THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7, 1878.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2957, 7 August 1878, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7, 1878.

The Colonial Treasurer delivered his Financial Statement in the House last night. He commenced by referring to the financial position of the Colony, of which only an abstract is famished in the report forwarded to the Press, and for want of apace to publish the Statement in full we are compelled still.further to condense the matter, giving the items which we conceive will be best understood by general readers, without troubling them to wade through the generalities of the introductory portion of the speech. The total ordinary expenditure for 1877, we find, was £3,040,251, against an estimated expenditure of £3,206,188 ; so that the Treasurer makes out a saving between last session's appropriation and actual expenditure of £165,937 (the Statement gives the amount as £175,946). There was an excess of expenditure under the heads of law and justice and Native affairs, while the vote for education was exceeded £29,261. In addition to the ordinary expenditure, there was paid to local bodies under the Financial Arrangements Act and as surplu| land revenue to counties, a further sum of £725,307, which brought the , year's expenditure up to £3,755,549, and with gold duty, license fees, &c, paid over to local bodies, the total disbursement was £3,969,240. The revenue is next treated j of, and the Treasurer states that the estimate for the past year was £3,153,685, while the amount actually collected was £3,915,315, the difference between. which may be ascertained by a simple sum in subtraction. The benefit the Exchequer has received from colonization of the land fund is represented by the sum of £91,740. The Customs Eevenuo reached £1,271,961, or an excess of £72,961 over the estimate. There were also excesses over the estimates in the Stamps, Postal, Telegraphic, Land, Transfer and miscellaneous departments, but railways fell short of the estimated revenue. The gross receipts for the year are put down at £4,440,560, and the expenditure

£3,969,240; excess of receipts over expenditure £476,319. The surplus is proposed to be devoted in part towards extending the railway system. The Treasurer next explained how the loan had been raised and how it was proposed to expend - it. The gross debt of tho Colony on the 30th June, he said, was £22,491,111; the annual charge for interest and sinking fund at same date was £1,195,318. The estimated expenditure for the current financial year is £4,193,509; estimated revenue, £4,262,037, or a surplus of nearly £90,000. Regarding the progress of the Colony the Treasurer referred to the increase of exports and decrease of imports as a gratifying sign of progress. He then went on to describe the reforms proposed to be introduced in tho tariff and the change of the incidence of taxation, and at that portion of the \ speech referring to " fresh taxation " we take up the Treasurer's speech as forwarded, reserving comment till a futnre time.

The Eev. Mr Haze'ton has been vigorously " slated " by a correspondent of the Dunedin Morning Advertiser for his intolerant lecture on "Ireland and the Irish."

Refesbing to an article in the Herald of Monday about officers sent on special service to the Cape! we understand that there were seven selected, of whom Major Clery, Dep.-Asst.-Adjt.-General at Alder- j shot (brother of Mr Clery, of the Thames Scottish. Volunteers), was one. It is believed their duty will be the organization of the forces ; so urgent \vas this service that Major Clery got his orders on Tuesday and had to embark on Thursday. j At a minstrel entertainment in the South a few nights ago, Sambo mentioned to his brother burnt-corkisls that he" had seen a gentleman in a local insurance, office endeavouring to obtain an insurance | on the life of Sir George Grey, but unsuccessfully. Sambo went on to say that he knew the cause, but tbat he would give his brethren three guesses to find out. This they didi but failed;, when the corner man said, in a tone of regret, "The manager said there was not a man in New Zealand who could make out Sir George Grey's policy." ' The opera of "Maritana" has been produced in Dunedin.by amateurs under, the direction of Signor Carmini Morley, and a Southern paper says such a peformance was never attempted in the Colo- j nic» before. What will the Auckland Choral Society say ? In Dunedin, too, I an amateur dramatic clubr-the Civil Service—have played for three consecutive nights, the musical burlesque of Cinderella, and the-Dunedin Working Men's Club played for two nights " The Lost Wife" and "The Lottery Ticket," and on the third night "Luke.the Laborer." With such a plethora of. amateur talent in Dunedin, it is no wonder the " paor professionals" are starved out; \ Bjbfoee leaving for. Sydney Sothern proposes,, we understand, to give two or three performances at the Thames. The present Auckland company cannot go with him, but there are several excellent amateurs at the Thames, with whose aid, if obtained, Mr Sothern could give several evenings' excellentamusement.—Herald. A Southern contemporary fell into a sad error respecting this_ district lately, when it remarked thSt "Tfflr' Gough.'s wife crop last year amounted to 100 gals." Ithassince turned out.that the .editor referred to Mr Gough's wine crop.