1.—15

(viii) Sale of Material, Land, &c.—Where a local authority sells land it is not always able to use the profits for its general purposes, but frequently there are certain restrictions on the directions in which receipts from the sale of land may be expended. On the other hand, certain boroughs maintain quarries and similar institutions and derive a certain amount of revenue therefrom. No details are available to show the amounts derived from these sources separately, and the following table shows the amounts derived from the sale of material, land, &c.: —

Table showing Receipts of Borough Councils on account of Sale of Material, Land, &c., from 1924-25 to 1943-44

(d) Total Revenue Receipts It will be convenient at this stage to summarize the total revenue receipts of boroughs. The following table gives these figures : —

Table showing Revenue Receipts of Borough Councils for the years from 1924-25 to 1943-44

The major increase over the period has been from receipts from rates, although revenue from Government subsidies has increased to a very considerable extent. Details of these revenue receipts from the Government are given later in this report. (<?) Expenditure Some idea of the general expenditure structure of local authorities can be gained from thefollowing tables. The first table shows an analysis of payments on construction and maintenance of works and utilities. The table is of value particularly as showing the general distribution of local-body expenditure. One interesting trend over the period as shown by the table has been the tendency for construction works to be financed out of revenue and grants rather than out of loans. This trend is merely the converse of the trend shown in subsequent tables discussing loan indebtedness. One important phase is the large increase in expenditure out of revenue and grants in recent years, which reflects the policy by which local authorities received considerable grants from the Employment Promotion Fund, thus obviating the necessity to raise loans. As stated elsewhere, this raises a policy question of considerable importance for post-war years. If grants from the Employment Promotion or a similar fund are not continued, there is no doubt that loans will have to increase.

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Financial Year. Receipts. Financial Year. | Receipts. £ £ 1924-25 .. .. 187,712 1934-35 .. .. 125,898 1925-26 .. .. •• 205,546 1935-36 .. .. .. 134,525 1926-27 .. .. .. 234,191 1936-37 .. .. .. 196,388 1927-28 .. .. •• 272,113 1937-38 .. .. .. 231,958 1928-29 .. .. •• 259,338 1938-39 .. .. .. 172,414 1929-30 . .. .. 218,520 1939-40 .. .. .. 134,599 1930-31 •• •• 196,529 1940-41 .. .. .. 172,534 1931-32 .. .. 185,074 1941-42 .. .. .. 217,983 1932-33 .. .. .. 116,933 1942-43 .. .. .. 205,519 1933-34 .. .. .. 86,341 1943-44 .. .. .. 192,110

Revenue from . , ,, Revenue from Public Utilities, Revenue from T , , R Financial Year. Rates. Licenses, Rents, Government. and other Sources. £ £ £ £ 1924-25 .. •• 2,348,878 4,472,862 43,035 6,864,775 1925-26 2,497,825 4,692,412 43,520 7,233,757 1926-27 .. .. 2,732,903 4,942,201 45,443 7,720,547 1927-28 2,875,231 5,225,859 45,802 8,146,892 1928-29 .. .. •• 3,042,839 4,642,551 99,291 7,784,681 1929-30 3,188,157 4,706,253 118,511 8,012,921 1930-31 .. .. .. 3,213,117 4,475,901 130,019 7,819,037 1931-32 3,219,178 3,851,531 141,159 7,211,868 1932-33 .. .. 3,226,990 3,481,210 188,910 6,897,110 1933-34 .. .. .. 3,270,803 3,352,057 189,643 6,812,503 1934-35 3,312,197 3,475,235 144,079 6,931,511 1935-36 .. .. •• 3,336,404 3,621,687 159,506 7,117,597 1936-37 .. .. •• 3,493,522 3,838,732 204,111 7,536,365 1937-38 .. .. .. 3,787,506 4,317,302 207,717 8,312,525 1938-39 .. •• •• 4,048,606 4,551,139 219,769 8,819,514 1939-40 .. .. .. 4,263,939 4,929,531 225,546 9,419,016 1940-41 .. .. •• 4,281,980 5,086,254 190,727 9,558,961 1941-42 .. •• 4,387,904 5,102,509 180,104 9,670,517 1942-43 .. .. .. 4,643,086 5,479,029 142,810 10,264,925 1943-44 .. .. .. 4,699,886 5,813,478 128,680 10,642,044