SUPPLEMENTARY FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 116, 22 August 1885, Page 3

SUPPLEMENTARY FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

Wellington, August 13. The Houss went into Committee of Supply at Wednesday's sitting. Sir Julius Voqel made his Supplemeri' tary Financial Statement as follows : — Mr Hamlin, it will bo remembered, Baid that the proposals of the Budget resulted in an antioipated surplus of £32,158. Thisresult was arrived at after provision was made for paying off £50,000 of the deficit of 1883-4; £6,500 on account of the firs* year's classification of the Civil Service, and £75,000 for subsidies to local bodies. The House declined to make the changes in the tariff which wo recommended, which would have left us an addition to the Customs revenue of about) £70,000. Certain alterations which were; made in the bill providing for an ] amendment of the Succession duties will in- j volve a reduction of the stamp revenue of about £30,000. Ido not feel it safe also to rely on quite so much revenue from railways as was anticipated. They will realise more if the price of grain rise ; but, as it is, I think ifc safer to be prepared for a less amount of net revenue than was anticipated. The loss from this soiuce I set down at £47,000, which means less receipts to the extent of £66,000, and less expenditure to the sum of £19,000. We have, therefore, the Budget disturbed to the extent of:— Customs revenue, £70,000 ; j stamp?, £30,000 ; railways (net, including j reduction of expenditure and receipts), £47,000: total, £147,000. The Supplementary Estimates will not, I anticipate, exceed £12,000, so that I shall have to provide in ' all, from various sources, £159,000 to make up the amount. The surplus to which I have previoufly referred at once provides £32,000 ; and it has already been announced that the Government intend not to provide for tho deficit of 1883 4 this year. I BhaU ask the deficiency bills already authorised for this object to be extended until 30th Juno, 1887. It has also been stated that we propose to charge to the Public Works Fund £25,000 on account of external defence. The statements which have been made as to the falling off of revenue are grossly inaccurate. For example, 1 have seen it stated that the three it6msof Customs, railways, and stamps j the revenue actually collected for the four j months ending July 31 is lees by £70,000 than j theestimated revenue. The fact, however, is j that on these items the loss on the estimated j amount for the four months is only £21,000. 1 Some part part of the receipts, however, include Customs revenue paid in anticipa tion of increased duties. Viewing all con- ; ditions, I have thought it prudent to pro- 1 vide for the diminished revenue which Ij have already stated, although these reduc- ■ tiona aro not larger than on the receipts of the first four months. It is with regret I announce that the Government do not feel themselves justified in proceeding with the classification of the civil servants this year. Seeing the extent to which these anticipations of revenue have been disturbed, they do not think it would be acceptable to the House ar the country that they should undertake for the next few years the liability to additional expenditure which classification in any shape would undoubtedly entail. The House must, however, remember that a certain amount of increase on the present salaries is demanded in bare justice to the many ill-paid officers. Instead of the £G,500 increase they proposed to ask for, they will ask for 2,500 One thousand pounds of the amount they propose shall be allocated to the Post-office, and the balance to other departments, but in no case to officers whose salaries exceed £250 a-year. The Government feel as strongly as possible the desirability of retrenching the expenditure to the utmost extent possible compatible with efficiency. Ab I pointed out when I made the Financial Statement, thecostly nature of the Civil Service depends largely on the condition with which officers' appointments are hedged round. What with leave of absence and allowances, the dispensing with officers is attended with extra expenditure for a considerable period, and tho cases are numerous in which officers dispensed with filter back into the service. Of course, the rights of officers already in the service cannot be interfered with, but we shall bring in a bill providing for different terms of engagement for officers taken into the service after the passage thereof. The amalgamation of large departments will be another source of economy which should be kept in mind when the Under-Secretary retires. Another plan we have in view which will conduce both to economy and efficiency is to train up cadets into acquainj tance with the duties of the several departments. With a view of amalgamating the duties of officers in different parts of the country, and lessening the number, we have anxiously searched the Estimates over with the object of finding out items for saving expenditure. I regret we are not able to do much. We are willing to reduce the vote for A. C. and defence by £10,000, and I think we may save some thousands in the expenditure of other departments, without, however, taking less votes than these set down. It will be necessary, instead of making the Property Tax three farthings to add an eighth, and to make 1 it seven -eighths of a penny. I may observe also that under the new Property Assessment Bill it is expected that £10,000 will be added to the amount of Property Tax estimated in the Financial Statement. I have shown that we require to make up £150,000 for diminished revenue, and for Supplementary Estimates the various items in aid of this, to which I have separately referred, may now besummarised as follows: Surplus shown by Financial Statement, £32,000 ; part deficit 1883-4, postponed, £50,000 ; external defence charged to Public Works Fund, £25,000 ; savings on Armed Constabulary and Defence, £10,000 ; reduction in vote to Civil Service Classification, £4,000 ; Property Tax under estimated, £10,000} Property Tax additional one-eighth of a penny, £47,000-total, £178,000. This will leave a surplus of £19,000 after providing for the Supplementary Estimates to the extent of £12,000, and I hope they will not exceed the amount. I should have preferred adhering to arrangements proposed in the Budget, and I believe that had we done bo, it would have been more for the interest of the colony. The substitution, however, of an additional eighth of a penny to the Property Tax is not very onerous, and with its aid we have the right to expect a small surplus at the end of the year. At the conclusion of the Statement Sir J. Vooel said he would ask the Committee to proceed with the Estimates. In Committee of Supply last night three departments of estimates were passed with but slight discussion, the vote in each instance passing as printed They were : — Postal and Telegraph, £279,518 ; Stamps, £26,451; Trade and Customs, £86,874: total, £392,842. When the estimases for Education and Native Affaire are being considered strong opposition to several m the items is anticipated.