WAS THERE A DEFICIT THE COUNTRY'S FINANCES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 11, 13 July 1909, Page 7

WAS THERE A DEFICIT THE COUNTRY'S FINANCES.

OFFICIAL REPLY TO A CHANGE. THE HON. MR. MILLAR EXPLAINS The charge made by Mr. Bart. Kent, chairman of tyie Auckland Chamber of Commerce, the other day, that the revenue for last year was over half a million short of the expenditure, was referred to by the Acting-Minister of Finance (Hon. J. A. Millar) in conversation with a Post reporter to-day. "I jun sorry," said the Ministei, "to see that the gentleman publicly matte the statement, when a closer examination of the accounts would have shown him how incorrect he was y\'hen he said that our expenditum bad exceeded the revenue for last year by £584.328. It appears tv me that a mistake has been made by Mr. Kent by taking the amount brought forward (£767.849) at the beginning of the year, and subtracting from that the balance at the end -f the year (£184,321), and then saying that that is the excess of expenditure o\er revenue. "A careful study of the figures would have shown that during the year £800,000 was transferred from the consolidated revenue to the Public Works Fund, i This, of course, is not an expenditure from the Consolidated Fund, but is a transfer to the Public Works Fund in lieu of borrowing. It is well known that for years past the surplus from the Consolidated Fund has been transferred to the Public Works Fund, but the surplus of this year can only be transferred in the following year, as there is no authority of Parliament to do so, in the first place, and furthermore the year has to be closed before you ascertain what your surplus is. "The result is that the ascertained surplus for the year ending 31st March, 1908, was in due course transferred to the Bublic Works Fund, plus £32,000 from the revenue account of the year. To place the thing more clearly, so that neither Mr. Kent nor anyone else can make any mistake, I may state the figures as follow: — Revenue ' £9,001,185 Other receipts ... , 800 Total revenue £9,001,985 Appropriations £8,785,513 Excess of receipts over expenditure 216,472 Balance brought forward from previous year ... ... 767,849 Excess of receipts as above... 216,472 Total £984,321 Transferred to Public Works Fund £800,000 Credit balance, 31st March, 1909 £184,321 "The Prime Minister, at Invercargill, made this perfectly clear when outlining the financial position. He said : 'After bringing forward the available balance of the previous year of £767,849, and transferring £800,000 out of revenue? to the Public Works Fund, I estimated a, surplus of £745,031. I am, net unnaturally, more than ordinarily gratified to be able to tell you that an analysis of the figures shows the surplus for the year to be £184,321— that is, £109,118 more than I estimated in the Budget.' "ft has been the policy for many years," said the Minister in conclusion, "to transfer the surplus from the Consolidated Fund to the Public Works Fund, and since 1891, no less than £7 230,000 has been so transferred, which is pretty clear proof that there j must have been an excess of revenue, j otherwise tho money could not have been ' transferred."