DOMINION FINANCES.
A STRONG POSITION. BUT OUR OBLIGATIONS HEAVY. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, May 5. Referring to tlie cabled statement by Sir Joseph Ward regarding the Dominion finances, the Hon. Myers states that Sir Joseph Ward in the Budget anticipated a surplus of £178,905, but the surplus actually was £3,678,773. This, together with the accumulated surpluses since 1914-15, amounting to £11,500,790, made the aggregate amount of £15,239,5'<J3 available as the difference of revenue over expenditure to March 31 last. This amount is in short-dated securities in London, and will be available for appropriation as may bo ultimately decided. The revenue for the year ended March 31, 1919, is £22,352,372, compared with £20,206,222 last year, an increase of £2,146,150, and an increase over the estimate of £2,167,172. The principal increases are income tax £599,775, customs £466,373, railways £307,222, miscellaneous £228,232, stamp and death duties £232,758, post and telegraphs | £128,550, land tax £120,985. The expenditure for 1919 is £18,673,599, and for 191S £15,120, 259, an increase of £3,553,310. This is £1,332,636 less than the estimate. The principal increases are interest and sinking fund charges £1,655,990, pensions £803,000, railways £347,937, post and telegraphs £212,556, mental hospitals, public health, etc., £93,107, education f 91,739. The payment of a war bonus to civil servants is included in the returns. The Minister said the position was eminently satisfactory, and indicative of prudent finance, but ho desired to draw attention to the fact that a largo sum was still to be provided on account of the balancp due to meet war obligations, including gratuities, repatriation, the settling of returned men on the land, and pensions. A vital necessity existed for all classes to take part in a united effort to increase production. The anual liabilitv for war pensions at March 31 was £1,701,000, while the payment for war and other pensions was over two millions.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19190506.2.37
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Taranaki Daily News, 6 May 1919, Page 5
Word count
Tapeke kupu
308DOMINION FINANCES. Taranaki Daily News, 6 May 1919, Page 5
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Taranaki Daily News. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in