REVENUE RETURNS.

Press, Volume XLVII, Issue 7526, 16 April 1890, Page 3

REVENUE RETURNS.

[PRBS3 ASSOCIATION TKLEGKAM.J

WELLINGTON, March 31. The Bailway revenue.has come in weland will exceed the Commissioners' anticipations of profit by ,£30,000 beyond the estimate. All other branches except the Customs are expected to be well up to the mark. The property tax slightly exceeds the estimate. ..--..

[7SOK OV& COKKE3FONDSKT.]

WELLINGTON, April 1. .The complete returns of the colonial revenue and expenditure for the financial year, which ended on Monday night, March 31st, will not, of course, be available .for some little time, and may possibly not be disclosed until the Budget is delivered. Although, However, it will not be known at present how the year's expenditure nas turned out, some approximate information is accessible with regard to the revenue. First as to the Cnstoms, the heaviest item of all. The sharp recovery of February, when .£143,030, or .£14,000 in excess of the average monthly estimate, was collected in the short month of twenty-«ight days was unfortunately not: maintained in March, the thirty-one days only yielding £123,589. or nearly .£20,000 less than in the twenty-eight days of February, and aboutJJ6ooo under the estimated monthly average- In consequence of the smallness o f the March figures the total receipts for the year only readied £1,500,027* As the Budget estimate was .£1,550,000, the actual receipts are je49,973 short. jSrea ft fortnight ago it was confidently,

expected that the March <*orttow*| ould I realise over £14O,O0& and that the a shortcoming would-therefore be only about £30,000. The poos result of March M**"* the consequent shortcoming of jtrafc' upon £50,000 for the year has excited considerable surprise, and cannot be fully explained until the detailed accounts tome to hand. A very different report has to be made of the railway revenue. It.' will be remembered that the January receipts exceeded £100,003 forthe four week%i»he beat four-weekly earning hitherto achieved by the New Zealand railways. February shows results very nearly as good. The returns are not yet finally made up/but the receipts are known to amount approximately to £93,000, which ifl some £15,000 more than the receipts for. the..corresponding period of last yearv,; It is roughly calculated that the thirty days, March Ist to March 31st, will bring in fully another .£100,000,' and that tbe total railway revenue for tfeie year trill probably b* £50,000 to £53,000* ,^'%&$$&}j£ f &* e estimate, this more than cdunier-oalancing the shortcoming in the Customs. Another balance to the good is shown by the beer duty 0 which has reached £55,960 for the year,, or nearly £6000 in exces3 of the estimate. Yet another favourable report has to be made. It will be recollected that some weeks back-1 mentioned the probability of a considerable deficiency in respect of the. property tax, owing to various causes then fully explained. Fortunately, other causes have operated to counteract these unfavorable influences, and, contrary to the official expectations of an earlier period of the year, the property tax has fully realised the estimate—in fact, has slightly exceeded it. This satisfactory result is mainly due to the fact that the collection 'of the tax has been complete. On no previous occasion were the outstanding arrears so small as they are this year, and in several cases the proceedings taken, were met by a surprisingly prompt and complete cashing up: So far as can at present-be ascertained, the Stamp revenue (including Postal and Telegraphic) has come in very fairly, and mostother itemsof revenue appear to be well up to the mark.. The expenditure is understood to have been kept strictly within the estimates,' but it does not seem likely that such large savings can have been effected as in the previous year. On the working railways, for instance, the large additional receipts were necessarily earned at the cost of somewhat enhanced working expenses, but the ratio of expenditure to revenue is two and a half per cent, smaller than last year and so the nett profit is proportionately better. The net profit made on the railways for the past year is estimated at nearly, if not quite, £400,000, which is equivalent to very little short of three per cent, interest on the cost of the working lines. It is still hoped that the surplus on the past year's transactions will prove to be from £80,000 to £100,000. WELLINGTON, April 14. It may be, possibly, some days yet before the accounts for the past financial year are finally made up and the exact results of tne year's operations authoritatively known. It is practically certain, however, that when the figures shall be made public they will show a clear and undisputable surplus of revenue over expenditure for the . financial" year amounting to £116,000.