DOMINION FINANCES.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 January 1916, Page 6

DOMINION FINANCES.

STATEMENT BY SIR J. WARD. BIG INCREASE IN REVENUE. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, December 14. Sir Joseph Ward to-day made a statement regarding the finances of the Dominion. He explained at the same time that what he had done and what he proposed to do in connection with war expenditure and loans maturing during the period of the war. Sir Joseph Ward said that the position at the completion of nine months for the financial year up to December 31, 1915, was, upon the whole, exceedingly satisfactory. The revenue for the nine months exceeded that for the nine months of the previous year by .£795,520, and for the month of December, 1015, as against December, 1914, there was an increase of £333SOf). The Minister gave the following statement for nine months of 1914 and of 1915 covering the position of the whole of revenue branches in full. The figures for 1914 are given in parentheses:— Customs, £2,455,307 ( £2,42/,550), increase £27, 757; stamp and. death duties. £907,309 (£850,899), £110,480; postal and telegraph, £1,110,309 ( £1,013,489), £102,820; land tax, £980,125 (£037,732), £342,393; income tax, £02,355 (£19.035). £48.320; beer duty, £103,514 (£94,543), £8008; railway's, £3,055,775 (£2,888,870), £194,905; registration and other fees, £09,073 (£05,009), £4004; marine, £33,852 £37,390), decrease £3544; miscellaneous, £240,321 (£278,099), £37,778; territorial, £124,027 ( £129,028); £24,999; national endowment revenue, £92,055 (£78,770), increase £13,885; other receipts, £12,007 (£4758), £7309. Totals, £9,341,340 (£8,545,826), £795,520. Sir Joseph Ward said: "The financial position of the ordinary revenue account on December 31 last was in a satisfactory pesition with a-credit balance of £1.194.000. Treasury bills have been paid ofl' and there wiil be a further large amount of Treasury bills paid oil' at the end of the present month." The Public Works Fund, on December 31, was in a strong position. The expenditure for public works for ( the nine months ended December 31 was £1,752,037, all of which has been paid, and there remains a credit for public works expenditure of £1,501,412.

"So far as war loan expenditure for New Zealand is concerned, I am glad to be able to say that this is definitely fixed until the end of December, 1010. Provision has been made for an amount of £5,340,000 spread over monthly payments. For this purpose the' whole amount comes from London through the British Government. This should be regarded as highly satisfactory by all those who realise the position of a young country with a limited population. With the war expenditure provided for and cash in hand for public works until well on in 1!)17 and the conversion of debentures falling due up to 1924 for a period of 25 ..years, the financial position of this country should inspire confidence in our people, and they should be able to concentrate their energies more whole-heartedly upon the war when they feci that there is no need for general uneasiness as to our future financial position, when enormous additional sums 'have to be, and are being, raised to meet the war expenditure, much of it of a permantut character. "The amounts paid to settlers, workers and local authorities for the nine months up to December 1 last was £l,oss,94o—workers £241,705 and local authorities £180,145. I may mention that the total amount paid since the inception of the department is £21,704,690, of which settlers received £10,015,015, workers £7,080,120, and local authorities £2,609,555.