The Press. THURSDAY, MAY 1, 1879.

Press, Volume XXXI, Issue 4291, 1 May 1879, Page 2

The Press. THURSDAY, MAY 1, 1879.

It is evident, and indeed it ie acknowledged on all hands, that there will be a; large * deficiency iii" the . ordinary Tevenue of v the ,for , the .present financial year. What the tlefieiency will amount to is. variously estlmatdd at: ironi i£3oo>©6oio This-exceedingly unsatisfactory prospect is occupying a large share of attention at the present ■moment. But thejfull meaning of the fact, is «videntljr M not; realised ja »**»y quarters. Much ieeaid and written npoh : tho meaner in which this deficiency must ibe made np, but it is apparently altogether forgotten that, the falling off of the revenue will veiry eerionsly affect the new PubHe Worka Jolieyj adopted during j las, t session. V'v<'>(-- '<■;';-\ w ■•:.'; ■ rI Wβ will briefly State what that policy < was, in order that bur readers may realise how completely it has broken.. down on ithe very first trial. The great principle which it involved: was the' appropriation, of a certain portion, of. the land fund for railway construction. The success of Mr. MacandreWs great scheme depended upon receiving ,a.certain .sum annually from that source in afd of tire Public Works v Fnnd. 3 . He and s obtained," credit for the adoption of anew principle in railway construction, which was to increase enormously theprodactiTe power, of the <solony;"and, which was v |o. double our industrial population daring the next few years. Indeed; so confident was he that this' source of revenue would be more than realised, that ho. took pains to show to the House that his computatioc|was an exceedingly moderate bnei and that he would not have been beyond the" mark in'"" .estimating a very much larger revenue than he had frotn the Grown lands which wonld fee affected by his proposed lines. On the strength of these anticipations he unfolded his -scheme "to the House; which- was to spend eight and a half millions during" the' next : five years on raUway; construction.. Towards that sum £2,000,000 of the '■ loan authorised during' the previous session remained available. Hβ Calculated on receiving £3,500,000 from ordinary revenue, leaving £3,000,000; more to be raised by ft urth'er ; hot- \ rowing. But it i& with the present/ financial period that we have to deafcin; this article. By the Public Works; Appropriation Act of last session votektos the amount of £2,910,921 were takenfor! public works- and immigration. sources from which."the necessary funds' were to be derived were as follows:—; Balance of the proceeds of the Immigration and Public Works, loan, .1870, £2200 j New Zealand loan, 1877, £2,200,000; advances in the hands of officers of the Government in the colony and in England, £156,260; recoverable from the Consolidated Fund, £54,791; lees cash issued out of proceeds of drafts drawn on Crown Agent, in anticipation of raising loan of 1877, £356,311;; leaving a total sum from this source of ■ £2,056,940. To this'has to be added £100,000, the surplus revenue of 187 7-; 78 carried to the public works account, making a grand total of £2,156,940. But we have seen that £2,910,921 were voted. There was, therefore, the sum of £'753,981 of additional ways and means, required to -make up the amount. This is the sum wliich'MEr. Macahdrew calculated upon receiving, from the Consolidated Fund. But if. is not forthcoming. Not only will 3the ( Colonial Treasurer not be able to provide any such sum &a £753,000, lie will have to confess to a deficiency in .~.tua" own estimate of nearly half that amount. .' si !

This/Very-great falling off in mate of ways and means janst ;■ bring about one of f two results. '■ Mr. Macandrew must have very largely curtailed his expenditure' npdn. public works in different parts of the colony, or he most hare incurred liabilities consMerfcfely in excess of Es''means' of' .Rroxqt s return"puWShed in:?ite; Gazette we find -thai «]3 to the end of March there had been an expenditure of

