8.—6,

Classification of Debt. £ Ordinary .. .. .. .. .. 163,676,911 War .. .. .. .. .. 67,711,800 Discharged soldiers .. .. .. .. 7,704,536 State advances .. .. .. .. 36,940,111 £276,033,358 Domicile of Debt. £ London .. .. .. .. .. 154,546,941 Australia .. .. .. .. .. 4,175,350 New Zealand.. .. .. .. .. 117,311,067 £276,033,358 Before leaving the subject of the public debt, I would like to take this opportunity of again stating that the Government fully realizes the necessity for reducing to a minimum further additions to the debt, and, as I have previously stated, the raising of loans, especially overseas, is being curtailed as much as is possible under the circumstances, having in mind the needs of the Dominion and the effect of recent economic changes. In passing I may add that the financial aspect of the various State activities is reflected in the relative departmental accounts and balance-sheets, all of which are now presented on approved commercial lines. Last year, honourable members may recollect, a preliminary State balance-sheet was prepared, showing in concise form the position of the national finances, and I am pleased to be able to announce that this year, for the first time in our history, a complete combined balance-sheet has been prepared, duly audited, and will be published in parliamentary paper 8.-] [Part IV]. UNEMPLOYMENT BELIEF. The principal problem which is engaging the earnest attention of most countries at the present time is that of providing suitable work for the large number of workers who, under existing conditions, are unable to obtain remunerative employment. The most recent statistics available in this connection indicate that the proportion of unemployed to the total population is substantially lower in New Zealand than obtains in most countries overseas, but while this is so the Government considers the matter to be of such vital import as to justify the adoption of special measures in order to meet the position. With this end in view, and in accordance with the recommendations of the Unemployment Committee which submitted its report last year, legislation was enacted whereby a Board was. set up to administer unemployment relief on a national basis. The Act, however, did not divest local authorities of any of their responsibilities in regard to unemployment in their districts, and the closest co-operation between them and the Unemployment Board is essential to the granting of relief. In terms of the Act a special fund was instituted, to comprise the net proceeds of the levy of £l 10s. per head on all males (with certain exceptions) of twenty years of age or over, together with a subsidy from the Consolidated Fund equivalent to the Board's expenditure. By this means provision was made to meet the requirements of what the Unemployment Committee estimated would be a maximum of 15,000 unemployed men. With the continued fall in the Dominion's national income, however, the number of unemployed steadily increased, and on taking office in November, 1930, the Unemployment Board was faced with the immediate necessity of providing relief, as the funds previously voted for subsidizing relief works undertaken by local authorities had by this time become exhausted. Various schemes were accordingly initiated forthwith, and these succeeded in materially relieving the position and at the same time ensured as far as possible that useful works were undertaken. In spite of all efforts, however, which

Classification of debt.

Domicile of debt,

Combined State balance-sheet.

Unemployment Relief.

Unemployment Board.

10