THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

Southland Times, Issue 1273, 1 July 1870, Page 3

THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

■\ The Hon. Mr Yogel, Colonial Treasurer, made: his financial statement on Tuesday evening. Through the courtesy of the Genjerat^Gteyernment we are enabled to place "the following synopsis of it before our readers:-—, Thj6, Colonial Treasurer conYmenced by making the indulgence of tfre on the ground of the early period iv the session at which the statement was made, which had entailedon Kirn a very large amount of extra labor. The financial measures of last session had answered their purpose. The curtailment of the advance system had enlarged a large sum to be brought to account at the end of the year, which would otherwise have appeared as a charge against this year. The "Annuities and Life Insurance Act " had been brought into operation with great success, and measures would be proposed to increase its usefulness. The total debt on colonial ac cbuntjless sinking fund accrued, was four millions and two hundred thousand pounds j of which five hundred and twenty-eight thousand pounds were represented by Treasury bills. Those b ills would remain a floating debt until November, 1874, when it would be finally decided whether the amount should be paid off, or added to the permanent debt of the colony. Last year's statement was delivered before the accounts were completely made up, but computations have been closely borne out. He wished to remove any misunderstanding arising from what he had said last year < for the large, apparently excessive, expenditure arising out of the advance system. That system was to blame, and not those who administered it. He would endeavor to apply, in the case of the present statement, as rigorous » criticism jof the position of affairs as might be applied by an impartial person, not responsible for, the. proceedings of Government. After paying^off liabilities and engagements on account of last year, and bringing to account £150,000, Treasury bills authorised, there would remain a surplus of £76,000 for the present year. That amount was exclusive of £60,000 overdraft, which had not been paid off, as the overdraft was merely * convenient mode of anticipating the revenue distributed over the Colony, and there was virtually no cost for interest on account of it. The Trust Fund was in a satisfactory condition. The state of the Post Office Jsandngs Bank account was a pleasing testimony to the frugal habits of the people. The Special Fund account was very complicated, owing to the number of old balances. It was proposed to clear off those balances, and it was believed that £25,000 would be recoverable from this fund to be paid over to the Consolidated Bevenue account, exclusive of balance to credit under the "New Zealand Settlements Act," which would be applied to payment of Treasury bills issued under that Act. A separate banking account was to be kept for the Special Fund in future. The financial jear was not yet ended, and only an estimate could be made for nearly the whole of the present quarter. All liabilities payable on account of the year's services being included, there would be an expenditure of £74,000 in excess of votes. But on other votes there had been a saving of £12,000. The £74,000 included £40,000 expended under special order for defence purposes. Possibly another £10,000 might have to be paid before all liabilities for the year for defence purposes were satisfied ; but those excesses were independent of credits to votes, which would reduce them by a considerable sum. Although incurring the excess of £40,000 was quite legal, he was willing to admit that it was a violation of the understanding come to last session, that Parliament should be consulted if the £200,000 voted for contingent defence was exceeded ; but it must be stated in explanation that as soon as it was ascertained that there would be an excess on the £200,000, Parliament was convened to meet at the earliest possible moment. The Colony had been saved any contribution for detention of troops. The year's resenue had yielded as closely as estimated. The total expenditure would exceed the total receipts by £35,000, but againsttbisdeficiencyitmastbe recollected that the expenditure included £24,000 for advances to Southland ; £15,000 for the Wanganui bridge; £10,000 advanced to the Patsft settlers, and £25.000 for

roads in the North Itland. To disprore the statement that we were borrowing money to pay ordinary charges, he had analysed the expenditure of the past year, and found that the ordinary expenditure amounted to £442,000 ; re- . payment of debt by sinking fond, £46,000; exceptional and reproductiye expenditure! £334,000. The General Government's share of revenue amounted to £540,000 ; go that the total ordinary expenditure, with sinking fund added, was consider*Wy wifchior the amount of ordinary-

