THE REVENUE RETURNS.

Evening Post, Volume LX, Issue 107, 2 November 1900, Page 4

THE REVENUE RETURNS.

The statement of.the receipts and expenditure of the Consolidated Fund and of the other Public Accounts for the September quarter are published in the Gazette issued last evening. The ordinary revenue for the quarter totalled £1,254,302, , against £1,191,989 for the corresponding quarter of last year, showing an increase- of £62,313; the territorial revenue amounted to £84.750, against £83,921, exhibiting an increase of £829. The total revenue was thus £1,339,052, as compared with £1,275,910 in the September quarter of 1899, the increase being £63,142. The expenditure for the quarter exhibits a very substantial, if not alarming, increase. The expenditure under Permanent Appropriations totalled £309,695, against £251,144, an increase of £58,551, and the Departmental expenditure amounted to £817,044, as against £705,018 last year, an increase of £112,026. Thus, while for the quarter there is an increase in the revenue as compared with last year of £63,142, there is an increase of expenditure of £170,577, and at this rate it will not take long to reach the milestone of disaster. It is, however, more interesting to take the figures for the half-year ended the 30th September, and the statement of the Consolidated Fund for the period is as under: — hkceiptb. Ordinary revenue „. . ... JE2.361.723 Territorial revenue ,„ ... 112,381 2,474,104 Receipts in aid ... „, ,„ 52,800 Recoveries ... „, ... 2,865 .£2,529,769 EXPENDITURE. Permanent appropriations ... Annual appropriations 1,359.892 Balance 58.275 .£2,529,769 Balance at beginning of year ... Balance for half-year 58,275 Total balance .£663,626 Compared with the corresponding period of last year the revenue shows an increase of £118,770, equal to. about 5 per cent., and the expenditure an increase of £151,262, equal to about 6£ per cent. It will be observed that no transfer has as yet been made out of the credit balance brought forward from last year. In the Budget the Treasurer proposed to transfer to,the Public Works Fund £500,000, and last year £200,000 was so transferred during the first half-year of the financial year, and this would seem to imply that the Public Works Fund has no immediate need of such assistance. A reference to the details of the Public Works Fund shows that during the six months £600,000 in short dated debentures has been issued, and it seems, therefore, that with £500,000 available for transfer from the C&nsolidated Fund, and the manipulation of trust funds, made possible by the Public Revenues Act of last session, together with the £500,000 in the hands of the Public Trustee, repaid by the Bank of New Zealand for the preferred shares, the Colonial Treasurer will have ample funds within his reach. In the table appended, we give the items of the receipts and expenditure for the two half-years :—: —

£2,471,494 £2,320,232 £151,262 The increase in the Departmental expenditure is very serious, and is certain to show further expansion, and if there' come a slump, then there will be a violent demand for retrenchment. In the meantime " money is no object," and the hands of the Liberal' Party are constantly outstretched towards the Treasury. • . .— _

XO, 1900 £ Customs ... 1,021,825 Stamps ... 382,582 Railways ... 773,338 Dther revenue 183,978 1899 £ Inorease. 979,778 42,047 362,070 20,512 726,878 46,460 171,964 12,014 £2,361,723 £2,240,690 .£121,033 "erritorial revenue ... 112,381 114,644 2,263* £2,474,104 £2,355,334 £118,770 *J^eorease. EXPENDITUBE. 'ermanent £1,111,602 £1,102,243 £9,359 )epartm'l 1,359,892 1,217.989 141,903