THE PUBLIC FINANCES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXIX, Issue 7822, 15 June 1909, Page 4

THE PUBLIC FINANCES.

[Special By Telegraph.] WELLINGTON, June 14. In the House of Representatives tonight Sir Joseph Ward,' as Minister of Finance, made a statement, showing the position of the. public accounts on the 31st of March, 1909, and the requirements to the 14th of October, 1909, and in doing so ho. said: As Parliament will shortly prorogue ? and the usual Financial Statement will not be delivered until it re-assembles* members are no doubt desirous that I should place before them an outline of the, position of the? finances of the dominion. Dealing first with the past year, the: results of which have already been made public by the publication of the public accounts in the Gazette, as required t by law, it may not be out of place to make a few comments on them tor the information of members. The revenue for the financial year was estimated at £8,985,000/ and the expenditure at' £8,878,346, , the ■ anticipated surplus, after bringing forward the balance of £767,849 from tho previous year, and transferring £800,000 to public works, was £74,503. An analysis of the figures shows the actual surplus for the year to be £184,321, or £109,818 more than anticipated. The surplus of the previous year was £767,849, but for purposes of comparison there must be taken into consideration increased expenditure, and the relinquished revenue. 1 which were foreseen and allowed for in the Budget of last year. The recurring large surplus, year after year caused the Government'to make concessions hi the" Customs and Railways, etc., ' amounting to about £600,000, and in view of those reductions, it could not' be expected that such large credit balances would continue. REVENUE FOR THE PAST YEAR. This amounted to £9,001,185, an increase of £16,185 over the estimates, the respective amounts being— Estimate, £8,985,000. Actual, £9,001,185. Excess, £16,185. Comparing the revenue with that of the previous year, there is only a difference of £54.761 on the total receipts, the figures being, 1908-9, £9,001,185. 1907-8, £9,055,946. Decrease, £54,761.: The revenue for the year exceeded the expenditure by a sum of, £215,672 made up as follows: Revenue, £9,001,185. Expenditure, £8,785,513. „ Excess revenue, £215,672. Dealing with the various heads of revenue, railways contributed £2,918,507, as against the estimate of £2,835,000, and the actual receipts of £2,765,395 in 1907,8, the receipts being better than the estimates, by £83,507, an increase on the previous year of £153,112. The railway returns keep up remarkably well, as it must be borne in mind that the reduction in fares: and freights has been set down at £160,500 per annum, Stamps last 1 year brought in £1,591;328, or £18,328 better than the estimate, and an increase of £40,394 on the previous year's receipts of £1,550,934. The returns from land and income tax j reached nearly £926,000, the exact figures being— . .;.' Land tax, '£604,901. Income tax, £321,044. v \ Total, £925,945, or £45,945 in excess of the estimate, and £83,194 better than; that of 1907-8. MISCELLANEOUS REVENUE. ' This is responsible for bettering the estimate by £25,210, the amount received being £264,210, as against the estimate of £239,000, and £45,868 in excess of the previous, year's receipts. Registration and other. fees show an increase on the estimate of £2061. Marine brought in £3815 more than anticipated. : CUSTOMS REVENUE. This, I may say, occasioned me more anxiety than any other class of revenue and did not come up to the estimate by £148,752, the total amount collected for the year being £2,801,248, as against the estimate of £2,950,000. This was due to a- large falling off in import values for the year 1909, as compared with a steady increase for some years previously, the figures for the last three years being— 1907, £15,323,127, 1908, £18,193,808 1909, £16,750,065. ; . The falling off was no 'doubt in sympathy with the decrease in the value of exports, which for the same three years were— 1907, £19,531,614, 1908, £17,868,030, 1909, £17,029,531. Another contributing factor is that owing to financial disturbances in the commercial world, New .Zealand merchants reduced their imports ai\d traded on existing stocks. Moreover, there was an abnormal increase in importations during 1908, in anticipation of the coming into operation of the extended preferential tariff, which took effect from . the 31st March of that year, and led to the accumulation of large stocks, which had to g'e cleared large stocks, which had to be cleared off. These special causes for the reduction in Customs revenue are, however, temporary. Traders are already reporting improved business, and I am of the opinion; that importations will assume much larger volume, without ' anything in the nature of over importing. I feel justified in saying this from the fact that we have had one of the best seasons known in the history of New.. Zealand. The result of this is demonstrted by reference to the exports, which for the five months ended 31st May, 1908, amounted to only £9,713,591, compared with; £10,530,163 for the corresponding period of 1909, an increase of £816,572. The decrease in duty, is mainly" apparent oil articles of general mercaridise liable to ad valorem duties. Luxuries, such as spirits, cigars* cigarettes, tobacco, wine, ale, and beer ; show little difference. There is ' another indication of a decided' improvement in the financial outlook—-tlie excess of - deposits in the Post Office 1 Savings Bank over the withdrawals for. the month of May being £64,115.: There was :a slight falling"off in the beer duty, and there was* also a drop under territorial revenue of £13,143. EXPENDITURE. Having completed the review of the revenue, the expenditure of the Consolidated Fund must bo next considered. The amount estimated for the year was- £8,878,346/ to which should be added the railway surplus revenue of £83,507, which by the Public Revenues Act is treated as.an additional appropriation. The actual expenditure was £8,785,513, or a saving on the votes of £176,340,' the utmost economy having been exercised during the year in order to keep the' expenditure within the votes. Had it-not been for the surplus of railway revenue, the unexpended appropriations would have been £92,833. The expenditure was as follows: Amount estimated permanent charges ... >...'£3,210,343 Anmial appropriations. ... , 5,668,003 Additional appropriations for railways ... ••• 83,507 • £8,961,853 Amount expended— . ' 001A n Qn Permanent charges ••• ?>?l2'?qq i Annual appropriations ■■■.. 5,575,48 d j . £8,785,513 Savings on appropriations £176,340 The general result of , the year's finance may be summarised'as follows: Balance brought forward, _ April Ist, 1909 .., £767,849 Receipts during year— , Revenue ••■ 9 'ool'^ Other receipts ... ••• JUU Total - £9,001,985 Expenditure during year— . Appropriations ... .... ±.8,/»o,oid Excess of receipts over ex- . pendituro ... ••• 216 '472 Total balance ' ■'■■ 984,321 Transfer to Public Works Fund ••• 800,000 Balance March 31, 1909...' £184,321 PUBLIC WORKS. During tho year the sum of £2,169,278 has been expended on public works, as again^ £1,881,564 spent in tho,previous year.l > The principal items' of expenditure ■

