THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1115, 30 June 1883, Page 2

THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

INTRODUCTORY, The Hou. the Colonial Treasurer delivered his Financial Statement last Wed* nesday evening. It would ; more than fill twice over, the space at our disposal and consequently we are - obliged to summarise. , The following is Major Atkinson’s Buinraary,of the-financial results of the year ended Slat March last: GENERAL SUMMARY.

1 will how briefly summarise the general financial results of the year. We find that the total expenditure of the ordinary revenue of the consolidated fund wsl ; ' £3 638,384, and that the revenue amounted to £3,470,250. To the revenue . we add £203,603, that sum b§m| the balance standing to the credit of the account on 31et March, 1882, and thus obtain £3,673,943, as the total receipts of the year. Deducting from this total the expenditure, amounting to £3,638,384 a balance Of £35, 549 is obtained as the surplus with which the year 1882-3 terminated. This result the Committee will, I hope, think very satisfactory, especially when it is remembered that taxation vyaa remitted last year to the extent of about £BO,OOO, . while for constabulary £75,000 was charged against the revenue which before had.been borne upon loan, au.l extra charges for education and interest had to be provided to the extent of about £96,500. If; therefore, the remission of taxation had not,taken place, and extra charges bad net been required, the year would have terminated with a Surplus about as large as that of 1881-2 It should also be specially borne in mind that during the past year we contributed out of revqniie, not leas than £270,000 to the sinking-fund for redemption of our public debts, and do not, of course, mention this sum aa an exceptional charge on revenue of the past year, though it • included £24,000 for arrears in rospectjcf * the sinking -fund of Imperial ' debentures, which was exceptional; ,f*Bufcv\ 1 refer to the fact for - the. purpose, of.. drawing attention to the large and: t' annually increasing sum which the colony is periodically setting Rside~for cancella- . tion of its public indebtedness. In the figures I have just summarised I have not of course, includedproceeds of land .sales,** • which are kept in a separate account, and applied after the payment of authorised charges to local public ' works ; but we are to consider the whole transactions iif the consolidated fund of the year, the proceeds 'of land sales and" expenditure charged thereon must bo included in the account., We find, then, that the total revenue received, including proceeds of land sales and balances with which we began the year, amount to £3,957,599, and that the total expenditure; including charges against proceeds of land sales, was £31835,486, thus showing a surplus upon the whole transactions of the con. solidated fund for the year of £122,113. At I have already stated, the surplus of (he ordinary revenue account at (he close of the year was £35,549, The real credit balance of that account, ■ howeyew as hon. members will see on account which will be appended Statement was £85,549. The difference it will be observed arises from addition to the receipts of the yekr, 'of deficiency bills for £50,000, which remained unredeemed to 31st March, 1883, but as the balance of account was £35,549, in excess of the amount required to redeem these bills, I have thought it better in speaking of receipts to exclude £50,000 in order to simplify the statement of the financial results of the year.

In his details the Treasurer stated that the revenue from Customs was £6,537 less than estimates, while the railways yielded £14,740 ; stamps, £10,389 in excels of what was expected.

