Page 4 Advertisements Column 1

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 13, Issue 1052, 28 May 1869, Page 4

Y^^^raOßT of Finance Committee, on the motion of Mr. M'Lean, May 11, 1869 J having duly considered the subject referred to them, report as '&A^^sf' follows: — Yo?*&&!ttee find from the evidence of the Provincial Treasurer, that there was an overdraß;Mj3oth June, 1868, at the Bank of New Zealand, of £3862. This overdraft was-pJKoff on 25th August, 1868, out of a sum of £6000 advanced on the warrant of th.e'i^&rintendent from the Loan Account in aid of Provincial Revenue, the intention having been to repay the Loan Account out of current Revenue. The Revenue, however, has not been able to provide for the services of tbe Province and recoup the whole of tbis money, and the amount of £3862 will remain a debt from the Provincial to the Loan Account afc the end of the present financial year. A reference to the Treasurer's accounts for the year ended 30th June, 1868, shows that £2882 appeared as the overdraft on that date ; bnt an examination of the Treasurer and his books has convinced your Committee that £3862 was the actual overdraft on that date. An examination of the accounts of tbe current year shows that the Treasurer's actual receipts to the 30fcb April, 1869, and the estimated receipts to 30th June, amount to £11,882 ; to tbis should be added a credit in the hands of Provincial Engineer on 30th June, 1868, of £316: making a total amount of receipts for the current year of £12,198. That the expenditure to the 30th April, 1869, and the estimated expenditure to the 30th June, 1869, make a total expenditure for the year of £11,767 ; leaving an apparent balance to the credit of the Province of £431. Your Committee are, however, of opinion that it is improbable that the receipts will do more than provide for the expenditure, and that the £431 balance cannot be calculated upon. Your Committee have also to report that during the current year tbe balance of the £6000 before referred to as advanced out of the Loan Fund, has been expended on general Provincial account, but that the sum so expended during this year will be refunded by the, 3oth June, 1869. Considering the depressed condition of the Colony, your Committee consider that the Province has been fortunate to have provided for the current Expenditure out of current Revenue. The estimated Revenue for the year will not be fully realised. The chief items upon which a deficiency will exist are the Provincial moiety of the Consolidated Revenue, Papakura land sales, and immigrants' promissory notes. On the two latter items alone a deficiency of over £2000 appears, and your Committee consider thafc proper enquiry should be made into the reasons for these deficiencies. On the other hand, as will be found by an examination of the Treasurer's accounts (laid upon the table), there will be an excess of Receipts on various accounts of about £2000 in excess of the amounts estimated ; the principal items upon which this excess arises being duties under Native Lands Act and Papakura Rents. To sum up the pecuniary position for the year ending June 30th, 1869, the Province will have paid tbe year's expenditure out of Revenue, but will not be able to liquidate the debt which stood against her on the 30th June, 1868, and which will be still due, amounting to £3862. Proceeding with the subject entrusted to them, your Committee will now report upon the financial prospects for the year 1869-70. Estimates of Revenue for. the year ending June 30th, 1870, have been submitted to your Committee by the Government. The amount estimated is £11,600, of which your Committee believes fully £10,600 will be realised, and may be appropriated. In estimating the Revenue for this year, a very small amount is anticipated from the Provincial moiety of the Consolidated Revenue, nearly the whole of which is swallowed up in providing for interest on Loans. And your Committee feel bound to call your attention to the fact that the amount estimated on account of interest upon the Wellington debt is only an estimate. It bas been the practice heretofore to provide upon the Provincial Estimates for the payment of the interest upon the Loans, and to take credit on the other side for the Consolidated Revenue. As, however, the General Government pay the interest on the Loans, and make it a first charge on the Provincial share of the Consolidated Revenue, the money never comes to account in the Treasurer's books, and it has been considered proper to omit both sides of the account from the Provincial Estimates. Your Committee have carefully considered what savings cau be effected in the expenditure, and now recommend as per separate sheet, reductions and alterations, which, if carried out, will effect a saving of £ in the Ordinary and Departmental expenditure, and believe that the Provincial services can be efficiently conducted, should these alterations be carried out. The total expenditure your Committee recommends for the services included in the following departments, viz., Judical, Gaol, Police, Hospital, Charitable, Administrative, Harbour, Survey, Legislative, Miscellaneous, and Sheep, amounts to about £7500, taking this amount from Estimated Revenue, there remains for appropriation the sum o about £3100. The Provincial Engineer estimates that the repairs and maintenance o the roads throughout the province, and also of the public buildings, will necessitate an expenditure of about £2500, swelling the whole absolutely necessary expenditure for the year ending 30th June, 1870, to about £10,000 leaving a balance of £600. Anyf sum not necessarily appropriated should go, your Committee consider in part liquidationf of the sum of £3862 taken as an advance from the Loan account, bufc your Committee see riO> possibility of recouping thafc advance in full out of Provincial funds, and very unwillingly recommend thafc the necessary steps be taken to legalize the appropriation of the balance to tbe objects upon which it was expended. Another subject to which your Committee have directed their attention is the expenditure under the " Loan Appropriation Act, 1868," a statement by the Provincial Treasurer, (now upon the table) shews thafc the actual expenditure to 30th April, amounts to £10,327 18s. 5d., and the the expenditure for services contracted for, £7,686 10s., making a total expenditure to the 30th June, 1869, of £18014 Bs. sd. An examination of the Loan accounts shew that although £28,000 was last year estimated to be the balance of the £60,000 loan then open for appropriation, yet that in reality that sum was not available, and that when the different charges for raising the loan, interest stopped by the General Government, to the date of the money being paid to the Provincial account, &c, were deducted, a sum of £27,364 7s. sd. only remained open for appropriation. The delay in paying the loan proceeds to the Province by the General Government, and consequent loss of interest appear to call for enquiry. Deducting from this amount the sums expended and contracted for, there remains an unexpended balance of £9349 19s. This amount is made up of balances of two of the services provided for in the Acfc, viz., purchase of Native Lands, £7921 35., Immigration, £1428 16s. But it must be borne in mind that a sum of £3862 out of this fund has been expended in aid of Provincial revenue, and as your Committee have stated elsewhere, the course they recommend should be pursued in regard to ifc. They now further recommend that the unexpended balance for the purchase of Native Lands, should be diminished by the amount that may remain outstanding on June 30, 1869. A detailed statement of the expenditure under the Loan Act of last year is in course of preparation. When that is completed and before members it will be found that the conditions prescribed in the resolution passed by the Counoil, which detailed the manner and object upon which the different sums appropriated by the Loan Act should be expended, have been adhered to in nearly every particular. There has, however, been a deviation from the terms of the resolution in the case of the purchase of the Waitangi and Clive blocks of land. As your Committee understand that the Superintendent intends to bring the subject of these purchases before the Council, they refrain from entering further upon the matter in this Report. Your Committee leaves to the decision of the Council itself the consideration of the position of these Provincial officers whose services are proposed to be dispensed with after the end of the current year. DONALD M'LEAN, Chairman. Committee Room, 19fch May, 1869.

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