I were as follows : Railway construction ... .... £713)^ Addition to open lines; ... 390,000 Roads ... ... ' 469,000 Public buildings 285,000 Telegraph extension ... ... 163,000 The position of the Public Works Fund on March 31st was as follows : £ Balance from last year ... 152,563 j Receipts loan money (including premium) 1^604,094 Transfer from revenue ... 800,000 Other receipts 1,610 £2,558,267 Expenditure under appro- . ; ■ priatioris, etc. ... ... ... 2,169,278 Other-charges ... ...... 5,080 . ■ ..- , . £2,174,558: Balance at March 31st, 1909 £383,709 Balance of loan money to receive ... ... 50,000 Available public works moneys to start the. current year with 433,709 LAND FOR SETTLEMENTS. During the year, £372,245 has been spent in the acquirement of estates. There were outstanding on the 31st March last, available for borrowing, the sum of £416,650. which, with the £500,000 authorised for this year, gives us power to raise £916,650 for the ac-; quiremenfc of land for settlements if necessary. ADVANCES TO SETTLERS AND j WORKERS. Over £5,000,000 has been raised bw the Government for' investment on mortgage to 31st March, 1909, for advances to settlers, and nearly £500,000 for advances to.workers. There is still authority to raise on behalf of tlio advances to settlers £841.200, being the balance of the six millions authorised by the / rt. which, with the annual repayments from mortgagors, will enable the Department to make further advances during the present year to the extent of £1,500,000. There is also authority under' the -Act to borrow £500,000 for advances to workers.during the current financial year, and this 1 pronose to do. lam sure it will both help the workers to get homes for themselves and give a considerable amount of employment in the building trade throughout the dominion. PROVISION FOR THE RECESS. The Public Revenues Act provides] for carrying on to 30th June. After j that date no payments can be made for any service till further provision is: made: It is, therefore, necessary to provide for the carrying on of the public services till Parliament meets again, and I propose to ask the House to extend the provision of the Public Revenues Act to the 14th October next. The Act contains the safeguard that no payment shall-be made for any service other than' those for which provision was made in the respective Ap-1 propriation Acts and Estimates of the preceding year, or in excess of the scale therein set forth. Authority to increase the amount to be spent under the head of unauthorised expenditure will also be asked for, as it has been found that with the restrictive pro-< yisions^of the Act the amount allowed is insufficient. All such expenditure, j as well as that under the extended appropriations, is required by law to be included in the Estimates laid before Parliament in the next sesson. I estimate the cash issues out of the ordinary revenue account for the period Ist April to 14th October at £4,600,000. To meet this I anticipate revenue receipts to the amount of £3,900,000. In so estimating I feel it desirable to' keep on the safe side, which, with the cash balance to credit on the Ist April, 1909 (£387,163), will give a total available ways and means of £4,284,000,,0r £312,837 less than I estimate . the expenditure ■> for that period. This will be met by the temporary issue of Treasury bills, which I hope to pay off before the end_ of the financial year as the incoming revenue will.' permit, the largest portion of which comes in during the last six months of the year. The reductions in the public expenditure to the amount.of about £250,000 per annum should assist to ensure an equilibrium between the expenditure- and revenue, and I.hope that the present reduction of revenue will be fully provided for. As to the Public Works Fund, the balance on 31st March, 1909, including advances in hands of Government officers and loan money to be received, was £433,709, an amount insufficient to carry on our publio works heyond the present month. I therefore propose to ask Parliament for an authority to raise £1,250,000 TO BE-EXPENDED IN REPRODUCTIVE WORKS. This will enable the Government to provide employment over the winter to those men at present out of work who are willing to accept it. To enable the equipment of our lines of railway to \k\ more efficient, £250,000 is included in the £1,250,000 proposed loan, as the increasing calls for further rolling stock and, equipping of lines requires this amount. I am also including in the amount of loan asjked for a sum of £100,000 to be expended in the purchase of native lands, as it is desirable in the interests of, the people to secure these lands. ' The funds for duplication of lines are practically exhausted, and as it is desirable to push on with the necessary works already authorised, additional borrowing power of £75,000 will bo asked for. So' far as the other separate accounts are concerned, there are sufficient ways and means to carry on with.