revenue. In these computations defence expenditure was regarded as being extraordinary expenditure. The G-o vernment submitted that when in 1863 it was agreed to borrow money for defence purposes, and a large annual charge was thereby incurred, it was rendered impossible for the colony to continue to pay out of the revenue that annual charge, and also to pay out of the revenue the heavy current war expenditure. Paying current war expenditure out of borrowed money was the only plan by which to fasten upon the North Island a fair share of the liabilities. The defence expenditure was finally settled year by year between the two islands, according to their share of current revenue ; but if it was considered that the Northern Island would, when settled, contribute fully an equal share to the revenue, it would be seen that by defraying war expenditure out of borrowed money the ultimate cost would be more equally distributed. That plan would leave the surplus ordinary revenue to be employed either for reproductive purposes, or to enable taxation to be reduced. He would now describe the proposed colonising operations. The principles on which the proposals were baaed were — first, that both islands should aid in the work. Second, that both should share in its results. Third, that as few political changes as possible should be made. Fourth, that all allowances should be made for the various conditions and circumstances of the different parts of the colony. The wants of the colony were public works,-, in the shape of roads, and railways, and immigration. The- two being most closely allied, it wat proposed to enable the provinces of the North Island to acquire a landed estate to the amount of £200,000, the cost to be charged upon the provinces, and the lands, or their proceeds, to be used for railway or immigration purposes. It was proposed to spend £400,000 upon roads in the North Island, and to give an equal amount to the Middle Island, to be spent exclusively on railways, and to be divided amongst the provinces in proportion to their receipts from consolidated revenue. It was proposed that during the next ten years a system of railways should be constructed — in the North Island, from Auckland to "Wanganui, via Tahpo, with connection to Napier and New Plymouth ; in the Middle Island, from Nelson to G-reymouth and Hokitika, with connection to "Westport, also to Picton, Amuri, Christchurch, Timaru, Oamaru, Waikouaiti, Dunedin, Tokomairiro, Molyneux, andWinton ; with connections to Tuapeka, Clyde, Cromwell, Arrow, and Queenstown. Those railways should be constructed as cheaply as possible, the work being continued as traffic demanded. Payment should be made in money, or by guarantee, or by subsidy, or by land, or by two or more of those modes. The General Government to enter into contracts for construction of lines at the wish of the provinces, and the cost to be charged to the provinces, or be defrayed by land ; - but half the amount of stamp duties to be allocated specially for railway purposes. The lines should be so devised and constructed that a considerable portion of their cost could be defrayed out of the returns as the works were pushed on. It was proposed to authorise £200,000 to be advanced to provinces for water supply on goldfields. £60,000 is proposed to be spent on telegraph extension, and a million-and-a-half on immigration. The total expenditure of ten millions would be spread over ten years; but it was computed that a. great part of that sum would be defrayed out of the land revenue, or be represented by guarantee of interest. Immigration should be re* garded as essentially a reproductive work. The total amount proposed to be borrowed during the ten years was £6,000,000, inclusive of any loan obtained from the Imperial G-overnment. It was a gratifying announcement of the Commissioners that about the million guarantee, bat the conditions were not yet known. Immigration, it was proposed, should be conducted systematically under varied forms, to make it suitable to the peculiar circumstances of the Colony— each province to be supplied with immigrants at the request of the Provincial Government, half the cost to bring the immigrants out to be defrayed by the provinces, by an annual charge of £1 10s per immigrant. Calculations proved that all these proposals, supposing they came sooner or later under one management, could not entail upon the Colony liabilities which it would be beyond the powers of the Colony to meet. He was not of opinion that increased taxation would be necessary. Indeed, he proposed that the tariff should be reduced. But even supposing that the construction of railways, and the introduction of immigrants, did necessitate some amount of direct taxation, after the lapse of three or four years, the benefits would fully compensate for such taxation. He repeated, however, that he was not expressing an opinion that such taxation would be necessary. He laid it down as

