FINANCES FOR 1907-8.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 16, 18 July 1907, Page 6

FINANCES FOR 1907-8.

Very little space is devoted to the finances of the current year, but that little is important. Out of the surplus in hand, viz., £717,825, the sum of £700,000 is to bo transferred to the Public Works Fund, leaving £17,825 as the net carry over. The forecast for the current year is as under: — £ Estimated revenue ... ... 8,200,000 Estimated expenditure ... 7,987,347 Excess of revenue 212,653 Add balance from last year 17,825 230,478 Out of this balance of £230,478, it is proposed to set asjde £30,000 for Civil Service Superannuation Fund, leaving a balance of £200,478, out of which provision has to be made for the Supplementary Estimates. The apparent surplus for the current year is, therefore, in the neighbourhood of £60,000, which is unusually small. No one, of course, expects to see so small a surplus, least of all the Colonial Treasurer, who must know that it will amount to considerably more. 'Ino revenue is estimated to pro- I duce £199,000 less than the actual receipts of the past year, while we are in. clined to think that the revenue will come fully up to last year's level. Ihe expenditure is set down at £212,422 more than last year, an extraordinary estimate; the surplus should therefore pc greatly in excess of the very "safe figures" contained. in N the Budget. The growth of the expenditure is almost phenomenal as the following will show :—- Permanent. Departmental. £ £ 1904 ... 2,613,917 3,820,364 1905 ... 2,670,972 3,964,930 1906 ... 2,870,107 4,252,233 1907 ... 2,998,169 4,736,806 1903 ... 3,079,079 4,908,268 Between the extreme dates there is an increase in the permanent expenditure of £465,162, and in the departmental expenditure of £1,087,904, or a total of £1,553,066 in four years. It should be mentioned here to the credit of the Colonial Treasurer that he has decided to forego any aid from the sinking fund accretions. This is very commendable indeed, The Public Works Fund had a credit balance at the beginning of the year of £359,<J00, and there is a sum of £56,400 balance of Jbhe million lonu of last year to be brought to account, and in addition tho £700,000 to bo transferred fiom the Consolidated Fund, making tlu3 total available ways and means £1,115,800. There ia, of course, the usual million loan; and _ this is to bo obtained within tho colonies. Besides this new loan and tho other emissions for which no Parliamentary authority is needed this session, there are maturing loans for £1,532,900, and tho Treaburer Bays that he is "keeping thehe obligations well in mind, and will at the proper time make satisfactory arrangements to meet them." The total available waya and means of the Public Works Fund, with the proposed million loan, is £2,116,800, mid will be more than sufficient for meeting expenditure in a year that precedes a general election. 'J'ho I'ublic Worhj J'Jstimnlcs will be kept down, so that thoio may be n large.' expenditure in 1908-9, when the cons/ituciiciea will need sweetening for tho vlection ia December. 1908,