THE FINANCIAL STATE OF THE PROVINCE.

Southland Times, Issue 730, 30 September 1867, Page 2

THE FINANCIAL STATE OF THE PROVINCE.

The following speech was delivered by Mr Pearson during the late session of the , Council, upon the state, of the. finances of the Province. Of course' this has no reference to the debts of Southland, as defined under the " Southland Debt Act":— '■"•- Mr "Peaeson in moving, " That this" Council is of opinion that it should be placed at once in possession of the financial position of the Province, said, Sir, I - will premise any remarks I may make, by stating that I have. not brought forward this motion with any desire to cast blame on the late Groveroment, but simply to ventilate the subject with the hope of ascertaining how it was,; that after a change had taken place, in the Government, %c were still in a state of financial embarrassment, with the view of determining whether such was chronic, and if so, whether it would not be better at once to acknowledge that the present system of ' Provincialism was a failure, so far as regards this Province. In any remarks I may make- on the conduct of the late Grovernment, I particularly desire to except the hon member for Invercargill, Mr Hoss ; when I state that for him I entertain great and sincere respect,. I ; feel sure that every member of the Council will sympathise with me. That respect is based not merely on the integrity of his character, or esteem for his capacity ; but on the fact, that ever since he had been a member of that House, he had^never cast the slightest imputation on any one. His (Mr Boss') was the nobler description of honesty, which, basking in the sunshine of its own integrity, did not look with jaundiced eye on the actions of his fellows ; cast no low insinuations, hurled no base imputations. I would be glad to see him in the Executive, and I am sure his Honor the Superintendent would be only too happy to have him as an adviser. I desire also to deprecate any intention to animadvert on the conduct of the late Provincial Treasurer, Mr Clerke ; that gentleman has stuck to his post honor-, ably, and would have doubtless given an account of his stewardship had he not been deserted by his colleagues. I will now address myself to what might be termed the . financial statement, which the hon member for Invercargill, Mr Lumsden, had been good enough to furnish the House with on Thursday last, and first I must express my surprise at the statement made by him that on going into office he had accepted the estimates of Mr Blacklock's Grovernment. That Executive had been stigmatized by Mr Lumsden as imbecile, incapable, untrustworthy, and yet he had accepted their estimates, the . preparation of which was by far the most important function of a Provincial Executive. Such conduct could only lead to one of two conclusions, either the hon member for Invercargill, Mr Lumsden, did not believe what he had stated about the Blaeklook Executive being untrustworthy, or believing it, had adopted their estimates rather than take the trouble to prepare fresh ones. He could not, however, now shirk the responsibility of that adoption. As to the excuse he had made that it was at the end of the session, I feel sure the Council would not have refused to wait for the preparation of fresh estimates had he chosen to ' undertake the task. I now, sir, come to the. estimates themselves. I hold in my hand a Council paper purporting to be the estimate of the revenue for the year 1867, the total of which amounts to £26,525— which divided by twelve gives a monthly revenue of £2210 8s 4d, or for the eight months — i.e., from January to 31st August, £17,683 6s Bd. Now "the revenue actually received during that period amounts to £18,070 5s Id, or £386 18s 5d in excess of the estimate ; thus Mr Blacklock's estimate for the year has proved wonderfully correct, and could not have misled the member for Invercargill, Mr Lumsdeii, as he stated on Thursday last. It may be said, however, that there was another estimate for the six months ending 31st December next. Now although I am inclined to think it would have been a wiser course to have pursued, to have taken the average of the twelve month's estimate, I will grant :Mr Lumsden the advantage of the other.- In it the estimate for the six months is £16,152 6s ; this it would appear from the Hon. members statement, he divided by two, concluding that, if in six months you anticipated getting £16,152, 6s, ,in three you must get the exact' half | a financial calculation* which does great credit to his intelligence and capacity. To an ordinary mind, however, such a result need not necessarily follow. In some months J;he customs' revenue is greater than** others, and "the* month of August has,, for years proved to be the least productive frouv/ this source of revenuel Had the hoW member taken the trouble., or had he hpr the foresight to enquire of the aceountaj& ha w&M k§.y§ beeei wssd wfc to. <$$b

late on the usual average, and could not have been misled. As to the dog tax, it could not have been expected that m three months what was estimated for sir would be realized. To have calculated on such a result simply shews an absence of financial ability. I believe the dog tax will more than realize the estimate before the expiration of the six months. As to the hon. member's statement that the estimate shows a balance at the Bank to the credit of the Province of £500, which he afterwards found to be only £181 10s, he could not have been misled by this deficiency in estimating his expenditure. This estimate was made on the 31st May, when the money was in the Bank ; soon after he (Mr Lumsden) took office, the balance was reduced, and had he taken the precautions to apportion his expenditure to his income, he would not have been misled. I assert my belief that by the 31st December, the revenue will realize the estimate, and I am warranted in this by the results of the year 1566, the estimated revenue being £22,185, that obtained amounted to £22,210 2s lid, giving a balance in favor of receipts. As regards the eight months of 1567, I have already stated that the receipts exceeded anticipations, taking the average of the estimate for that year. I may say that the accuracy of these estimates reflects great credit on the accountant, Mr Rogers, who, I fancy, drew them out. As to the revenue falling off, I find that for the eight months, January to August of 1866, the revenue received amounted to £16,226 14s 9d. while for the corresponding period of this year it realized £18,070 5s Id, givino- a balance in favor of 1867 of £1843 101 4d. I now turn to the expenditure, and here is where the hon member has made his mistake. He complains that the revenue did not realize anticipations, but I can find no evidence that the expenditure was reduced. On the contrary, in the month of August, it reached a higher rate than during the three preeeedmg months ; thus we find an increasing expenditure, with a decreasing revenue, and the natural result, debt. It is evident to me however, that this pleasant state of affairs has been caused, not by being misled by the estimates of his predecessors, as the hon member would have us to believe, but by carelessness in ascertaining the state of the finances, previous to incurring liabilities, or to financial obtuseness, which may be summarised by the old saying, not cutting your coat according to your cloth. Because the hon member has not been able to work out the estimates of his predecessors for which he becomes responsible by accepting them, it by no means argues their incorrectness, but rather that be was not competent for his selfimposed task.