Provincial Council.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 1986, 17 May 1875, Page 3

Provincial Council.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT. Mr Reader Wood (Provincial Treasurer) in moving the second reading of the Appropriation Bill, said :—Sir,—The Superintendent in the speech with which he opened the Council/used these words: " I propose to ask you to make provision for the ordinary Provincial services for a period of six months from the Ist of July "to the' 31st of December, 1875. In the meantime the General Assembly will hare met, and we shall understand our future financial prospects more clearly than we can at present." I think from the body of the speech, itself the Council will understand tolerably clearly why it is the Superintendent wishes to wait! until next Session of the General Assembly is over". "But I think that after I have put the figures in detail; before the Council, it will see-that thei force of events 'alone; must; compel -thei General Assembly to make an alteration- < of some kind or other in the financial, '"'relations of tho Province of Auckland? with those of the Coloey. I propose to; • state, as nearly as it can be estimated,! what will be the actual financial condition; of; tjie^ Province on^the ;3Oth; June this: ■year; and then I intend to give you an. estimate of the income and necessary: expenditure for the following six months.', The probable income and expenditure! from the present date to the 30th June isi as follows :'•• Capitation allowance from the GeneraliGovfcrnment; £3,200; a^paytfSent; that is expected from the General ( Government on account of confiscated lands, £700; goldfields revenue, £1,200 ;; publicans' licenses, £11,500 (they are; payable on the 30th June); Loan Sinking: Fund, £600;'pilot'ageji £350. s Making a total 0f"'£17,550 which the Provincial Treasury will receive between now and the close of the financial year— 30th June. "The expenditure during that period will be as follows : Liabi ities to theKßank'atf the present date",£9,9l2; and payments that will be due by the 30th June to the different departments, £7,000; making a total expenditure'of £16,712 as ; against an income of £17,550, and leaving i a very slight margin to the good. But as; it is not unlikely thafc maybe' made a little in excess of the estimate, and as it is also not altogether improbable that the Uncoine may be a little less than: estimated—it is just possible, for instance, that the £600 Loan Sinking Fund might not be paid within" the time—it apppears to me that on the 30th June, probably Hherßrwillw^; beyßlOOeithertdthe bad or to the good, and that we may safely say that on the Ist July, we start with a clean sheet. iNbw, the,estimated receipts for the six month* ending 31st'December, 1875, are ,as follows :,~ From , the Land Fund, • £l; 600;' The Council will see that this is a very much.smsller estimate than was made last year; The'estimate of last year on account of Land Eund for the period over which'the Appropriation : Act extended, namely, eighteen months, was ?£4o#oo^ I stated that yesterday, and; .was corrected by an.hpn.. gentleman; but I was right,' and the hon. gentleman was throng.; - There were estimates for two; different periods—one for the year, of £32,000, and another,, for the ; half year, of ' £8,000, making "a total estimated for the period over which the Appropriation Act ran of £40,000. On account of that something under £6,000 has been received. The estimate',*therefore, for the six months from; the -,Ist, July: to„■ the 81st December on acount of land fund is -£1,000. -On account- of capitation and special allowance the estimate is £9,000, made up of two sums-rone of £5;000 and . the other of £4,000. . The sum of £5,000 f is"; the half I. ofe the 3 ordinary ■- capitation allowance, which has been generally csti- • -mated, and estimated with tolerable ac- ' curacy^ at £10,000 a year. So that for ?;ihe -half-year we; estimate _ £5,000.v ■ The £4,000 is the balance of the additional -capitation allowance that was granted last session of £25,000. Thia latter sum has never been,: in itself, appropriated to any specific purpose, either by the General Assembly; or by; this Council;~bul, to use the language, which I believe to be ■ .gtricWy ■:accurate and correct^ 'of-the Superintendent in referring to this sub- ": .jectohoneoccasionjit has been absorbed m .making up the deficiency of the land' revenue--and other deficiencies besides.,. There is, however, a sum bu-^account 'of that to come ;iri to the Provincial Treasury during . the--next Half-year of £4,000. So that these two sums together make £9,000 on account of capitation and special allow-; ance. The goldfields revenue for, the period-we estimate at £6;000; pilotage, at £500; water rates, £300; licenses, £500 -Sheep Act, £300 ;: slaughter- . house, £600 ; making a total revenue for the period of £19,200. That may be said to be the revenue which we can absolutely - depend upon. Then from the £40,000 loan on -this account, for the expenditure for the next six months, we shall require for Public Works department £3,000, and for the erection of a ne«v slaughterhouse, £2,500-in all £5,500. There will v also probably be a receipt—in fact I/J suppose we may estimate it as pretty cer-; % tain to come in—-of £1,100; the General Government having offered that amount' for the old slaughter-house site at. Newmarket. ■ * X dp , not : mean the site: upon* which the present slaughter-house stands, but;? the-piece: of land on; the other side of the railway, which was purphased, I thinkjuvrhen Mr Gillies ; was Superintendent, as a site for a slaughterhouse. The General Government required it for the purpose of extending their station accommodation, and offered the sum of £1100 for it. So that our total estimated receipts for this • half-year will Tbe on account of revenue, £19,200; from the £40,000 loan," £5500, and from the the sale of the slaughterhouse site, £1100, making a totallof £25,800. ; Now, Bir, against that we have'the'expenditure. TJie. statement of expenditxire |s alinqst exactly based upon the" estimates "that were passed: last year. It is half the amount for the twelve months with scarcely any alteration' of any kind,^ and wh<msl come to any material alteration I will state it. Departments:—-Executive, £1200; Legislative, £635 ;' Waste Lands, £495,; Publip Works,' £|.630} Pojipe, 13943 10s; Belief of Sick and JDestir tuteV £2000 • Hospitals, £2000; Lunatic Asylum, £2800. # . (The flatter item is considerably :in excess of last year's estimate. ..The expenses connected with the Lunatic Asylum are constantly increasing, and the vote last year was found to be altogether inadequate. This estimate is' taken from the "actual ' expenses being now incurred ou accbunt pf the Lunatic Asylum. Gaols, £3,250; goldfields' departments, £1,750; and larbours, £3,000. Making a total under that head of £23,703 10s. Then there are some miscellaneous matters, such as

