X

8.—6

1891 to 1911. Since 1891 our debt has been increased from £38,830,350 to £81,078,122, but it will bj st. en that more than 86 per cent, of the increase is self-supporting :— Interest-bearing. Non-interest-bearing. Borrowed for— £ Borrowed for— £ Railways .. .. 11,022,948 Defence .. .. 1,145,727 Public buildings .. 3,440,251 Roads and bridges .. 1,765,251 Te'egraph and telephone Harbours and lightlines .. .. 662,647 J houses .. . . 89,683 Lands for settlements .. 6,303,485 ' Immigration.. . . 4,002 Advances to settlers . . 6,974,935 Tourist and hea'.th Advances to workers .. 964,765 ' resorts .. .. 131,507 Bank of New Zealand God elds and coalfields shares .. .. 500,000 development .. 416,598 New Zealand Consols .. 462,166 Scenery-preservation . . 40,000 Purchase of Native Costs of raising loans, lands .. .. 915,167 discounts, and converLoans to local bodies .. 4,557,000 sion into stock, &c. 2,049,640 State fire insurance .. 2,000 Reserve Fund securities 800,000 Total . . .. £36,605,364 Total .. .. £5,642,408 Percentage of increase that is interest- Percentage of increase that is not bearbearing, 86"7. I ing interest, 13-3. So that it will be seen that prior to 1891 49 per cent, of our debt was directly or indirectly interest-bearing, and from 1891 to 1911 the percentage of increase of the loans that were interest-bearing was 86 per cent., while prior to 18 '1 the loans that were non-interest-bearing was 51 per cent., and from 1891 to 1911 the percentage of increase of our loans that were not benring interest was only 183 per cent. These facts speak for themselves, and should be remembered by who are so ready to cry out against our financial position. The average rate of interest paid on our loans was considerably more in 1891 than it is now. On the 31st March, 1891, it was £4 10s. 3d. per £100. Since then it has dec , ' by about 17J per cent., and is now about £3 14s. €d. Taking the difference in population, the rate of interet per head on the non-interest-bearing poition of our debt is much less now than twenty years ago. That which is earning interest, it cannot be too often repeated, does not oprress the taxpayer at all. In 1891 the population of the Dominion was, exclusive of Maoris, 634,058. It is now 1,008,407, an increase of 59 per cent. The non-interest-bearing debt has, however, increased by only 12-8 per cent. In 1891 it was £19,810,350: it is now only £25,452,758. At the rate of interest paid on our loans in 1891 the annual sum to be paid on the £19,810,350 of non-interest-bearing debt would be £893,446 —that is, £1 Bs. per head of the population. At that same rate of interest the amount per head on the £25,452,758 of dead-weight debt now owing would be £1 25., but we are paying less interest now, and for the £25,452,758 non-interest-produc ; ng debt now owing the present amount of interest would be £946,842, or 18s. 7|d. per head only. If we regard the whole amount of our debt as a dead-we'ght one—that is, neither profitable nor self-supporting, as the greater portions of the national debts of many countries unfortunately are—it will be seen that it is not so onerous now as it was twenty years ago. The interest paid per head on the whole debt was, in 1891 £2 15s. 3£d. : it is now £2 10s s£d., a decrease of 8 per cent. But in 1911 only 31 per cent, of our debt can be said to be dead-weight, while in 1891 51 per cent, of t was of this nature, and the amount payable on it has fallen from £1 Bs. to 18s. 7£d. per head of the population, a decrease of 19-4 per cent.