The Press. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 1889.

Press, Volume XLVI, Issue 7346, 26 June 1889, Page 4

The Press. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 1889.

It will be conceded on all sides that the'

Financial Statement made last night was delivered under Very different circumstances to those under which it was brought down a year ago. When Sir Harry Atkinson made his Statement iv May last, we were only beginning to see a glimmer of light breaking through the heavy cloud of depression which wae hanging heavily over the* colony. After taking the most, cheerfulview he could venture to express of our future prospects, the Treasurer concluded his Statement last year in 'the following language-^ , *I have laid before the Committee the material facts relating to the financial position of the colony as clearly, as fully, and as fairly as I could. If the task has not been the pleasant one it .would have been if, instead of providing for a deficit, we had to dispose of a handsome surplus, we have the satisfaction of knowing that a searching examination of the colony's accounts reveals nothing to make us doubt for a moment its financial soundness ; just as I believe, a similar examination of the material circumstances: of the colony would, in spite of adverse facts, show beyond doubt its substantial prosperity. ,. This year the Treasurer' j has td tell a very different tate He has the experience, unusual forborne years pasty of having to i announce a; surplus. That surplus, be admits, is not large, but it is a surplus, and what; is more it is a sound one, the result, to a large extent, of painstaking and prudent economy. Simultaneously with this agreeable state of things he is able to point to the evidences of a general revival in trade and enter-, prise throughout the colony. Our foreign trade ia expanding, our industries are being pushed forward with' vigor, and the work of colonisation, in the shape of land settlement, is expanding. It is a significant fact, that more settlement has taken place upon the Crown lands of bona fide settlers- in the past twelve months than during any eimilar period since 1881. The figures quotedi

b 7 mc Oolonial I' courae of hie Staten^r? ,, *» tB I' furnish general I' in nearly every branch of foS*? I ** W cannot fail to produce a mS?'** X effect in raising the P in England and elsewhere. **S Turning to the details of th «, ! nient before ua, it i 8 ne I - deal at length with the I 'I reference to the results < year. The information tamed has been to a large exit *"• ~ s cipated by the speeches of S and the special news supplied!?** " correspondent at Wellington %* * time to time. It W jif l! «om V that notwithstanding the special fl > * made last session to reduce tK* , I penditure, the amount voted hut* ' considerably more than the arZ ' peuditure. In other w O rf? *' Government have not reefed isfied with effecting the **" nomies they promised «, f 8 " ! ■ year's Budget; for their exjanaiS has been over £100,000 le&s th» amount authorised by Par^* , They have continued throughout? year to keep carefully i Q mind the fe! that the policy of the of economy and retrenchment S : have eeized every available opporleS \ of giving effect to that J&*s revenue, on the other head, t I not quite come up to the atnoitS I culated on, there being * estimates and the actual receiota. tK > principal falling off being inCuetom. 6 This id not at all surpriS* tT t? Treasurer points out, owing to the e? * : ' ceeding difficulty of forming an aocursb f estimate of the probable results of th V new tariff adopted last year p satisfactory fact, however, is tUuh<»! was an actual surplua of £77 B the close of the year, With tIS * surplua the colony has been, able to give effect to the determination at last session of paying off a part S the defioit of the two previous1 yesa £50,000 being appropriated to2| purpose. AsregardethePubU&lTfflb Fund, it will be seen that theexpS ture out of loan for the last jwfeM \ been largely curtailed, t the annual outlay for many yean dja viouely. The balanoe of loan araei '■ still available is nearly a niiUioa and a-half. The proposed expenditure under this head will, we tnwt, ]» \ watched with jealous oare, andtk I appropriations co arranged as wIS ' leave no excuse for any Governmsa I which may be in power three or fait t years hence proposing further hx- Irowing. I So much for the past. Aβ regard [ the future, the Treasurer estimates the - ordinary revenue, excluding the UxA fund, which belOngetoaseparateaccmnA at £4.187,800, aud the expenditure «S £4,117,331, showing an estimated ? balance at the end of the yeaioj £70,469. To this has to ba addd ■ £27,769, the balance left of thiayeiA [ surplus, after paying off £50,000 -0! | the previous year's deficit, makicg t' total estimated surplus at the end U I March next of £98,238. Outof tbisttg 1 proposed to pay £55,000 of the flu& [, ing debt. That floating debt, it uffl J,, be remembered, amounted to f so that in the two years it will hate \ been reduced by £105,000. m m I important announcement iatiieStsts. ! ment ia -'that^^which' 1 '^ I ' , .. rence to the property tax, km • readers are aware, this tas has tea s the subject of a great,deal & \ diacussion during the recess, and '" opinions have been expressed a? to its f burdensome nature. No practical pra- |' posals, however, have yet beea«& [ T mitted v fpr doing away with,it. % p adopt a land iaix would be to L , of the frying pah into tbe fire, as far M | \ the effect upon the good name of tte j ' colony is concerned. Not only | l such a change frighten settlers IfOa % our shores, the tax itself, as e> % of revenue, would be totally inadepiS* | to our requirements, to say nothing & | the circumstance that it would inffis I an intolerable * burden upon the | great producing industry of <b [ colony. Anything, however, wb© | can make the. property tax mm L tolerable %o the taxpayers will Sβ f welcome, and the proposal to allow 4 ■ properties toeing re-valued withoaS , awaiting, the triennial period appeM* ; to us td meet one of the great obj^ , tipne taken to the tax. The aonoua# |, ment that it is intended to exempt aH t machi6fery, too, will, no \, agreealte news to all thoae/wlwiert *- invested large sums of money | facturing aad ; other industrial , prises. t> On the whole, the PinancM Stajfr- p ment should received tftfOßg&os* « s tbe colony with approval. Tbehopaa ■ tone which pervades it is folly jtxstlSf« r by the facts, while the spirit* of «# \ reliance and abstention from bowff* j. ing enunciated in it should rally row I the Government all that section of tw f House which believes in the inspect | tive necessity of eetabliahing the futoi* | progress and prosperity of the co&ajf | on a sure and lasting basis. >' It