The Dominion. MONDAY, MAY 1, 1933. A PLEASANT SURPRISE

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 183, 1 May 1933, Page 8

The Dominion. MONDAY, MAY 1, 1933. A PLEASANT SURPRISE

Mr. Coates's announcement that the to balance the Budget comes as a very pleasant surprise Rig control of expenditure and an unexpected upward movement revenue returns have contributed to this satisfactory result. The MinSeJ of Finance and the country are to be congratulated on the outcome. At the beginning of the financial the G ment had to deal with a prospective deficit of welll over£B m The problem was to reduce this to manageable proportions. , The then Finance Minister, Mr. Downie Stewartbudgeted on •i basis of savings and adjustments for a deficit of i2 millions. Ihis was further reduced to £1 million by Britain peeing that ew Zealand should postpone her payments under our Funded ai Deb for anoth y should be poss ible to show a small surplus is both unexpected and heartening news. The most encouraging ea ure the evidence shown that the revenue indicates signs of ? buoyancy. The upward trend, moreover, has become more pronounced during the last few months. ... When the completed details are published it will be possible to examine the position more closely and to see how this result was reached. Certain liabilities have been carried over till next year. Reserves have been drawn upon to the amount of £2| millions. Ihe position, in short, has been'met by unorthodox methods, justified, however. bv the circumstances. , By thus trimming the ship and sailing close up to the wind we have reached smoother water. Skilful management and a hard and fast programme of economy must still be the order of the day. Ihe current vear opens with strengthened sources of revenue, including the new taxes imposed in January last. At the same time the Finance Minister will not have the same reserves to draw on to assist in balancing accounts.