THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2216, 18 June 1891, Page 3

THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

The Financial Statement was delivered by the Colonial Treasurer, the Hon. Mr Ballance, as follows : CONSOLIDATE© PUND ITXPENDITURE FOR THE YEAR 1891-91. (ORDINARY REVENUE.) The estimated expenditure for the year 1890-91, including the Civil List and other permanent charges, amounts to £4,125,592. The actual expenditure was £4,175,108. The net result showed an excess of expenditure the estimate of £49,606. Under special Acta there ia an excess of £19,149, arising out of the coat of two meetings of the General Assembly, and the extra amount of compensation paid in carrying out the retrenchment proposals of the present Government. There was also an excess of £14,659 in the amount paid t* local bodies by way of subsidy on rates. In the Colonial Treasurer's Department thxiu la «n excess of £11,167 chiefly for discount on drafts, which was not provided for„ la the working railways the excess of £27,892 owing to the necessity of employing additional kands, from the rise in the of fuel and stocirß at the time of the recent strike, and by increased trafic. The late Government estimated the revenue to be reeeived at £4,159,000. The actual amount received was £4,282,504. EXPENDITURE AND REVEVUE OF THE IAND FUND ACCOUNT. The estimated expenditure was £115,689. The actual figures are £116.108, or £428 in excess of the estimate. The estimated revenue was £96,601, while the actual receipts came to £104,270, or £67,679 in excess of the estimate. The large access of cash receipts during the year provided a balance sufficient to pay off the deficit of £45,716 at the commencement of the year, and to leave a surplus of £2445 at the close of the year. RESULTS ©F THE TEAR 1890-W. At the beginning of the year a surplus ; " was shown of £36,568 19a 44, after paying off the balance of the deficit at the 31st of March, 1889, £78,605 0s Bd. Beceipts amounted to £4,282,505 9a 7<l, rnnkiog a total of £4,819,078 8a 4d available for J expenditure duriag the year. The total expenditure amounted t© £4,176,109 18a sd, thus leaving a surplus of £143,962 15s 6d on the 31s* March last, a result whioh moßt be very gratifying to the committee. THE PUBLIC DEBT. The gross public debt on the 31st March, 1890, was £38,667,959, and tbe sinking funds scorned are estimated at £1,473,193, and the net debt, therefore, stands at £87,359,157. PUBLIC WORKS FTND. Part I.—The balance at Credit of thiß acceunt on the 31st March, 1890, wns £233,678 lis lOd. The expenditure during the year amounted to £128,810 18s 9d, thas leaving at the close of the year an available b* I a ace of £110,645 17s 9d. The outstanding liabilities are returned at £'16,608 3s lOd. Part 2 (North Island M»in Trunk Railway loan)— >The balance to commence the year was £286,985 9s. The expenditure during the year amounted to £30,878 9*, thus leaving an unexpended balance of £356,107. Part S—At the beginning, of the year the balance was £426,805 15s 4d. During tbe year the expenditure amounted to £175,462 7a 6d. The balance at the close of tbe year was £351,343 7s 10d, and the outstanding liabilities £98,875 19a Sd. f Taking tbe three parts together, the available balance at tbe beginning of the year was £1,047,46616s 2d, which was I increased to £1,053,248 0s lOd by some small receipts, The expenditure duriog the year amounted to £335,751 16a 3d, and the available balance at the close of the year to £218,696 5s 7d. Tbe outstanding liabilities on the 31st March last , are stated at £240,387 2s Id-

