POINTS FROM BUDGET.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 174, 25 July 1930, Page 8

POINTS FROM BUDGET.

SMALL SURPLUS ESTIMATED. PUBLIC WORKS COST EIGHT MILLIONS. WAR DEBT REDUCED 15 PER CENT. The" surplus last year was £148,979; the estimated ' surplus this year is £246,000. Revenue last year, £25,349,861; estimated revenue this year, £25,120,000. Expenditure last year, £25,200,882; estimate for this year, £24,874,000._ Imports declined in value by over £8,000,000; while exports increased by over £41,000,000. Public works cost £8,081,818 last year; including £3,315,612 for railway construction and £2,288,217 for roads. The public debt on March 31,1930 was £267,383,343, or £3,191,360 more than a year ago. The war debt lias been reduced by 13£ millions, or 15 per cent in the last eight years. Latest statistics show that the proportion of unemployed to the total population is one in 38 for Great Britain and Northern Ireland, one in 102 for the Commonwealth of Australia, whereas in New Zealand the proportion is one in 476. , Unemployment relief cost the Government £802,710 in 1928-29, and £1,415,592 last year. Except the railways, all the Government trading departments made a profit hist year. The railways lost £1,211,269, even after £8,100,000 had been written off capital. ■ Education costs more, than 4 J millions a year. The publie subscribed more than £147;0Q0-to the Earthquake Relief Fund.