indispensable that immigrants should be ! carefully selected ; that the Colony, and not the mother country, must have sole charge of the work, and that the Colony would not consent to accept the refuse population of the imperial country. In carrying out these arrangements, specially with a view of dealing with the taxation/ it became imperative that the partner^^ between the provinces and the.coNp^r should be dissolved, and a fixed paymeffl; per head of population be substituted. But in order to preserve existing relations, and prevent inordinate demands for Government services, it was desirable that the charges upon provinces should be kept just as at present, and the capitation allowance would be simply a substitute for the moiety of revenue. It was proposed that the allowance should be £2 per head for the first year, and should be reduced 2s a year for five years ; the allowance thenremainingat3os per head, to be added to, in the case of "Westland,. on account of the large proportion of adult population there — for the Maories, a special allowance of £3,000 to Auckland and Hawke's Bay ; £1,500 to Wellington ; and £500 to Taranaki, was proposed. The Government proposed that £50,000 should be annually allocated to the provinces in proportion to their population, to be divided as subsidies to Eoad Districts ; the use of that sum for the specified purpose to be carefully guarded, and the yearly distribution to be approved of by the Assembly. The total proposed payments to provinces, including the .£50,000 for Eoad Districts, would be £52,000 more than the provinces had received this year. A statement of separate results of the change, showed how very un- | equally and unfairly the present system had worked, for under it Canterbury had been an extraordinary loser, and West T land a large gainer. Westland was also* supposed to have absorbed a great deal of Nelson revenue. Under the capitationr S allowance scheme, Auckland would gain £8,400; Taranaki, £6,600 ; Wellington, £8,900; Nelson, £8,500; Marlborough, I £5,400 ; Canterbury, £25,000 ; Otago and Southland together, £2,600: Hawke's Bay would lose £LOO, and Westland would be a.loser by £13,000. Against the proposed yearly reduction of the capitation allowance down to thirty shillings, must be set the fact that, after this year, one half of the stamp duties would be set apart for railway purposes independently of that allowance. Upon the important subject of reciprocal arrangements with other colonies and countries, it was proposed to avoid technical duties, as to the imposition of differential duties, by taking power by Act to pay bonuses on certain imports, according to agreements, such bonuses not to exceed in any case the amount of duty. As an assertion of the principle it was proposed at once to give a bonus upon the importation of Australian wines. He considered that the tariff required adjustment, and, without raising questions as to free trade or protection, he was willing to admit that the amount of revenue required should be the test as to the tariff; therefore, while proposing some increases of duty, he also proposed decreases, and as far as possible, the articles on the two sides were on a par as to popular use. It was proposed that the increases should come into operation at once, but that the decreases should not take effect until the first of October next. The alterations were — bacon and hams, from Id per pound to Hd; beef and pork, salted, from 2s per cwt. to 4s ; butter, from Id per pound to 3d ; chuese, from Id per pound to 2d ; biscuits, from 3s per cwt. . to 6s; potted meats, from 2s 6d percubic^ foot to ss ; jams,- from 2s 6d per cubic 1 foot to 58 ; fish, potted and preserved, from 2s 6d per cubic foot to ss ; fish, dried and salted, from 2s per cwt. to ss ; oysters, preserved, from 2s 6d per cubic foot to ss; flour, from free to Is per 1001 b; wheat, from free , to 9d per 1001 b ; barley, from free to 9d per 1001 b; oats,, from free to 9d per 1001 b; rice, from 2s per cwt. to 2s 6d ; maizena, from Is per cubic foot to 2s; groats, from Is per cubic foot to 2$ ; hay, from free to 10s per ton ; chaff, from free to £1 per ton ; eggs, from free to Is per cubic foot; cordage, from 3s to 63 per cwt. ; soap, from 2s 6d per cwt. to 3s 6d ; blankets and rugs, from 3s per cubic foot to ss ; leather, other than sole, from Id per pound to 2d; saddlery and harness, from 2s per cubic foot; to 4s; furniture, from 6d per cubic foot to 9d ; doors and sashes, from Is each and per pair to 2s ; timber, sawn, from Is per hundred feet to 2s; shingles, lathes, palings, rails, and posts, doubled in each case ; wine in bottle, from 4s per gal to ss. The proposed decreases are : — Sugar, from 9s 4d per cwt. to 8s 4d ; bags and woolpacks, from 8d per cubic foot to free ; iron fencing, from Is per cwt. to free ; iron gates, from 4s per cwt. to free ; nails, tacks, rivets, and tools, now variously charged, to free ; hollow ware, from 4s per cwt. to free ; weighing machines, from 4s per cwt. to free; sad-iron from Is per cwt. to free ; iron safes, from 4s per cwt. to free ; steel, from Is per cwt. to free ; axles and arms, from 2s per cwt. to free ; grindery, lasts, and pegs, from Is per cubic foot to free ; copper manufactures, from 4s per cwt. to free ; Japanned and lacquered metalware, from 4s per cwtto rftde.; papier-mache- ware, from Is per cubic foot to free ; liquorice, from 2s 6d per cubic foot to free ; alum, from 3s per cubic foot to free ; arsenic, from 4s per cwt to free ;, spirits-of-tar, from | 6d per gallon to free ; pitch and tar, from Is per barrel to free ; American, enamelled cloths, from 5s per cubic foot to free ; hair seating, and upholsterer's webbing and springs, now charged variously to free ; brewery; and distillery plant, from various to freej,

a bonus, under reciprocal arrangement already described, of 2s per gallon on Australian wines in bottle, and Is per gallon on such wines in wood. Government" proposed;.} that . future defence expenditure should be defrayed out of borrowed money; that provision should be taken for five years, the amount the first r yeat being. £180,000 ; . for ..second year,- '£160,000, and for each of the " other' three years, £150,000. The expenditure for the ensuing year was estimated at £159,000 for General ..Government purposes,; and £4L4,000f0r provincial services ;•• the* latter sum to come out of the £561,000, payable to the provinces. Total estimated expenditure £1,050,000. The estimated revenue was £1,056,000, leaving a surplus of five or six thousand pounds on the year. From various sources — recoveries, etc. — there would be in addition over £72,000 available for the year, making a surplus ofr £78,000 at the end of the year. That surplus he proposed to leave to be dealt with next session, when a decision could be come to whether to pay off our debts or reduce taxation. If the House desired it, the Government was ready to carry out the various proposals this session. The House was as well informed as was the ' Government as to the importance of the measures and their necessity for the progress of the Colony ; but if the House preferred, Government was willing to go to the country on their proposals. He hoped hon. members would not permit any feelings entertained against the Government to interfere with the consideration of proposals which it was believed were calculated to raise the Colony from its present depressed state to one of prosperity, and to enable the population of the Colony to do justice to its large resources. ;