inspection of weights and measures, £150; inspection of slaughter-houses, £50; inspection of sheep, £500; Government analyst, £150; maintenance of laboratory, £50; land and insurance, £175; Auckland Dispensary, £100; ferries, £250; steam services, £1,000; expenses under Public Health Act", £200; repairs to public buildings, £300; printing, advertising, and stationery, £500; general contingencies, £750; special orders for 1874-5, £3,801' 17s 7d; erection of a new slaughterhouse, £2,500; interest on purchase of site for slaughter-house, £115 10s. j making a total ef £34,295 17s 7d. Aud : the Council will see that in these items there is absolutely nothing but what is: simply necessary to maintain the govern-; ment of the Province in common decency: 1 and in order, There is not one single 1 shilling for additional public works of anyj kind, or any outside expenditure beyond; that which is absolutely nesessary to maintain the gaols, hospitals and lunatic; asylum, and the other ordinary depart-; ments of the Government. We;have, | therefore, a sum of £34,000 to defray, expenditure that it is' utterly impossible; to do without, unless wo bring on im-; mense confusion, as against a receipt of £25,800, making a deficiency; of £8,495., But as an amount, under special order, \ of £3,801 has already been paid, the. apparent: deficiency will be reduced by that sum, making a deficiency of between £4,000 and £5000 altogether upon that head. Then as regards this of. £40,000, hon. members will recollect that the Superintendent in his speech makes a; reference to that-subject, and states that! he will ask the Council whether, under i all the circumstances of the case, it is , advisable to take what we can get of that money. At that time the Superintendent wasnot so well aware of the actual details of the finances as he is at present. The position of the balance of that loan then is as follows:—I have already stated to you that we shall require for the payment of the public works department and slaughter-house out of this loan, £5,500; and besides that there are at jeast, and there may be more-—it is impossible for me to tell, as I have been unable to ascertain with any degree-of* precisionthere will be at least, liabilities incurred on account of public works, that are at present in; course of execution, of £7,500," making a total, that we shall require during the next six months-out of that loan, if we can get it,, of £13,000. But. as in six .months there are only two quarters, and as we can only get £6000 a; quarter, we shall receive only £12,000* on account of that loan; leaving a deficiency of £i; 000 there. So that the question as to whether we shall take any more of that loan or not is set at rest. There is only one other point for me to touch upon, and that is the financial aspect of the education question; and I am sorry to say that however great a success and. pleasure the subject of education itself may be, and however successfully it may have been administered in other respects, it is unfortunately financially a failure. The amount spent upon education up to the present time has been about £21,000;. and the money has been obtained pretty much as follows: about £11,000. has been received by the Education Commissioners out of the proceeds™ of the tax. The tax realised £12,000 ; but as it cost between 7 and 8 per cent, to collect it, not more than £11,000, or about that amount, has been available for the purposes of education. A sum of £5,000 was paid out of what is called" Provincial revenue, and another sum of £5,000 has been borrowed from the Bank. That is the simple financial position of the Education Board at the present time. For the next six months a sum, I suppose, of at least from £10,000 to £11,000 will be required. By again levying the rate —as I am sorry to say we shall be obliged to do, or else bring the whole thing to a stop—we shall receive probably £11,000, which will just about meet the expenditure, leaving the deficiency of £5,000 at the Bank still standing. I have not endeavoured in any way to gloss over the present financial condition of, the Province. I have thought it be*st to state it *to you in the few simple figures in which I have placed-rit' before ..the Council. You see that upon almost every single item thereis a deficiency, whilst you will also see that there is not a single item of expenditure put down that can by any possibility be avoided, unless we are to allow, the social ■ state of affairs here to get into : confusion. : From what source thebalance is to come,, I really do not know ; but, as I told you that on the Ist July, we should probably have a clean sheet, and, as we have a power of overdraft at the Bank of £15,000, we shall be able, somehow or other, I suppose, to rub along. But I think the figures that I have shown you, and the statement I have made, will render it absolutely necessary for the General Government, whether they wish it or whether they do not, income way or other—in what way I do notknow, and I have no means of knowing—but necessity itself will compel them to make some provision or other for the decent government «f the province of Auckland, or the thing will come simply to a financial standstill.

On the motion of Mr Dignan, the debate was adjourned until Tuesday.