THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT. [BY TELEGRAPH.-OWN CORRESPONDENT.] Wellington, Friday.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1866, 21 June 1884, Page 2

THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT. [BY TELEGRAPH.-OWN CORRESPONDENT.] Wellington, Friday.

IN Committee of Supply, Friday, 20th June, 1884, the Colonial Trjasuier, tho Hon. Major Atkinson, delheied the following statement :— Mr H.iinlm : The task which I havp before me this c\ening is compaiatively a light one, a«i I have o*ily to submit for' the consideration of the committee tho financial result of the past year, and ask for a giant of a sufficient supply to cany on the public service until a now Paihament can meet for the despatch of buiinevN, which I hope will ha withm two months from the present time. I desu oat the outset ty assme hon. nienibeis that the financial difficulties with which we have to cope during the cmient ycai .me by no means of so serious a nature •■\n some seem disposed to think. lam satisfied that there 1^ nothing in the difficulties of our financial position to make lib doubt our ibility to meet and oveicome them without placing any undue burdens upon the taxpayer* of the colony. It has been my pleasing duty for the last two yeai-s, to announce a satisfactory surplus at the cud of each financial penod, but 1 regret to .say that the serious depies&ion under which New Zealand, in common with •x large pait of the civilized world has been suffering for some tithe past, has caused a consideiable falling off in some items of our levenue, and has thus transfoimed into a deficiency the hinall estimated surplus of £820~>.

Ordinary Revenue Account, 1883-84, In the Statement; I had the honour to make to the Committee last year, I estimated the total expenditure for the financial year ending the 31st March, ISS4, at £3,<J(il, i!) 7. Of this amount £1,G4">,(W4 was loquired for intciCbt and sinking fund, and foi the Civil lust and other ehaiges under peimanent Acts and £2,015,802 for the hd vices for winch annual pro\ won is made by Pailiament. The t.mns voted on the Supplementary Estimates, however, increased the amount of the annual appiopuatiou to £2,040,300. This sum, theiefore, with the estimated chaiges undei penniiioiit Acts, amounting, as I have just stated, to £l,(j4"),(ii)i, gave as the total appiopiwtious for the year. The total actual expenditun on this account during the year pio\cd to be 4*3,(581,320, being £4734 less than the estimated amount. The payments under peimanent Acts weie £jo!> m excels of the Estimates., and those wider the votes of the year weie £"i 2,041 within the amount authoiised. These aie the net re-sulk hon. members will find oil looking into the Appiopnation Account already laid befmo Pailument, that in some cases the \otes were exceeded, and that in otheis the amounts authored woie not all expanded. Eliminating the imprest advances outstanding at the close of the year which the law lequiied the Tie.is.nry to include in the appiopriation account, but which do not foi m p.ut of the financial exyenthUue of the yeai . The paynients in excess of the \oteb of Paihament amounted to £27,0(i2, to which, however, ■-lionld be added £7,2(><> fin muuccs unpiovided for, making the total unaufchoii*«d expenditme C3"),r2rf, chaigeable against the £100,000 provided for this puiposo by the Public Res emics Act On the othei hand the unexpended bilance of \ote-* amounted to£l.3M. As information relating to the ! so-called manifold e\pe,nditrie and unexpended balances has already been laid befoie Paih.iment, it is unnecessary foi me to lefev | to tlieii future. Dining the yeai 18S2 83 the I total expenditme out of the ordinal y leveI mic amounted to Jb'3,038,384, at, against \ £3,081,220 expended last year, the expenditiuo of ISB3-S4 being theie f oie gicatci than ' that of 1882-83 by about £12,000. ]t will be seen from the table, which will be found appended to thus statement, when published, that the classes of evpondituie mainly accountable for this increase aie: Education £12,2!K>, and railway-, £33,700, i but a s.isnig of £3'.),200 was effected in ! constabulary and defence sen ice-. The liabilities ot this account on the 31st M.uch. 1884, weie estimated at £1(51), 747, I being £8,773 le« than the auioinitout standin" on the 31st Maich, 1883. Paiticulais" of tiie&e liabilities have abeady been laid befoie Paihament for the puipoMj of enabling hon. inembein to com- ) are the liabilities out standing at the close of the last financial yen; with the liabilities of the tlnce piovious vct-\ The pieseut mode of treating liabilities ha\ mg now been for yeai^ m uxistence, 1 have had a table prepared winch will ace iinpanv this -,titement when published. The oidunry ie\enue of fie yeai 1883-81, that is the revenue exclusive ot the iPceipts fioui laud sale*, was e^tui-ated in the linaucial statement of 18S3 at £3,573,1)00, the sub-e-juent mciease, however, m the Piopjity Tax of one faith'tig m the £ bi ought up the estimate of £3,(r)5,.500 The actual amount of ordinal y levenuot. lercceived and bi ought to account by the Tieasury duimg the year was £3,41)3,05'), being thus £U)~>,141 under the estimated amount the usu.d coinpaiatise leturn of the estimated and actual receipts will be laid befoie the hon. inember.s. It will be seen that the mam blanches (.f revenue in which the estimated receipts have not been realised are customs and 'railways. ,

