FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 286, 24 July 1873, Page 5

FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

On the 15tb instant, Mr Turnbull moved the House into Committee of Supply, to enable him to make his Financial Statement. The Provincial Treasurer said : It is customary on making a financial statement to add some words of explanation. I desire, therefore, to make a few remarks respecting the financial position of the Province. I am afraid, from what has fallen from several members, that they expect something well worth hearing, and they regret that several are not present to hear what I have to state. I cannot undertake that the remarks I shall make will be expressed with that eloquence that has distinguished those of some of my predecessors. I can only relate a plain unvarnished tale of the transactions of the Province during the past year, and of its present position, with the proposals the Executive intend to bring before the Council for the ensuing year, should honorable members desire that they should continue to administer the affairs of the Province until we meet again. I think I may fairly congratulate the Committee and the country on the generally satisfactory state of affairs of this Pro mice, and also of the Colony. The past year has been characterised by prosperity in all branches of industry— mining, manufacturing, agricultural, pastoral, and commercial — throughout the length and breadth uf the land. As a natural consequence, the public finances have been in an easy state, as the estimated revenue has been largely exceeded. Ever since I have been in office, the public funds have been flourishing. Ido not take credit to the Executive for that ; it has been the result of the causes I have mentioned. Cheap money and high prices of produce have enabled settlers to purchase land, and in many indirect ways to swell the revenue of the Province. Having made these few remarks, I will now direct the attention of the Committee to the position of the Province, and the transactions of the rjast year. They will find these detailed in the General balance- sheet, with a statement of the actual and estimated revenue for the past year, which I laid on the table of the Council on the first or second day of the present session. From that document it will be seen we commenced the year with an amount to our debit of L 44,658 10s, and a revenue estimated at L 267,800. This was exceeded by L 73,754 5s 4d, the actual receipts being L 341,554 5s 4d. This has been chiefly from land revenue, the excess of which was L 83.000. There was also an excess of receipts from the General Government of L 12,500, making a total in excess of the Estimates of L 95,500. lam taking merely the round numbers. There was a large deficiency in the sale of Government buildings and land, which was put down at LIO,OOO, and realised about L3,oofr— that was principally from the sale of reclaimed hind that brought less than was expected. Then there was a falling-ofif of L 8,500 in licenses, almost entirely | caused by a large portion of the fees being handed over to the municipalities ; and there was also a reduction of L 2,500 in the receipts from the gold export duty, caused by the reduction of 6d per oz. duty at the last session of the General Assembly. And there was another sum of L 2,500 of Goldfields revenue. Taking those deductions from the amount, the excess was L 73.754 5s 9d, as I have stated in the balance sheet. The expenditure, it will be seen, was L 269,300, as per totals given in the document I have alluded to. Ido not think it will be necessary to go over those details to point out ' the different items, as they will be sufficiently clear, and I shall be happy to give more specific information if required. Turning to the General Balance-sheet, it will be seen the debt on the 31st March, 1872, was L 44.658 10s, the first amount on the credit side. The General Expenditure was L 265.045 4s lid, and there was a further expenditure from a specific loan under the North Otago District Loan Act of L 4,255 8s lid. These together amount to L 313.959 3s lOd to be provided for, and if members will pass their eyes to the other side of the account, they will see how that has been done. There was received from revenue during the year L 308,067 17s Id, and a further sum of L 33,486 8s 3d from the General Government for specific purposes, making a total of L 341.554 5s 4d. This expenditure leaves a balance of L 27,595 Is 6d to be carried forward to the credit of the current year. The receipts from the General Government are mostly spent on specific purposes. The first item is a sum of L 5.000, under the North Otago District Loan Act, which was passed last session. The Assembly authorised a loan of L 70,000, of which, on the 31st March, L 5,000 had been received, and L 4,255 8s lid expended. Since then a further sum had been expended, and it was hoped that the Harbor Works at Oamaru would be rapidly prosecuted. The next item was L6,611 14s 6d, received under the Public Works Act. It was received under the Payment to Provinces Act of 1871, which Act gave to the Province the sum of L 27,117 7s 6& But under clause 28 of that Act, one-half could be appropriated to the construction of roads, bridges, and other such works as the Province might decide upon. Of the amount stated L 6,451 3s 8d was thus spent, leaving about Ll6O yet to be spent of the sum received. There was still a large amount to expend of money received under the Payment to Provinces Act for Road Boards, which we are distributing at the rate of 30s in the pound, and as soon as the Appropriation Act is passed, we hope to distribute 10s in the pound to Road Districts, allotted from the Provincial Revenue. The surplus balance of L 27,595 carried, forward ty the cur-

