Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit THURSDAY, JANUARY 22, 1942. THE PUBLIC ACCOUNTS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 62, Issue 86, 22 January 1942, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit THURSDAY, JANUARY 22, 1942. THE PUBLIC ACCOUNTS.

The statement of the Public Accounts for the nine months ended December 31, issued by the Minister of Finance this week, reveals a rather less satisfactory position than at the corresponding period in the previous year. It is true that the final quarter of the financial year brings about a change, for the bulk of the revenue 1 derived from taxation on incomes is received then, but comparison is enlightening. Mr Nash showed that in the pefiod reviewed the expenditure from the Consolidated Fund exceeded the revenue by £3,182,000, whereas the excess in 1940-41 was only £1,731,000, the surplus at the end of the year being £1,726,000. Thus if the present deficiency is to be made up the accounts must show a much greater gain than was the case in the previous corresponding quarter. The revenue for the nine months showed an increase of £122,000, but the expenditure increased by £1,573,000. There are several items in the revenue figures that should be pondered well in view of the developing of the war crisis. As one example, and not necessarily the most important, highways revenue is actually greater, by £85,000, than for the corresponding period last year. With the much more drastic restrictions on the sale of petrol, this cannot continue. A decrease in return from Customs is rather more than three-quarters of the fall allowed for ip the Budget for the whole year, while that in the sales tax yield is less than the same proportion of the estimated year’s reduction. Other items are up to, and even beyond, expectations. In a country supposed to be in total war it is still notable, however, that of the revenue from all sources of £45,125,000, the Consolidated Fund and Social Security Account received £30,606,000 and the War Expenditure Account £14,519,000. On the expenditure side, ordinary civil outgoings and Social Security expenditure amounted to £33,145,000, in comparison with £26,261,000 on the fighting services and war costs generally. Once again the accelerated activity caused by new war developments is likely to add heavily to the outgoings in the final quarter of the financial year. Except for that factor, the outlook would have been for a far smaller expenditure on the war effort than the Budget anticipated. The estimated total was £69,700,000 for the year, which, on a strictly proportional basis, would have meant £52,275,000 in nine months. The burdens that the development of the war situation imposes, and will continue to impose, on the community necessitate the drastic recasting of civil expenditure. The war expenditure is unavoidable, the civil expenditure can, and should, be reduced to a level that will not lead to ultimate crippling of the country economically.