vas com. pared £17,649,722 for the same period of the last finaricial year, as follows:

The statement will show the posi./ tion of the public debt as follows: The gross public debt, as at January 31 1923, was £220,527,685, as against a liability of March 31, 1922, of £219,054,385, thor increase for the ten months being £1,473,303. The operations for the t e n months were: —Raised for public works fund —General purposes, £2,899,790; electric supply,-,£514,000; education loans, £588,250; discharged soldiers’ settlement, £300,9 50; native. land settlement £255,000; State forests, £214,000; land for’settleffieht 1 discharged soldiers’ settlement, £84,000; Hauraki Plains settlement, £78,000; Rangitaiki lana drainage, £50,900; swamp land drainage, £40,000; Waihou and Ohinemun rivers improvement, £35,000; scenery preservation, £7odo; mining advances, £6000; raised for redemption of loans, £2,984,535; total* raised, £8,057,425; deduct loans redeemed, £6,584,121; net increase, £1,473,303. FREE OF INCOME TAX SECURITIES. During the ten months, the volume of free of income tax securities outstanding has been reduced by £5,234,575, including £2,895,520 under ‘ the conversion scheme now in operation. . Funds for "redemption at 3 per cent. —Advantage was taken during the ten months of the, low rates of interest offering in London to ,borrow £1,000,000 on the security of Treasury bills at 3 per cent with nine months* > currency: The proceeds were utilised for .redemption purposes under section 17 of the New Zealand Loans Act, 1908, and securities for this amount were cancelled and discharged from the public debt. These transactions' represent a saving in interest of about' £15,000 during the nine, months over securities issued in the ordinary way at 5 per cent. Loans falling due in Australia. — As'the balance of trade with Australia is against the Dominion, I had arranged to redeem the loans falling due in Australia during the current year, but, unfortunately, the exchange posi. tion became so acute that the transfer of the necessary cash, either from London or from New Zealand, presented some difficulty. In view .ot the prevailing conditions, I deemed it, expedient to authorise the issue in the Commonwealth of short-dated redemption securities, amounting to £50,000, on similar terms to those available to investors in Australian State securities, namely, 5S per cent, with alternative currencies, of three, five or ten years. The securities found a ready sale and full particulars of the charges and expenses will be sub. mitted in due course. The State Advances Office loan*, authorised by the State Advances Board during the ten months ended January 31, 1923, amounted to £2,104,180, Of which* £1,804,489 was paid over to borrowers.

Jan. Jan. 1923 1922 £ • £ Customs 4,686,229 4,205,842 Beer, Duty .... 488,727 340,484 Stamp and Death 2,491,044 Duties .. 2,875,313 P. and T. ..... 2,373,679 2.178,719 Land Tax .... 1,453,506 1,519,842 Income Tax ... 355,573 330,192 Railways ..... 5,272,333 5,240,563Registration and 105,719 • ! other fees . 120,817 Marine ' 38,221 40,789 Miscellaneous . 1,002,330 895,854 Territorial .... 123,481 127,206 National Endow102,481 , ment rev. . 95,157 Dept, other receipts .... 210,304 70,987 19,095,670 17,649,722