THE BUDGET.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 August 1915, Page 3

THE BUDGET.

SOME LEADING TOINTS. ''l do not 1 expect the proposals to realise all the aspirations of aJI the people, hut if the truce between the parties is to endure, there muet be concessions and conciliation on both sides, and I think the wisli of the country and of this House 'is that the National Government should endure at least till the enemies of the Empire are defeated and we again are free to deal with our domestic alTaina." Gross surplus for 1914-15, £140,047; net surplus, £7." 142. Up to Marili lii, 191-5, the waa- cost ■the Dominion, roughly, £2,750,000, including liabilities outstanding at that date. Provision has been made for all loans, amounting to £10,129,065, falling due between July 1, 1013, and March 31, 1915. Revenue for 1014-1915 was £12,443,525; £-14,81)3 less than the estimate. Expenditure for If) 14-15 was £12,3170,803; £184,748 less than the estimate. Balance available for public works on March 31, 1»15, was £2,170,762—in hand £605,702, loan money to receive £1,475,000. Gross public debt on March 31, 1015, £100,059,010; net debt, £90,041,455. Loans amounting to £0,274,958 fall duo during the current financial year. The Minister anticipates no dillieulty in arranging for the renewal of these loans. Total shipments of meat on btlialf of the Imperial Government up to July 31 were 151,307 quarters beef, 1,2M/J95 careases mutton, and 1,747,500 carcases lamb. Total payments to freezing companies and producers, £3,022,344, FoTty insulated steamers left the Dominion between October 1, 1014, and March 31, 1915, carrying the equivalent of 2,000,281 freight carcases.

Returns show that the wheat yiekl of Hi? IDIS harvest amounted, approximately, to C,250,000 bushels, insufficient to provide all requirements till harvest 1010. Option over 1,000,000 bushels of Canadian wheat has been obtained. What threatened to be a period of depression developed into one of increasei activity, and there has been little difficulty in providing employment for applicants. During the year the gross land revenue amounted £1,103,127. Four hundred and ninetyfour settlers, occupying 93,547 acres, converted from leasehold to freehold, paying a sum of £174,412. The area dealt with under the Land for Settlements Act was 50.211 acres, valued at £350,680. Receipts from land tax during the year amounted to £799,041, and from income tax £540,318. Revenue from iPost and Telegraph Department was £1,353,443, an increase on revenue of previous year of £95,900. Savings Bank deposits £11,901,323; withdrawals. £10,G03,015; to credit of depositors £19,048,029, an increase of £1.910,015. Pensions paid: pid-age £460,854; widows, £31,017; military, £47,010; total, £540,081, an increase of £66,000. Defence expenditure (apart from war) £490,137. A sum of £ 1'M,137 lias been received by the Government from the public up to March 31 in actual cash towards the expenses of the war. No less than £80,400 was subscribed by tbe public to the Governor's hospital ship fund. An increase of £90,000 will take place in public, school teachers' salaries this vear.

Estimated expenditure for 11U5-10. £12,053.242; estimated receipts, £ll,070,254; deficiency, £827,941. On assumption that war will lust another year, expenditure on pensions is estimated at £1,000,000 per annum, and on interest and sinking fund on loans (say £12,000,000), £700,000 per annum. New taxation and increased charges proposed are expected to produce the following additional revenue:—Land tax. •€07,!)40; income tax. £551,000; Post aiul Telegraph, £380,000; railways, £360,000; Customs, £285,000; totalisator dividends, £75,000; beer duty, £55,000; bank cheques, £50,000; land mortgages, £48,000; receipts, £40,000; conveyances, transfers, etc., £40,000; succession duties, £30,000; non-alcoholic beverages, £20,000; bank notes, £20,000; sub-sales of land, £IO,OOO. "Let us liope that before I again have to submit a review of the finances of the Dominion to the House and the country this devastating war will be a thing of the past, and the Empire will have emerged triumphantly from an ordeal which, however much we may deplore its frightful incidents, lias still had the effect of welding together more closely the component parts of the Empire, and .has taught it afresh that in unity lies its great strength. The critical times through which we are passing have caused a wave of patriotic enthusiasm to sweep through the Empire, the effects of which must inevitably make for liberty and justice and for the righteousness that exalteth a nation."