ient year consists of L 14.445, which must be spent on the special objects specified by the North Otago District Loan Act, and L 13,149 17s 2d, which the Council would be able to appropriate, along with the estimated expenditure for the year. I fancy I need hardly advert at any length to the loans. They are pretty well exi.lained in the balance sheet. Honorable members will observe that the total indebtedness amounted to L1,34G,225, of which L 1,091,450 has been consolidated under Acts of the General Assembly, leaving L 254,775 still unconverted and under Provincial Ordinances. The payment to the sinking fund amounted to L 119,374, and that taken from the total left the net loan liability L 1,226,830125., 226, 830 125. The annual charge on the sinking fund and interest on loans amounts to L 88,430 ss, of winch L 65.487 is payable to the General Government and L22, 9435s to deben-ture-holders. I hope this is clear enough as to those matters. The sum credited under the head " Home Agents," as honorable members will perceive, consists of the balance of amounts remitted on account of the Province, for which vouchers had not been received. The next item, "Advances," L 696 3s 2d was for money advanced to the police and on account of labor, of which the exact charge has not been ascertained. "Bank of New Zealand," L 38.112 5s 6d, it would be seen, consisted of several items. The first, L 16,698 2s, is the general account, including the ordinary operations of the Province. Of the Public Works Account there is only a small sum, Ll6O 10s lOd, unexpended. The third is L 13,540 12s 5d to the credit of Road Boards, the account being kept in the same way, and the last amount is on account of inter- \ est on debentures. There are only two more items in this abstract that require explanation. On the other side is the Suspense Account, which consists of vouchers not called for, for amounts passed at the end of the year, of Southland old vouchers, and of the sale of stock, &c. Deposit account consists of sums received on account of public works and immigration, which are, however, returnable when the engagements are completed. It amounts to L 6.614 ss. I think I have sufficiently explained the balance-sheet of last year, and our position at the end of the year was simply this : We had a loan liability of L 1,226,830 12s, and a balance of L 13.149 7s 2d to commence the year with. That was the position on the 31st March last. In reference to my proposals for the coming year, I would simply say we have brought down what we conceive to be a safe, although a large estimate. We estimate the revenue for ordinary purposes i at L 417.000, and in addition we propose to ap- ] propriate L 20,000 out of a loan we wish to ask the Council to pass on the security of the edu- ! cational reserves. We have an unexpended I balance of L 65.743 11s Id, under the North Otago District Loan Act, -which -will make a grand total of L502,74S lls Id for expenditure during the current year, in addition to the capitation grant, amounting to L 55,88 0; but as it never comes into our hands, being retained by the General Government for payment of interest and sinking fund, we have thought it better not j to take it into the calculation of revenue at all, but to take it as balance of interest on liabilities. The first item is General Road Board subsi- ly unexpended on the 31st March last, which amounts to L 16.000, as an absolute and positive asset. This is a vote which I hope will be continued. It is an useful and serviceable vote tor the country, and I hope our representatives in the General Assembly will see that it is maintained. Ido not think there is reason to believe, considering the state of the country, that there will be any reduction, although honorable members will see it is somewhat small. I think, however, it will not be made smaller. The next item it is difficult to estimate, as it is our probable revenue from Crown Lands. We have put it down at the large sum of L 200,000, exclusive of the amounts recoverable from pastoral rents. Although the amount is large, when I tell what has been done up to the 30th June— the fh-st three months of our financial year —it will not appear improbable. We actually received L 107,000 in three months, and I mayfurther state that large sales have been made in Southland, making up the amount to L 140.000, so that I do not think you will consider the estimate too large. In fact, I think the revenue will exceed that amount. But as members are aware, it is a difficult question to form an opinion upon, as so much depends on circumstances over which the Executive have no control. I think as far as we can, we ought to make use of the land, either by selling or reserving it for charitable, educational, or public XJurposes, in order to prevent the possibility of the revenue passing out