GOVERNMENT LOANS TO 100A1 BODIES. ■ There had been £300,000 borrowed up to 31st March iast, under the Government Loans to Local Bodiea Act, 1886, and £25,000 for the purpose of, transfer to the Public Wo?ka JFund, in part realisation of the asset* of £87,974 la 3d of the fund, payable under section 31 of the Act, in respect of converted debentures originally issued under the Roads and Bridges Construction Act, 1882. Up to the 3lst March, 1890, £248,200 had been paid over to local bodies, and during the past year £47,164 had been further advanced, making a total of £295,864 paid over to to the 31st March last year, leaving a balance of £4636 available. The Act providea (section 4) that an annual appropriation for a sinkiag fund Bhould be made, but nothing had been done up to the present in this direction. 1 per cent, per annum, including arrears from the Ist j?ibruary:lßßß, would beset aside for the purpose-, of proyiding a sinking fund to comply l with the terms of the Act, and a-aurflsaffipietit to cover arrears would be placed on the estimates. ■■• -, ■- CONSOLIDATED _. TTPID. TKe Vxpenditure as proposed woald be ftjub'd to r amount to £6,165,105. Under the head ci£ interest and sinking fund there was an increase of £34,687, mainly arising fru'oi an abatement last year of £15,750 from the:amouct payable on the 3J per cent, inscribed stock on account of relapse of interest on the 10-40 debentures paid off. A new item of £8856 had been provided for sinking fund at 1 per cent on tke*amount borrowed under the Government Loans to Local Bodies Act, 1886, in order 1 ;to party out the provisions of the Act. The appropriations are increased also under the head, Special Acts. For the 'firslf-'iime' we have had to provide a gum of £21,000 for payment of.our contribution towards the maintenance of the. Australian Naval Squadron. An increased aura of. £BOOO provided for compensation under the Civil Service' Act,' while £BOO had alio been added for payment of

subsidies based upon actual payments *' made last year. Provision, however, baa had to be made for exceptional services, such as the census £12,500, for the triennial" property tax assessment £12,000 and for discount on our remittances to London £3500, the act of provision for which last year caused the Treasury vote to be overdrawn. Notwithstanding this extraardinary vote, the \ estimate of expenditure for 1891-92 is 1890 91. I* is necessary to refer specially to the small amount estimated for the cost | of remitting money to London, £3500, compared with the amount spent last year in the same iteii, namely £12,435. I bave entered into arragemonis with the Bank, under which a bill at 90 days instead of 120 will bo issued at par on London. The effect of this arrangement, if it had been in operation on ourjpnance |

last year, would have been a Baving, the fre-isnry has calculated, of upwards of i £4OOO, and if other things are equal, of coarse there will be a eimilar saving thiß year. He eatimated the revenue from the land fund for the current year at £92,700. Last year it was estimated at £96,600. Ordinary revenue receipts will amount to £3,986,500, or £BO4 less than the actual receipts last year. In _ addition te tbe above there wonld be issued in aid of revenue £282,300 for Sinking Fund increase, as against £288,000 issned during last year. Adding these together, our total receipts are estimated t» fall ahort of last year's actual receipts by the sum of £13,704. Asurplus was brought forward of £143,96617s 6d to eommenoe tbe present year/to whioh must be added the revenue for the year amounting so £4,268,88© together £4,412,865 15s Gd. From this deduct the anticipated expenditure of £4.155,105 leaving a surplus of £257,660 15i 6dat the end of the present financial year. PINNY POST. The time is not far distant, when there will be en Imperial penny postage, probably within the next three years. The loss estimated by the English authorities is not expected to exceed £75,C00 a yenr. Of this amount s number of persons in England have offered to guarantee £50,000 a year, and public opinion is rapidly growing in the direction of adopting a minimum rate of postage as a means of consolidating or federating the various parts of the Empire. The postage at present with Australia is 2d a letter, and that to Groat Brinain2id, while to the suburbs of our cities and other par's of the colony the charge is 2d. So manifest nn anomaly suggests a change in the direction of our propossls. The time has arrived tbe Government believe, when a peßny post should be established in New Zsalaod. Tbe oost of the reductions in the present year is estimated at more than £40,000, and from careful calculations and comparieona with the colony of Victoria, where the penoy post is already an accomplished fact, it is estimnterl that within three years from the present time, through an increase in the number of letters sent, the loss in the revenue will be more than covered.