THE LAND FUND. The receipts from sales of land » mounted to £272,305, consisting of from sales for cash, and " £46,447 from sales on deferred payments. The total amount estimated to be re- , ;, f ceived was £354,000, The receipts therefore fall shoit of the estimates by £81,695. The receipts for the year having been £272,305 and the expenditure £197,100, the excess of receipts amounted te £75,204. Adding to this sum the balance of £11,360 in hand at the beginning of the year, we get a credit balance of £86,564 on this account at the close of the year 1882-83. The whole of this balance being within the sum of £IOO,OOO authorised by the Roads and Bridges Construction Act, 1882, to be transferred to the Main Roads Account, to which I have just now referred, will be to transferred in such sums as may from time to time be required. PUBLIC WORKS, The appropriation had been £1,727,729, exclusive of £82,455 for land purchase, while the actual expenditure wa5£867,194, exclusive of £29,843 for land purchase. The liabilities outstanding at the end of the year, exclusive of those for land purchases, amounted to £861,861, which, added to the amount expended, £867,194, gives a total of £1,729,055, as against £1,727.729 voted for the year. The . balance of the Public Works Fund remaining unexpended on 31st March last, including the balance of the loan of 1882 to bo received (estimated at £65,000), amounted to £1,007,726, consisting of . cash. THE PUBLIC DEBT. On the 31st March, 1882, the gross public debt of the colony amounted to 129,946,711, subject to a deduction of L 2,266,418 for accrued sinking funds'. ’ On the 31st March, 1883, the debt was and the sinking fund was increased to L 2,571,829. The net debt was thus L 27,785,281, or L 104,989 more than it was during the previous year, r The only addition co the public debt during the last year was the loan of LI ,000,000 authorised last session. LAST YEAR’S LOAN, The L 1,000,000 loan of January last was issued in the form of a 4 per cent inscribed stock, offered at a minimum of L9B 10s, and sold at L9B ’l2s sd. The stock is now quoted at LlO2 10s. The total sura paid to the loan agents was ,-' L972,29711s 9d, after paying expenses. THE SAVINGS BANK. In the Savings Banks of the colony on the 31st December, 1881, the amount held in deposit was £1,549,505, at the credit of 61,054 accounts, or an average of £26 7s 7d for each account. On the 31st December, 1882, the amount was £1,832,054 at "the credit of 68,358 accounts, the average amount being £26 16s. There was thus an increase of £182,533 in the deposits at the close of the year 1882, and 7294 in the number of accounts open. INSURANCE DEPARTMENT. The ordinary branch assurances in force number over 17,000 policies, insuring upwards of five and a half millions. The new insurances average at present nearly LIO,OOO per month. The accumulated funds of the Department now amount to more than three quarters of a million. THE STATE OP TRADE. Taking the imports and exports of the three quinquennial periods from 1868 to 1882 the following is a summary of the trade of the colony. The imports for the ‘ period ending 1872 was L 23,822,033 ; for the period ending 1877, L 36,494,260 ; I ; and for the period ending 1882, - £39,358,574 ; giving a grand total for the ■ fifteen "years of L 99,674,867. Of this 'about* L 35,500,000 represents capital for which interest is paid to persons not resident in the colony. Dividing this gross arnoupt as money borrowed by the State and Municipal bodies, about L 25,000,000, and by private persons about L 10,500,000 —the whole being for development of resources. The balance after deduction of amount thus borrowed is L 64,174,267, being the payment received for exports and the value of personal property imported by settlers which has not to be paid for, being their own. The value of exports for the period ending 1872 was L 23,949,563 ; for the period ending 1877, L28,691,2ti4 and for the period ending 1882, L 3,093,892, making a total of L 83,471,159. Deducting the sum from value of the imports just given, the value of the imports during the fifteen years under Consideration, was L 16,203,708 more than the value of the exports. Now, if L 35,500,000 worth was the property of non-residents, or in other words, capital sent here for investment, it will be seen by taking this amount from the total r value of imports, viz., L 99.674.867, that the value of imports paid from the colony’s resources was only L 64,174.867, The exports, however, were worth L 84,471,159 so that there has been paid for interest during the last fifteen years to non-residents the difference between these sums; L 18,296,292, in addition to the portion of value of imports, whicli represents the capital introduced and owned by our settlers, which may be estimated at about L 6,000,000. Thus there is paid for interest outside the colony L 20,296,292 in the 15 years between 1868 and 1882, an average in round numbers of nearly L 1 ,700,000 u year. It is of importance that The people should develop the industries which will help to

restore the balance of exports and imports. In reference to the two great staples of gold and wool it appeal’s that out of the total exports of L 83,471,159 no less than L 24,680,658 was for gold and L 40,339,981 for wool, or a total for gold and wool of L 65,020,639. The produce of gold has gradually fallen off from L 2,492,793 in 1868 to L 921.644 in 1882. Of the amount exported last year, about cne-third was the produce of quartz reefing. The export of gold for the first period was L 11,617,653 , for the second, L 7,645,396 ; and the third, L 5,557,607. The exports for the three periods referred to were L 12,431,908, L 21,045,808 and L 25,313,785 respectively, at total of L 58,799,501, of which wool contributed L 8,735,785, L 15,907,347 and 115,616,850, or a total of L 40,339,981. The imports of last year are estimated to have been at least L 1,000,000 in excess of the actual requirements of the people, and the expenditure, public and private, will be necessarily much contracted for the future to place the trade of the colony on a satisfactory footing.