3

B.—l

" The Lands Improvement " and " The Native Lands Purchase " accounts have also been placed, in funds to the amount of .£187,500 each through the raising of the three-quarters of a million under " The Aid. to Public Works and Land Settlement Act, 1896," and with the proceeds of debentures amounting to £52,000 raised under the Act of 1894. The estimated expenditure of the Lands Improvement Account is set down at £109,000, leaving a balance of £134,500 to go on with. In the Native Lands Purchase Account the expenditure is estimated at £127,000, leaving a balance of £97,200 to provide for purchases during the current year. As 1 have before mentioned, there is still a balance of a quarter of a million to be raised under "The Aid to Public Works and Land Settlement Act, 1896," and when the proceeds have been received " The Lands Improvement Account" and "The Native Lands Purchase Account" will each be entitled to be credited with £62,500 of the £250,000 to be raised. With these sums available I am satisfied that the works in progress to improve and open up the roading of the country will be steadily continued, and further lands can be acquired from the Natives, and our engagements in this direction successfully carried out. Some large estates have been purchased under " The Land for Settlements Act, 1894," for which purpose £297,300 has been raised during the past year, and this amount, with some £20,000 derived from rents, has been sufficient to provide for an expenditure of £312,500, leaving a balance in hand of £6,000. I shall presently deal very briefly with the operations within the Public Debt and Conversion Accounts, but at this point, I think, it may be convenient to recapitulate some of the balances. The surplus of the Consolidated Fund amounted to .... .... £340,000 of which I hope to be able to aid the Public Works expenditure to the amount of .... .... .... .... .... .... 200,000 leaving .... .... .... .... .... .... .... £140,000 Of this balance of £140,000 I think it would be expedient to set aside £50,000 for the purposes of assisting the requirements of the Land Improvement and Native Lands Purchase Accounts, in case the available balances of these accounts should not prove sufficient for the expenditure which it may be found absolutely necessary to incur. With this extra assistance, it is quite certain that I shall have plenty of funds to carry on the public-works services of the country, and for the acquisition of Native lands for the current financial year. £ The balance of the Public Works Fund was ... ... ... 150,000 Proportion of balance of loan ... ... ... ... 125,000 Aid from Consolidated Fund ... ... ... ... 200,000 Total available balance for current year ... ... ... £475,000 £ The balance of the Lands Improvement Account was ... ... 134,500 Proportion of balance of loan ... ... ... ... 62,500 Aid from Consolidated Fund, say ... ... ... ... 25,000 Total available balance for current year ... ... ...£222,000 £ The balance of the Native Lands Purchase Account was ... ... 97,000 Proportion of balance of loan ... ... ... ... 62,500 Aid from Consolidated Fund, say ... ... ... ... 25,000 Total available balance for current year ... ... ... £184,500 These balances will sufficiently prove that our resources for the current year in respect of our loan accounts are ample, and will cover all possible requirements. The operations within the " Conversion Account" last year were small, and the table speaks for itself.