of our hands. I think we ought to guard against this if possible; and although Ido not apprehend nor believe the Legislature of the Colony would go the length of upsetting a solemn engagement made years ago with the Provinces, that in consideration of certain things the land revenue of each Province should belong to it, several prominent politicians of the North Island do look to the time when it shallbeabsorbed by the Colony. I have heard them say so. I hope propositions like that will never have prominence in the Councils of the Colony, but I think, as a matter of precaution, it will be as well to reserve or sell the land, and apply the proceeds to the construction of, or as seciuity for the construction of public works. We have put our goldfields revenue at L 21,000. That to some extent depends on a resolution before this Council. Harbor and Jetty dues L 4,000. Since this was in type, I have received information that they are likely to be considerably more. With regard to Licenses and Education, I have nothing to say. The return of passage money for immigrants, L 3,000, is larger than last year. The Government wish, if they continue in office, to bring this large affair into smaller limits. It is therefore proposed to make some special effort to reduce it into smaller dimensions, and deal equitably with all parties. We have put down the Dunedin and Port Chalmers Railway at L 22,000, and the Southland Railway at L 12.000. We cannot tell what the revenue from the Port Chalmers line will be, and we therefore estimate it at what we consider a safe amount. The sum for reclaimed land is something large; but if the works go an during the year, we expect there will be a considerable amount of land available, which will realise a large sum. The next amount is the amount for building schools. This we propose to borrow, if the Council agree to it, and the amount propose to spend during the year we estimate at L 20.000. Of the North Otago Loan the amount unexpended is placed on the Estimates, showing how much is still applicable to expenditure on the public works set out in the schedule of the North Otago Loan Act. This is the revenue for the year, and I think, after full consideration, the Committee will not think we have overstepped the mark, but that it will be substantially realised. I will now make a remark or two on the proposed expenditure. Honorable - members will notice under this head we propose to appropriate a very large sum, L 518,688 lls 2d. It is not necessary to go through the items in detail, as there will be ample time for discussion as they pass through Committee ; I will not, therefore, trouble the Committee just now. I will simply say we have given the matter very great consideration. Bridges, roads, and other works have been overhauled, over, and over, and over again, and whatever the Committee may think, we can assure them we have apportioned the disribution of this large sum of money with -an earnest desire to do full justice to each district throughout the Province. But while pointing out the large sum to be appropriated this year, there is a large amount required for payments which must be made. These could be explained in detail as they came before the Committee. The proposed expenditure exceeds the estimated revenue by L 16,000; but to meet that deficiency there is a balance of L 13,000 from last year, and there is an item which 1 do not expect will be wanted — that is, LIO,OOO for immigration. We have put it down in the event of the Genetal Government not working harmoniously with the Province in the matter ; but even if it is paid, we expect to get it repaid. Instructions have been sent Home to keep up the stream of immigration from Scotland, and if it cannot be done otherwise, the Province will do it at its own expense. The amounts stated will give L 23,000, and, besides that, those members who have been long in this Council know that it is impossible to spend every appropriation; so that there will be no difliculty as far as regards money. Of course we shall most likely have to bring down Supplementary Estimates containing sums for compensating pastoral tenants, and they would be formed in accordance with the resolutions of the Council , There is only another matter necessary to allude to, and that

is, we have, in preparing the Estimates, considered to some extent the position of the Civil servants of the Government, and, as things are prosperous, and all classes of j.ibor receiving higher remuneration, it is only right that they shall partake of this happy state of affairs. I am sure the Committee will agree it is only an act of justice to many who have been long in the service. I think, at the same time, in asking them to work longer hours they will only then be in a similar posi tion to employes in merchants' and bankers' offices ; nor do I think it will be any hardship to require it. I hope the Committee will consider the various proposals in the same spirit in which they have been framed, for our only object is to deal with the finances of the Province, so as to do the greatest justice, and give an impartial share to each district, according to the amount to which it is entitled. I move the first item on the Estimates, L 9,607, balance of interest on loans. The amount was passed, and the Chairman reported progress.