SUPPLEMENTARY ESTIMATES

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25660, 24 November 1948, Page 6

SUPPLEMENTARY ESTIMATES

Increased Expenditure Of £6418,383 SAVINGS ON RATE OF EXCHANGE

(P.A.) WELLINGTON, Nov. 23. Savings in public accounts arising from the restoration of New Zealand currency to parity with sterling are reflected in the Supplementary Estimates, introduced in the House of Representatives to-day. Additional expenditure provided for in the Supplementary Estimates is £6,418.383, but because of savings in the main Estimates as a result of the adjustment in the rate of exchange the actual amount to be voted is £2.732,131. The Supplementary Estimates are accompanied by a statement showing the revised Budgetary position after providing for the Supplementary Estimates, savings on expenditure provided in the main Estimates, and reductions in the amounts which were provided in the main Estimates and are not now required. These details, which relate to the Consolidated Fund, are as follows: Receipts £ Budget figure .. 114,867,000 Additional revenue from income tax 500.000 Total .. 115,367,000 Less reduction in receipts consequent upon adjustment of exchange rate— Sales tax 1.250,000 Departmental receipts 250,000 Net total .. 113,867,000 Expenditure Budget figure .. 113,573,000 Add gross consolidated ex- ' pendituTe in Supplementary Estimates .. 2,366,252 Total .. 115,939,252 Less saving on expendit u r e consequent upon adjustment of exchange 1,845,950 Amounts provided in main Estimates not required .. 303,421 Total .. .. 113,789,881 The estimated surplus is now £77,119. The gross expenditure in’the Supplementary Estimates for the Consolidated Fund (with the net figure in parenthesis) amounts to £2,366,252 (£1,486,062); that for the separate accounts to £3.650.399 (£3,102.379); and that of accounts outside the Public Account to £401.732 (£164,512). The total net expenditure is £4,752,953. reducible to £2,732.131 by net savings amounting to £2,020,822. In his Budget, read on August 19, the Minister of Finance (Mr Nash) provided £1,294,000 for the Supplementary Estimates and contingencies. Christmas Island Phosphate The largest individual item in the Supplementary Estimates is in the Public Works Account, £1.500,000 for the purchase of Christmas Island prosphate rights, including assets and existing rights to mine the deposits, legal expenses, and operating capital. In the State coal mines account vote there is £823,000 for the acquisition of shares and undertakings of the Taupiri Coal Mines, Ltd. An additional £38478 is provided for the purchase of Burke’s Creek colliery and £7750 for the assets of the Pyramid Coal Mining Company, Ltd. Additional supplies of fuel oil required by the conversion of locomotives is represented by an item of £69,600 in the working railways account.

South Pacific Commission In the vote for the Department of External Affairs there is an item of £11,451, representing New Zealand’s contribution to the first annual budget of the South Pacific Commission, £6OOO being for the working capital fund and £5451 as the annual contribution.

The sum of £163 is also voted as New Zealand’s proportion of the cost of the High Commisisoner’s stall in Westminster Abbey in joint commemoration of the war dead of the Dominions. The stabilisation vote contains an item of £150,000 for subsidies on essential foodstuffs arising out of the adjustment in guaranteed prices for the current seaion. This is in addition to £3.282.000 provided in the main estimates. An additional £246.000 is provided for subsidies on transport. There is a vote of £18.700 in the estimates of the Department of Internal Affairs to cover the cost of the donation of foodstuffs for relief of Arab and Jewish refugees in Palestine. including freight.

There is a vote of £6BB. representing eix months’ salary for the manager of the Royal tour. £45,000 for Oldman Collection Tbe sum of £5OO is voted as a contribution towards the expenses of the Children’s Emergency Fund appeal, and £45,000 for the purchase, packing, and forwarding of the Oldman collection of Polynesian and Melanesian artifacts. ’

An additonal sum of £60.000 is voted for the expenses of the Royal tour, including subsidies to local authorities. A similar amotint was voted on the main Estimates.

■Hie estimates, of the Electoral Department contain a vote of £35.000 on account. for taking special polls.

In the Air Department’s vote there is £13,850 for aircraft spares. It is stated that the amount for these in the main Estimates was underestimated. There is a vote of £5500 to cover the expenses of the civil aviation mission.

There is £lOO in the estimates of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research for a grant to the Scott Polar Research Institute, which will supply the department with information in relation to auroral and other geophysical data in the Antarctic Polar region. An additional £3OO is voted to the Carter Observatory. In the education estimate there is an Item of £14.000, representing a £ for £ subsidy on donations to the Ngarimu V.C. and 28th . (Maori) Battalion Memorial Scholarship Fund.