THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 244, 8 July 1908, Page 6

THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

The results for the past year were published in the Gazette in due course, but the Budget deals more fully with the matter, The first, point that strikes one is that tha revenue was underestimated by £855,946,. or over 10 per cent. This has been a chronic feature of the financing of the Continuous Liberal Government, and it is one of the evils that the country scorns inolined to overlook. Before proceeding 'further the country's 'balancesheet for the year endad March 31 last may be briefly summarised: — Receipts— Bevonuc £9,055,946 Recoveries ... ... 8,043 Brought forward ... 717,825 £9,781,814 Expenditure— Permanent £3,128,621 1 Departmental ... 5,085,344 Transfer to P.W. Fund 800,000 / 9,013,965 Surplus ... ... 767,849 £9,781,814 The revenue for the past year was tho highest on record, and so was the expenditure, and while the revonuo may easily and is likely to decline in the current year,-it is "not possible to quickly curtail' expenditure, and it is the steady expansion of the cost of government that is tL. most alarming feature of Liberal finance. If we take two separate poriods it will be seen that wo are fully justified ir directing special attention to this adverse feature, of our finance. The figures are as under:— '' '

Departmental Expenditure. - Year. ~ £. Year. £ 1 1593 2,133,021 ... 1903 3,634,599 '. 1894' 2,147,598 ... 1004 3,820,364 " ,1895 9,189,710 ..." 1905 3,984,030 1896 2,297,307 ... 1906 4,252,233 * 1897 2,411,553 1907 4,736,806 ■1898 2,490,155 ... 1908 5,085,343 Ic will ba the, above that while in the five years ending March 31, 1898, the departmental expenditure increased by £357,134, or an average of £71,427, the increase in the five yoars ending March 31, 1908, amounted' to the enormous sum of £i,450,744, or an average of £290,149. The average is more than four times as much as in tho first lustrum, and the'increase of 1908 over 1907 is £348,537, or r noarly as much as 'the total increase in tho' fivo years 1893-98.' It is moving by leaps and bounds, and this in face of the fact that the trade returns are adverse. •

The Public Works Fund -for the past year shows that the expenditure amounted to £1,886,591. This was somewhat smaller than in the previous year, but. in the current year, whiolr happens, to, bo the year of the general election, leeway is to be made tip. The abnormal growth of the public works expenditure,' adopting the same comparison as in the previous table, is as under.: —

Public Works Expenditure. Year. £ _ Year. £ 18i»J 472,492 ... 1903 1,679,384 1894 409,425 ... 1904 1,533,129 1895 359,787 ... 1905 1,208,932 1896. 420,793 ... 190G 1,722,590 1897 427,985 ... 1907 2,040,165 : 1898- 864,368 ... 1908 1,886,591 In the six years 1893-98 inclusive the average annual expenditure was. £492,476, while in the six years 1903-8, tke average was £1,078,465, and it is doubtful whether New Zealand is ■ getting value for tho money.- At the close of the financial year the Public Works Fund was in credit £152,563, and it is proposed to transfer from.tne Consolidated Fund £800,000, and to'raise a loan of £1,250,000; these sums with.£2oo,ooo from the Post Office Savings Bank authorised last year, and £191,800 balance of last year's loan money, make tho total available for this fund £2,441,800. It is proposed to • spend during the year the round sum' of £2,350,000, of which £1,000,000 is to: bo spent on railways, and £600,000 on roads and bridges. Tho expenditure on,roads during tho past financial year waß - tho modest sum-of £323,717. . The Liberal administration has been piling up expenditure, and has been assisted by ; an abounding revenue, but while tho revenue may- very easily shrink the public debt remains, and the people of New Zealand must pay the interest. The net public.debt on March.3l last was the magnificent sum of £63,524,961, and the interest a,nd sinking fund paid last year was £2,187,419, equal to more than £2 per head of tho entire population. Tho pace at which the public debt is mounting up now as compared with a few years back will be seen in the table appended: Net Public Debt. Year. £ . Year. £ 1893 38,144,070 ... 1903 53,585;780 1894 38,874,491 ... 1904 55,064,328 1895 39,635,032 ... 1905 57,403,632 1896 42,271,889 ... 1906 59,670,471 1897 43,552,324 ... 1907 62,699,151 1898 44,081,521 ... 1908 63,524,961 In the five years 1893-98, tho debt was increased by £5,937,451, or at an average of £1,187,490 per annum; in the, live years 1903-8, the increase was £9,939,181, or an average of £1,987,836 a year.