BUDGET’S SHARP POINTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1033, 25 July 1930, Page 8

BUDGET’S SHARP POINTS

REVENUE IS DOWN; EXPENSES UP MODEST SURPLUS EXPECTED WELLINGTON, Today. The surplus for the past financial year was £148,979. Revenue totalled £25,349,861, while the expenditure amounted to £25,200,582. Apart from items ear-marked for highways, the revenue showed an increase over the previous year of £1,452,972. The Customs increase, including £310,000 from additional primage, amounted to £942,794. The special land-tax yielded £240,000; but the remission granted by the "Hardship” Commission totalled £IIB,OOO. No special provision has been made for unemployment relief. Expenditure increased in various directions by £1,233,427. The principal increase—£sß6,sol —was for interest and debt repayment. New loans for the past year aggregated £5,720,220, bringing the total debt at March 31 last to £267,383,343. Of this amount, £146,580,502 was domiciled in London, £116,526,091 in New Zealand, and the balance in Australia. BORROWING POLICY The borrowing policy of the Government is to restrict further loan expenditure as far as possible to directly productive works, but it will not hesitate to borrow necessary capital for essential economic development of the country. The sum of £8,081,81S was spent on public works, the major proportion having been expended on railways, this exceeding £3,300,000, while the next highest item, £2,288,217, was for main highways and roads. Portion of the new petrol tax—about £316.000 —is to be devoted to the relief of the Consolidated Fund expenditure. The balance will be spent on highways. The total cost of education now exceeds £4,500,000 a year. Last year, unemployment relief works cost the State £1,415,592. On March 31 last, there were 16,197 employed on Government works. With the exception of railways, all the State’s trading departments earned profits last year. The railways lost £1,211,269, this being attributed basically to motor-transport competition. The railways estimates haVo been reduced by £360,000. It is hoped to secure a gain of £90,000 in revenue. It is claimed in the Budget that the estimates for the current financial year have been reduced rigorously to the minimum consistent with the maintenance of existing services. The prospective revenue this year is set down at £25,120,000 and the expenditure at £24,874,000, leaving a surplus of £246,000.