General Revenue. In Customs, the .mioiuit lecoived was £123,813 shoit of the estimated icvcnuo, which wj a £1,320,000. In lailuays, the amount estimated to be received was £1,020,000, but the amount brought to account proved to be £!)'>3,lli), b?ing tbu* S")G.881 under the estimate. I h.ive already stated to the committee that the total estimated levenue of the consolidated fund dunug the year 1883 8-1 was £3,(581,320, and that the revenue amounted to £3,403,(510. To the latter sum I added, howevei, the balance at the credit of the account at the beginning of the yeat — £3"),549 — making the total loeeipts £3.529,208. Hon. member-, will thus see that the transactions of the consolidated fund for the financial year ending 31 -t Match last lesulted in a deficit of £152,112 I may, pel haps, heie be peiniitted, Mi Hamlin, to jj.nnfc out the great difficulty of making an a cum ate estimate of ie\enue. Evpenence teaches us that a vei> flight alteiahon in the pvice of either wool or grain very nnterially affects our income. In some yeais when otir staple pioducts sell at a good pi ice we suddenly find an o\ei Honing Titui.smy. On the other hand, when pricaare low, we find ouisehoi face to face with tli.it unpleasant fact foi a Tieasuiei — a deficit. In bo small a couuti yas thR we shall always be subject -to Midden u-.es or falls, within ceitain limits, in our levonue, and Aye inu&t from time to time expect to have to face a deficit, unless we aiepicpaied in oui annual budgets to lea\ c a much wider nuugiii of surplus than .seems to me either desirable or necessary, foi a large smplus in my expeiiencti generally means pressing demands for greater expenditure, It also means that more money has been taken out of the pockets of the taxpayers than was necessary for the service^ of the year, and this I have always avoided doing, holding as I do the belief that no Government is justified m collecting moie money than is .sufficient to carry out the .services voted by Parliament.

Land Fund Account, 1863-84-The amounts to be expended duiing the year out of the moneys derived from the .sales of lands wab estimated at £238,102, of which £30,600 was for payment under the permanent acts of the General Assembly, or £201.502 for payments under votes for the services of the year, the actual expenditure £238,062 or £500 more than theestitnated amount. The expenditure under the permanent Acts being £34,843, and under the votes of the year £224,9] 9, the moneys handed over to local bodies for expenditure on road making from moneys leceived from land, on deferred payments was £23,358. There was also paid 1o local bodies during the y edr £45,446 for rates under " The Ci own and Native Lands Rating Act, 1883," making a total of £58,804 Handed over to local bodies to be expended by them. The expenditure in respect of the Crown lands survey and other departments amounted to £158,373, beine £3,199 within the amounts authorised. The amount transferable under section 4 of the " Roads and Bridges Construction Act, 1882," to the main roads account in the Public Works fund on account of the transactions of the year 188283 was -found to be £75,203, but no transfer was made duiing the year 1883-84, the necessity for so doing not having arisen. The liabilities outstanding on 31st March, 1884 on this account amounted to £33,577, exclusive of sum of £75,203 ftaubferable to the main roads account 1 m respect of ijhe transactions of the year 1882-83. rhe estimated revenue during the year from the sale of land was £75,(500. The actual receipts proved to be £232,515, being £43,Q5?> under the estimated amount. The revenue "derived from cash sales was £163.758,^ apd from sales on deferred payments, £75,77 T. To the revenue I add the qalance with which wetegah'the yaaiyOT,^ inakrog fui

amount the -"ei^nditure amounting to £338,(502, which includes the sum of £68,874 paid t<i local *#»"» at the close of the year of £80,447, subject to a charge of- £75,203, transferable to the Main Road 3 Account. „„ „ ,

