A RECORD YEAR.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 100, 26 April 1912, Page 8

A RECORD YEAR.

SURPLUS OVER £800,000-

DOMINION FINANCE NEVTIR

AND A BRIGHT FUTURE.

" "er.il important items or poli'-y were louche.l upon last nig-in by the Premier (the Hon. Tho=. Mackenzie, in the course of his speech at the reception to tho Hon. A. .M. Myers, in the Town Hall. Speaking of the I'hil MTvice. the Premier s.iid our system of promotion In' seniority was wrong, and would never do in a progressive country. They must be able to pick their best men and pay them well to retain the best brains in the country. lie did not refer to a Civil Service Board. That was mere patchwork— putting a mended lid on a cracked pot. The desire of the Government was to modernise the service, and they must be able to pick the best men without ■being accused of using political influence. The Auckland province, said the Minister, was a most important one, and he knew uf none other with greater potentiali'A .-. or where so much -could be done to improve the lands of the province. ■\Vh.il Auckland needed most was closer land lenient. The Agricultural Department were now in a fair way to solve what was known as hush sickness among stock, and if that were so it would relieve no less than a million acres in the province. With regard to the gum lands, the Department had demonstrated that! leguminous plants were suitable lor them, and it was quite possible to carry on big industries on these lands. If the experiments -were successful it was his intention to have large areas prepared for settlement. The experiments with fruit at Waerenga and trial shipments ■proved that, there was a Ten. future for this country in that direction. As another instance of -what the Government had done, the Prime Minister spoke of the big drainage works in progress at the Hatiraki Plains. Turning to finance. Mr. Mackenzie said he was glad to be able to tell the people that it had been a record year. The total revenue had been £10,970,000, 'being an increase of £729,000 over that of the previous year. If they added the revenue from the national endowment it would brinjr the total revenue to £11,061.160. The expenditure for the same period was £10.340,000, leaving a net surplus of £807.095, which was available over and above the expenditure to transfer to other accounts. He might tell them that last year £500.000 surplus from revenue was placed to the credit of the Public Wcrks account. The increases from -various sources —

1311-12. Increase. £ £ Ordinary revenue — Customs 3,279,012 251.153 Stamps (Stamp Dement) rH3,ISS 123,340 Stamps (Postal! 857,119 40.SH Post and Telegraph. cash receipts 232.653 1!1,42S Land tax 617,013 l>i,a)2 Income tax 445.D;-T) 41.700 Beer duty . ;.... 119.131 1,031 Railways 0,-600,ti18 ISI.SSS Registration and other fees - 10S.-!!>r. 5.469 ■Marine „ 4S:SS2 2,35 a ITiscetlaneous , 371.SSS 44,745 Territorial revenue— Cash land sales 65,930 2.041 Deferred payment sales 36S *611 Pastoral rents, ere lS2.!ivi »7.«i7i Total increase — 737.299 Less deficiency - S/JB2 Totals £10,070,179 i 729,017 i * Deficiency. The only deficiency, it -svould be noted, was in territorial revenue, -winch was short by £?i£2. He gave these figures so tiat the people might be satisfied of the splendid position the country was in. (For the information of those who criticised the finances of the country, he *«>u]d state that at tie present time we ■were obtaining from Government investments a sum of money in excess of all they -were required to pay on their borrowed money, whether in New Zealand or abroad., and were in addition carrying on the development of this grea.t -country. (Cheers.) That, he felt sure they would all admit, was a subject of great gratification. Not only was that so. but within the last few years they had, out of revenue, -wiped oat £700.000 worth of deficiency bills, and the sum of £8.000,000 had 'been transferred from srrrplus revenue to Public Works account. If they had borrowed this sum, it would have meant paying £2,000,000 in interest. There was no country under God's sun which occupied such a. strong position as New Zealand. They w-ouia hear alarmists pointing out the fart that there was too dose a balance between imports and exports. He would admit it was close, but it was unjustifiable to say that it indicated an unhealthy condition. They must also take into account the internal wealth as well as the exports. In a period of 20 years there had been an excess of exports over imports of £61,500,000, but in addition to that the internal -wealth had increased £210.000.000. He quoted these figures to give the people hope and confidence in their own country, than which there •was none more God-gifted. With regard to the future they -were never more assured, with the exception of. perhaps, dairy produce, and he looked forward with confidence. (Cheers.)