The Financial Statement.

Bruce Herald, Volume VIII, Issue 701, 18 May 1875, Page 7

The Financial Statement.

(From the • Star.') The statement the Provincial Treasurer had to lay before the Council was not unnaturally an object of congratulation to him. It has very seldom been the case that a Treasurer, in the face of so severe a blow to his schemes as the refusal of a large loan, could mee'. U Council with so creditable a balance. Making every allowance for the revenue derived from sales of Crown lands, which cannot be expected to again occur on so large a scale, the present financial position of the Province is extremely satisfactory. The Treasury had to meet large payments for branch railways, the contracts for which had been left r ,for cash payments against the will of the Council. £-i : - . JJS has been actually paid on thbao contracts during the past year, leaving a liability to be partially or solely met during the present year of £118,174;. In some particulars the last appropriations have not been nearly expended ; but, taken altogether, the sum expended shows that a very creditable amount of public works has been initiated. In bridges alone £23,812 has been spent while this sum does not by any means show the amount of work undertaken under this head, liabilities for which exist covering contracts in hand. £42,818 has been expended in works and buildings, which includes, it will be seen, £20,001 devoted to school buildings. This item for school buildings is threatening to increase to an alarming extent. Old buildings that were erected many years ago are requiring substantial renewal. It is not at all clear, whatever can be done by ratiDg for maintenance, that there is any hope in that way of finding sufficient money for the buildings that are necessary, when we consider the present faulty state of the schools, and the immense increase in population to be expected during the next five years. The revenue from the proposed educational endowment cannot for seven or eight years much exceed £6000. Tbedifficultymusthavebeentakeninto consideration, as we find in the proposed appropriations for the service of the year only £10,000 is to be asked for new buildings. The Education Ordinance to be brought down will probably throw a little more light upon the subject. The ordinary revenue, including railway receipts, is over £200,000. The great swelling of receipts has arisen, as the Treasurer remarked, from the sale of land in Southland, the realisation on which reached the high figure of £143,218, and, taken together with similar sales in Otago proper, the big total of £235,696. Ie is anticipated that the receipts this year from this source will be £150,000, which appears to be a reasonable estimate enough, considering the large area set apart as Hundred?, The assessments on stock, as usual, bring in a good round sum, £61,245 having been realised. £62,073 is placed to the credit of the Province, being realisation on loans, capitation allowance, Bubsidy to Eoad Boards, and other small items, including a curious item — " refund re Sullivan," £92. The appropriations asked for amount to the large sum of £741,593, against estimated receipts, £565,326. It was, however, pointed out that it is anticipated to balance the receipts and expenditure, as the large sum put down for railways cannot be all expended during the financial year, although liabilities to the amount stated exist. The path of progress, as it is called, can be kept up by the Province, under the present system, for some years longer; But whether the Treasurer is correct in believing that if Otago were free to work on its own resources, such progress could be steadily forwarded as well ac permanent, we take leave to doubt. Very much the same might have been said in the sister Couucil of Canterbury last year, yet the account the Canterbury Treasurer had to explain the other day cannot bo said to be at all in keeping with such a prediction. True, the unhampered state which is said to be the only essential need to render Provincial G-overnment successful as well as lasting, does not exist ; but it is hard to believe that this sighcdfor freedom would not bring bonds ; of its own equally as galling a a those at present suffered under. It is again intended to apply for an Otago loan, and the Provincial Secretary appears to be sanguine aa to the result. Unless this is obtained, it is wisely determined to forego large works other than those now in hand. It ia judged truly that the feeling of the Council will not tolerate any measures being proposed which would in any way lead to or necessitate the sacrifice of the pastoral lands. The ordinary appropriations appear to be, on the whole, fairly distributed. Evidently care is needed to see that the districts, that are furnishing the revenue by the sale of their lands should be well opened up. This is a point Southland saembera will not be backward in urging. On the whole, the Treasurer's statement is aa satisfactory aa could be expected by fcbe strangest believers in Provincialiata ; and it is a fair matter of congratulation to even extreme Centralists who can see that the evils, so far as Otago is eon- ■ cerned, of the present system are not so> great at present as they have perhaps feared.