The' Public.'Debt. i - On the 31st ISJEarch, 1384, the gross public debt of the colony amounted to £32,307,711, and the accrued sinking funds to £2,792,508. The nett public debt was, therefore, £29,574,903. Of this sum, however, there remained unexpended £877,912. In the financial statement which I made in 1883, I informed the committee 'that when the amount presented by Imperial, guaranteed, and other debentures amounts to ,£723,406 temporarily^taken up out of moneys at the credit of the Public Work* Fund, and which was not therefore included in the public debt of -the colony had been rawed, the net debt would amount to £28,503,581. During last year £590,300 of the sum mentioned has been raised, leaving £121,000 unrated, which I .accordingly deduct and get £28,384,581. # During the ye.ir there has also been raised the second £1,000,000 of the loan of three millions authorised m~lBB2rtoggfcto6r~ with the £250,000 authorised by the "The Colonial Inscribed Stock Loan Act, 1882," The debt has further been increased to the extent probably of £161 300 by the conversion, to which I .shall presently refer, of a large amount of 4 J , and 5 per cent. Five - thiity "debentures into the 4 per cent, inscribed stock at the Bank of England, the reduction in the rate of interest in respect of this portion of the debt has, however, caused a large annual saving. The increases of the public debt amount to £1,411,300 padded to £28,384,581, gives a total of £29,725;781. l*Yom these sums, however, I deduct the sinking funds accrued during the year, estimated at £220,979, leaving £29,574,903, which, as I have already btated, represents the public debt of the colony on the 31st Maich, 1884.

Loan of £1,000,000 Raised in January, 18S4. Lu*t ycsw I had occasion to congratulate the Committee on the unprecedented success which had attended the negotiation of the^ fhht instalment of the loan of three mil-* lions authorised in 1882. That loan, as lion, numbers are aware, was offered to the public through the Bank of England in the form of a 4 per cent, inscribed stock at ,i mini mum of £98 10s, the average price at which it was placed being £98 18s tid. The second instalment of one million was raised in January- This year Sir G. Julyan and Sn l'\ D. Bell again acted as agents. The loan was offered to the public in the same form as on the former occasion, and at the minimum of £!)<S 10s. The tender received .it the Bank ot England were 607 in number, amounting in the aggregate to £.i 0,073,000, at prices varying from the minimum of £MS 10s up to £100 lfls Cd. The average price obtained was £100 (is Cd, being no less than £1 14s Id in advance of the piicp obtained for the fii&fc million. There i* therefore .still greater room for congratulation on the present occasion, at this renewed expression of confidence in the resources of the colony, and at the prospect with which the state of our ciedit affords of our being able, if we continue to manage our affiMid with piudence, to obtain the neca-savy loans for our public works, upon very favourable term*. Papers relating to negotiations, of lo.ui will, as usual, be laid before Parliament at aii early 'date.