£980,878. What the liabilities were on that date »c not of course sUted. But assuming that for once Mr. Macandww has resolved to keep within his means, and that on June 30th it ie found that the expenditore and liabilities do not exceed the £2,156,940 actually available, what has he been enabled to do ? He haa Bad the power of doing the very thing which the House refused to permit on a mnch. larger scale in the Railways Construction BilL He has had the power of making his own selection of the works to be undertaken. Included in the list of ~ railways authorised last session were several whose ment wasmnderttood to depend upon the surplus funds being available. As it "■tarns oß'ffiere is not a pennyin hand tor their construction. There will be no surplus revenue whatever, yet a number of first sods have been turned amd the works. so far - proceeded witjh, aejractlcally to commit the colony to their completion. How far Ministers have succeeded in thuffiavoring one er-more parts of the colony to the disadvantage of the remainder it is difficult at present to deI teraine. Op iSfarch 31st T the expenditure j from the Publi^i Works Fund, under the different headings, was as follows:— - . i Appropriated"; Expended i tor year, to March 31. Immigration ' 175.65S ~. 110,728 Public Worksdept....- 17,611.,,... 12,087 Railways ■•:.■.-, 1,703,500 ... 458,608 SurvßjSi sew Urietf..: 20,500 ... ,10,408 Roads * ... .. 107,613 ... 31,987; Land Purchase :.. 150,918 ... 61,890 Water races 59,350 :■■.:.- 9.872 Telea&phoxtension.Tr ( ;36,700 ... 18,983, Public biiiiaings '..". 254,720 .:. 109.666 Lighthouses 19,600 ... 6,838 Miscellaneous ''■- '■■ -i.i- 334,756 "i.'j. 95,497 Charges and expenses -.30,000 ... 45,741

Services^not provided for. ... ~! c, <,».,| , Sale of allotmento, transferred • *.. !: 4p,

... ..„.._-, ; From the' above figures it wonM'appear that at tJie end of last quarter there remained unexpended, "out :of theiayaiJaWe money at the disposal of the the earn of and, out of the amount voted, £1,930,043. How,; the I likely at ; the close of financial-year on June SO&it is of course 'impossible to predict. '•' iln. ..an article on this subject, the- Auckland Her/ild—a :-- r journal 'always -friendly towards Ministers — say*:—" Making •' bierya&ioir&rice fob works which have ''been delayed by the prudence of Go- " vernment, -we believe it will , be found " that the colony has been -pledged to \' which cannot be executed for the «ram : of "£2,224,000, which alone was f available, out,of loans or otherwise in f , "July last for their constrt(c"tion'.' ; ; V deed when we recollect the unfortunate J' tendency whjph ; ali ? jarge haye f' to' "outrun 5 tlie cost previously '/esti.- ---!' mated, when put to the test of actual. I , execution,. ; we «shall not. be all {' sorprisedto find that we are commitfedf' to an expenditure On pnblitf works ?' quite Jbalfa imillion in advance of .the f' funds. provjded ,for~"their jWe are not |dispdsed to r Ake sncn" an| extreme view as oar' contemporary/has done of the ; action of; the. Minister for Public Works! HeJßias, we are sure, long ago discovered that hia ■. scheme of, last session 4S. entirely. in' the ol hkli encjeesdil and, >b| is e nl, idoubt anxious T to jaye ,his ,reputation as jfar as he can by 1 meeting the-House with an unexpended balance in hand. It was ppmtoOL out at -tko iunia wn.n the height of folly to depend upon receiving such an enormous sum as '£2,000,000 from land sales during the" present year. ißnt Mr. Macandrew "was confident. that his calculations were sound, and his'aßtticipations .reasonable. Hβ ; framed his .proposals accordingly. The inevitable iresnltilias of= course come,: about. - The \ J scheme, which was to dti such : ■wonders for the colony, and upon,-which; ; Ministers bo largely rested; their claim to the I confidence of the Hoise and the country, / jhas utterly broken down, and Government will have to meet Parliament with; the humiliating confession tnafr their public T [works scheme has . been as great 'ar jfailure>as' their Native policyl.or-their; jfinancial proposals. ' :;;; r ..-;;■";. ;.„;