Ihe question of settling tbe land and carrying on the werk of colonisation, in miking roads to open up land for settlement, will have, to be borne in future to some extent by the Consolidated Fund. It was proposed in the present year to apply the sum of £80,600 out of revenue for the work of opening up land for settlement. The Land Department has made a calculation of the sum it will cost in surveys amd admistration to obtain the territorial reveaue in the present years, and the estimate is .£40,000. The Committee may remember that my predecoessor asade a propaaal in 1887 to pay out of Sinking Fund accretions under the Consolidated Stock Act, 1884, the amount of £40,000 a year, the defioit of the year 1888 amounting to £40,000. It is alio proposed that any credit balance of ordinary revenue frost year to year shall be devoted to the name purpose instead of being carried forward to the next aeoount. Short dated debentures were issued to eover the defiofc. The debt still remains, the arrangements to extinbguish it not having been put in force. We now propose to apply £IOO,OOO of the surplus of the year to the reduction of the debt. We propose to place a tax of 2£ per cent on the. Money passing through the tetalisator, which will amount to a thousand a year, and for the remainder of the present year to about £SOOO, Summary of these various proposals,—l shall now bring together, to show thefinanoinl result the cost of penny postages £40,000 (I do not include the intercolonial postage as the negotiations are not completed) £30,000 for opening up land for settlement, £6OOO duty on native leases, £81,870 to meet the estimated defiot in the Land Fund, and aD appropriation of £IOO,OOO to pay off the debt incurred m 1888 to meet the deficit of that year. The total of these various amounts is £197,820. Deduotiag this from the estimated surplus of £257,660, we have a net surplus available to carry forward of £59,840. To this has to be added the tax on the totalisators amounting to £SOOO, bringing up tbe surplus for the current year t0.£64,840, which will be an ample margin to provide for the Supplementary Estimates and possible contingencies. BBVBHTJB BBSOUBOBS. It will be impossible to depend in the future on the increaeed consumption of alcoholio liquors to strengthen the Consolidated Fund, This fact is gratifying from a temperance point of view. When tln< nature of our obligations will permit it, we are of opinion that relief should bo given on the necessaries of life, now paying duties througn the Customs, but we muet be certain, while the great objeet is being reached, that we shall have sufficient revenue to meet the growing demands on the Consolidated Fund. Borrowing in the English market must cease, while any local borrowing is likely to be confined to the absolute necessity of carrying on the essentia] works of colonisation, but with judioious retrenchment carried to its proper limit, the expenditure side of the account might still be considerably reduced: The amount of the floating debt incurred to meet ptst deficits is £550,000, of which it was intended to pay off £328,605. ' PUBLIC SEIIVIOE. Ketrenohment in tl>o I'ulic Service mnst continue but it mast carried on gradr ually, and a bill having that effect would be (submitted. Economies to the. amount of between £4OOO and £SOOO in the I»saraoce department had been effeoted, and further retrenchment was necessary. Reform in the Public Trust office was a'ao necessary. AVAILABLE LAND, There were only 2,850,000 acreß of land still undisposed of and this suggested the necessity of providing for bona fide settlement, and a bill would bo introduced hnvng that object in view. This bill proposes that money advanced to open op crown I lands mnst be made a first charge on the land. The Native Minister will introduce a Bill, with the object of consolidating the

numerous and complex native land laws into one concise and intelligible measure and also of simplifying and reducing; the coat of ascertainment of title and other proceduie of the Native Land Court, The effect of this will, it ia hoped,, enable a more rapid and satisfactory settlement of the surplus lands now lying unproductive in the possession of the natives. LAND AND INCOME TAX. ' The balance of the atateiieot coßsists on a desertation on a Land and Income Tax wbioh we shall publish in full in our next issue. Meantime we moy state that the Land Tax will be substantially the same as already stated in these columns. The

Property Tax will be abolished, and there ffill be an exemption of £3OOO worth of imDrovements, after which the tax will be »radaated as follows :-£3OOO to £SOOO, Id • £SOOO to £IC,GOO, lftd ; £IO,OOO to £20,000, Ji; £20,000 and so on up to I £IOO,OOO, when the tax will be l£d. In

cases where farms are m6rtgaged the mortgagee moat pay, and farmers will not be liable to an Income Tax, an income derived from their land. The Income tox would be ad]Ußted so that a person hnviDg an ii oorue of £SOO would pay £2 10a ; £6OO a yoar, £5 ; £7 10s, and so on. The Income Tax is to be collected under three heedß, thut is, incomes derived from personal properly; from trade and oommerce; and from professions; and the new system will not come into operation nutil M»rch 1892. The balance of the statement will be given in foil in our next issue.