The Southland Times. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22, 1868.

Southland Times, Issue 886, 22 January 1868, Page 2

The Southland Times. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22, 1868.

lif a previous article, reviewing the '.' Public Debts Act, 1867," we casually alluded to the " Public Kevenues Act " as being intimately connected with it, and part and parcel of the consolidation policy of the General G-overnment. This Act may be termed the twin-brother of the other. It confirms the principle of consolidation, or as it may be legitimately designated, centralism. In fact it .is. framed for the purpose of carrying out the organisation embodied in the first mentioned Act. It provides for one Chief Treasurer for the whole colony. Passing over the preamble we come to Clause 3, which says : — " All moneys now or hereafter legally payable to the Government of New Zealand shall be kept in one account, which shall be called the ■" Public Account," of which there shall be four branches, which shall be called severally, "The Consolidated Fund ; the Special Fund; the Land Fund, and the Public Trust Fund." "What is termed the Consolidated Fund enbraces all revenue payable under any act of the General Assembly oh account of taxes, duties, imposts fees, except such fees as are declared to be territorial revenue.- The Special Fund includes all loans raised for the _ jm Mi«»_a~— •- — *_, — — - "* -'•«- v «i Assembly, and all the revenues arising in any province from the provisions of the " Gold Fields Act, 1866," so long as the powers invested in the Governor shall not have been delegated to the Superintendent or Executive Council of such province ; all moneys arising under the Bay of Island Settlement ; all moneys from laud confiscated from the natives in any of the provinces, -or land purchased by loans. Thus it will be seen that all the available revenue, except territorial, is taken from the provinces. The land fund, .however, comprises the revenue derived from the sale or leasing of the Waste Lands in such provinces, as possess gold fields. Land Revenue has to be credited to the, colonial account, but those provinces that have land to dispose of still retain the right to determine its expenditure, but it is provided that if upon making up the monthly accounts a balance is found due from the Provincial Government of any province to the General Government, the Colonial Treasurer shall withhold all payments out of the land fund to the provincial account of such province until such balance should have been repaid. The first fund consists of Intestate Estates, Savings' Bank, and Postal fees, fines, and similar items of reveuue. The Act is of a mo3t elaborate and j description, containing eighty clauses numerous schedules. For the most part the j latter are departmental.- The new system j is a stringent one for financial operations • | it requires all Sub-Treasurers or Paymasters to make daily payments to the Bank in which the public accounts are i kept. The responsibilities and restrictions placed on the Comptroller-General are great to a degree, and the conditions regulating his operatians equally severe. One clause (20) has a political significance ; it says :— " No member of the Executive or of either Houses of the General Assembly, nor any member of aProvincial Council, nor any person holding any political appointment, or-any place of trust or profit in the public service shall be capable of holding the office of Comptroller; the same rule is applied to~. the Auditors. Many more of the provisions of this Act go to prove that it has been drawn with a strict intention to make responsible officers as careful as possible. All the Paymasters or Sub-Treasurers are bound down to a strict system for conducting the business off their departments not hitherto enforced. Monthly returns are

required to be closely kept ,by the SubTreasurer of each Province. The Colonial Treasurer i"b also required to publish a , quarterly statement within thirty days of the termination of thequarter. The organisation the Act provides for,although somewhat cumbersome, is workable. Unauthorised expenditure by any General Executive is prohibited, and the power given to the Auditor at any time to summon witnesses and examine them on oath in all transactions, which .he may be investigating. Taking this measure as a whole, it is a most complete one. It was evidently framed in anticipation of the success of the centralising policy of the Stapfobd Ministry. To work the system initiated may for a time prove a difficult task ; but when once ftirly in operation, it promises , to go smoothly and well. It is calculated to secure the' : Colony from such losses as have marked the past through unauthorised Executive expenditure and departmental carelessness. This Act was deemel to have come into operation in July, 1867, but it-did not in reality until the commencement of the present year.