ACCUMULATION OF SURPLUSES.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 April 1921, Page 5

ACCUMULATION OF SURPLUSES.

MONEY HAS BEEN INVESTED. Some remarks made by the Prime\ Minister at Hawera recently with regard to the accumulated surpluses in the public accounts seem to have been misunderstood. Mr. Massey was reported to have said that “in a few months he would have .£20,000,000 to devote to the payment of the War Loan,” and correspondents have asked if this statement was accurate (says the Dominion). Mr. Massey explained the position clearly during the recent short session of Parliament. He said that the accumulated surpluses on March 31, 1920, had amounted to £17,539,000, and of this amount £13,500,000 had been transferred to the Discharged Soldiers’ Settlement Account, and was earning interest at the rate of '4 per cent. One-half per cent, was paid to the Lands Department for administration. Then a sum of £l,200,000 from the accumulated surpluses had been added to the Reserve Fund Securities in London, bringing the total under that heading to £2,000,000. A stun of £500,000 had been transferred to the Public Works Fund. Then £2,339,000 had been invested in British war bonds and other secuiuties in New Zealand. This money at\o per cent, was producing £116.950 a year, and was really another reserve fund. It probably would be wanted during the coming year. There was also a little more money in reserve.

An additional surplus, which the Prime Minister has estimated £5,000,000, •will be revealed when the financial returns for the year ended March 31 last are issued, but Ministers have stated already that all this money is likely to be required to supplement the declining revenue during the current financial year. The old surpluses are assets, and may be reckoned against the war debt, but most of the ia out of reach for .the preient.