Colonial Inscribed Stock. As I have aheady stated, the loan authorised by "The Colonial Subscribed Stock Loan Act, 1582," was raised last yeai, it \v.is taken up by the PostmasterGeneral at par. as as investment on account of the Post Oflice Savings Bank, and it bears interest at the rate of 5 per cent, pei annum. The proceeds were, in accordance with the Act, paid into the Public Works fund. It was found when preparations were being made for offering the stock to the public that the Act would require amendment m certain directions to render it workable, and a-* it was proposed to offer the stocks through the medium of the post office, the whole of the loan has been temporarily taken up by the PostmasterGeneral until the Act can be amended or a favouiable opportunity arises for disposing of the stock to the public in conversion of debentures last year. Adveiting to the treasury bills amounting to £1,832,000, exchanged on the 30th De« camber, 1881, for debentures ha\ ing a curmncy of thioe yeai-. issued under the "Treasury Bills Act" of 1870 and 1880, to he afteiwaids com cited into 4 per cent, insculied stock, I stated, with reference to the proposed co-neisum, that circumstances bad not pio\ed sufficiently favourable for a successful operation, but thac the (government intei)d to inscribe the deben lire* as soon as a fitting opportunity presented itself. Last yeaj, undei the wi>e and skilful management of Sir P. G. Julyan and Sir P. D. Bell, the stock agents under the acts of 1877, the operation has been carried to a successful issue. It was not, however, restucted to the comernion of the debentures for £1,832,000. Hon. members who are familiar with the form and cunency of our debentures, will recollect that a portion of them was. issued with a currency of thirty years, redeemable at the pie <sure of the Government in any year after the fifth year from the date of issue, on the Government giving si\ months' notice by advei thement of its intention to pay them off. The Government had long contemplated the conversion of these n\o-thiity debentures, amounting in all to £7,2)0,000, the five years from the date of lasue having expired, and the stock agents were empowered to convert thorn and were only waiting for a favourable opprfcunity to do .so. They determined, theiefore, to ontinue in one large opaiation the two classes of debentures, amounting in all to £i), 032,000, not, bowever, by the compulsory calling in of tha fhe-thirty debentmes, but by giving to tha holders the option of conyeision in certain term's. Accordingly, in September, 1883, an announcement was made public, through the Bank of England, that up to the 30th November applications for conversion would be received in respect of the following debentures :— £0,000,000, 4^ per cent ; hve-thnty debentures, at £103 of stock for every £100, in debentures at £103 10s of stock ; and £1,832,000, 5 per cent debentures, at £100 of stock. The result of this invitation was that the following debentures are brought in and converted, namely, £3,053,000, 44 per cent ; five-thirty debentuies, £504,701", 5 per cent ; five-thhty debentures and £2,832,000, 5 per cpnt debentures, making a total of £\358,700 converted out of £9,082,000 full accounts have not yet been received from the stock agents, but it is calculated that after setting abide a sufficient sum by way of a sinking fund to cover the increase of debts aiising from the conversion, a sum. of about £28,800 will be annually saved to the colony by the reduction of the rate of interest, a result which I think the committee will agree with, and may fairly be characterised as highly satisfactory. I may inform the committee that the whole of the debentures for £1,832,000 were held on behalf of the sinking funds of the New Zea* land loan, The Post-office Savings Bank, the Government Insurance Department, the Public Works and other funds, and that the right to place immediately £500,000 of the 4 per cent, inscribed stock on the London market was received, when the proposed conversion was announced, xindertaking having been given not to sell the balance before thirty instalments of loan of three millions was raised. I may further state that Government have received from the Agent-General, advice by cable of the sale of stock to that amount on favourable terms.

Public Works Fund. For the year ending 31st March last, Parliament voted out of Public "Wbrijs Funds, £2,014,747. Exclusive* of the %£te for land purchase (£77,0u0), # the actfual expenditure was £1,278,710, exclusive of the expenditure for land purchase amounting to £24,480, and also exclusive of thel expenditure under the Roads and Bridges Construction Act, 1882, amounting, to £10G,3Q8, for which, as hon. members know, no vote is taken in the annual approptiation. The chief items of expenditure were: Railways, £661,046; yoads, £222,243 ; public buildings, £164,375 ; emigration, £107,041; and other Services, £123,202. A return of this expenditure will be found in a table annexed to ; this statement. .. , '/

Liabilities. —■•■>* The liabilities outstanding at *ttie f end of the year, exclusive of those for tend" *pur- | chase, amounted to £997,443,'' which, added $o the sum expended, £1,278,710, gives a total of £3,270,153, as against £2,0 M,757 voted for the year. In speaking of expenditure but of Public Works Fun^the liabilities outstanding at the end of" the year I have included botlj the expenditure and liabilities in raupecK of land purchases, ,»nd;alsp ; those, incurred- under tne Hoads and Bridges Construction Act; [The remainder of the Statement wi^ •PP9W m wooxt.^ '