FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 177, 24 June 1884, Page 2

FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

.Appended is the remainder of the aynop-.is of the statement delivered by the Treasurer on Friday jing:INSCRIPTION OF STOCK. The. loan anthoiised by the Colonial Inscribed Stock Loan Act was raised last year, and had been taken ii|» by tlio Postmaster General at par us an in/.estment on account of the Post. Office Savings Bank, bearing interest at o pei cent., until the Act ! could be amended and a favourable 1 oppor unity was presented for I lie dia posing of the stock to the public. PUBLIC WORKS FUND. After relating what had been done with regard to the conversion of debentures, the Treasurer proceeded to deal with the Public Works Fund. The actual expenditure last year was L 1,278,710, oxolusive of the expenditure for land purchase amounting to L 24,480, and also oxclnsize of-the-ex-penditure under the Roads and Bridges Act, L 106.898, for which no vote is taken m the annual appropriations. The chief item of expenditure were-^ Kail ways, .£661,846; roads, 1/222,243; public buildings, LI 64,375 jimmigratton, L 107,04 1; and other services, L 133,209, The balance of the Ki.b ie "Works Fuud remaining unexpended on the 31st March last, including the balance, L 389,000, of the second instalment of the loan of 1882 not then, received, amounted to L877,9i2. ,It *vouUl bo for Parliament to determine i if the action of the Government m having exceeded the votes, by liabilities for material for future u*e, was justifiable. Had they not acted as they have done, one of two things must have happened — either some L 260,000 less must have been spent on works on the lines, thus reudering the depression still greater than at present ; or rails and rolling stock to that amount must have remained unordered, to the £V jat delay of the works generally m the future. He feared that a sum of no less thau LIOO,OOO would be required to be expended annually upon ihe open line.*, besides all charges for renewals, maintenance, and repairs which are, of course, charged against the receipts, if they are to keep pace with increasing traffic. THE DEFICIT AND HOW TO MEET JT. Under ordinary circumstances it would now be his duty to submit for the consideration of the Committee the proposed expenditure of the ordinary revenue for the current year, and then to ask the attention of hon. members to the estimated revenue with which it was intended to meet such expenditure. But as matters stoo-1, he had only to ask the Committee to grant sufficient supplies to carry on the public service until the meeting of the new Parliament, and to make temporary, provision for the deficit of last year, and such further provision for public works as may be required until the new Parliament shall have decided how the expenditure upon open lines is to be ultimately charged. He proposed to ask the authority of Parliament to issi.e £150,000 deficiency bills to provide for the. de_fici±_in_ .tho_ Con«?olidai.ed Fund to the 31st March lasi. The*e bills will be m addition to the £400,000 at present authorised to be raised m temporary aid of the re-, venur, He also proposed on the present occasion, -as the property tax: could not be collected within the current half-year, to ask for further power to issue deficiency bills to the extent of £50,000. : . With this ad-: ditional amount of ways and means, and if the House sees fit to grant, authoiity to raise the extia £150,000 of deficiency bills to meet the deficit m Wt year's revenue, he thought there would be no difficulty m making all necessary payments until tho meeting of the new Parliament. THE DEPRESSIONThe depression which prevailed m the colony did not arise to any appreciable extent, either from defective laws or errors of administration on the part of the Government. It did not arise, from tho withdrawal of capital, or from the distress of capitalists. Far moro capital had flowed into the colony during 1 the last three years Own m any equal period of our history. T>e depression was traceable ultimately to three causes : First, the habits of extravagance arising out of the wonderful prosperity which, with only slight and temporary checks, we had enjoyed: for the last thirteen yeai's. Second.! y, the class of distributors and middlemen was far too numerous m proportion to our population, Thirdly, the extraordinary low prices which had been obtained during the last year for our chief articles of export — wool and grain. The loss to our spending power upon these two articles of export had been not less than half a million sterling. How the depredsion is to be speed ly overcome was a question of great importance to all of us. He saw no royal road by which we could be relieved from the present dullness. The only remedies were to live w«U within our mean«, lo increase as largely as possible the number of producers by settlement on the lands of a class of persons able and willing to cultivate them, by encouraging the consumption of local products nnd to tolieve m ourselves, and to resolutely set our faces against the expenditure of public moneys from revenue or loan upon purposes unnecessary or unproduciw, while at ihp same time wp steadfly push on our public works. NO NECESSITY FOX IJ.REASED TAXATION. ffad it fallen to his lot to have submitted a complete budget for the enrrent yoar, his proposals would not have necessitated his asking Parliament for any increased taxation for the purpose of currying 1 on the services of the year, as he saw his way to make both ends meet, with a fair margin for contingencies, by means of reductions under the proposals for the reform of the Civil Service which i the Government have had under consideration, by the savings which would have been effected under our hospital and charitable-aid . proposals, and by the savings upon other votes to which he. would .have asked jth.e sanction of the House. A HOPEFUL OUTLOOK. Within six months after the flail Government took office m 1879; they

had to face a deficit of one million sterling npuu the ordinai-y revenue. In ISB3 there was a surplus of £35,000, notwithstanding the large reduction of taxation which took place m 1882. Now we had to face a deficit of .£152,000. The deficit was tj be regretted, but it was certainly not a matter about which we need feel any anxiety ; it could be provided for without unduly burdening any class of the community. Moreover, our credit never stood higher than, it does m London at the preaent time. We had nothing m our present circumstances to dishearten us> ; nothing but '-'-what should nerve us to renew our cxci tions with tho certainty that great prosperity vr 11 again reward our eStorts. If the country and, Legislature are capable >. of profiting by " fhe uses of adversity," our future progress as a people ~ would than compensate m its increased stability for whatever ifc might sacrifice m swiftness.