PROVINCIAL TREASURER'S FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

New Zealander, Volume XXI, Issue 2262, 31 October 1864, Page 10

PROVINCIAL TREASURER'S FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

Mr. Newhax s id . Mr. Sneaker-In moving the -Sicond fea ing of the Approprim on Bill, >t n not my Intention to make a long sp a<*-, I consider that wnen figures are put on the paper m a proper winner that they should speak for themselves. It wi.l be borne in mind 'hat when his Honor the Superintendent addressed the Council in his opening speech a surplus was spoken of of £ 17,000. For this money I am here to account. In the message which came down from his Honor the Miperintendent yesterday, reference was made to the expend tore ot 1363 and 18G4. that statement showed that the excess of the expenditure o\cr the votes amounted to £3903, in round numbers, for 1863 ; there was also an cxec.-s of £*2273 for 180 4 ; making deductions from these two amounts for unexpended votes there only rema-ntd a gross total o', £3112 12a. 7d. in excess of the sums provided in tr.e Appropriation Acts of those years, ihcre was also in that statement that came down hr message yesterday a supp’ementary estimate for the present qua'ter, amounting to £5777, which together with the excess of the previous two years made a gross total of £8389. That together with the £II.OOO from the -.mount which I hava the honor of defending tnis evening, and with the sum first mentioned amounts to £20,0 0 in round numbers. Last year it would he rcc diected that the sum that stood upon the present sheet was a sum due by the harbor to (he province; but it was not found necessary to call up this £12,00;}., so that it also was to be added to the sum already stated. The sum which was mentioned last year as a temporary loan it had not been found necessary to call no. 1 will now proceed to show where the excess of revenue comes from for the present year. On the Customs revenue there will be an excess of £16,000 on the estimated revenue of the present year; on the land revenue an excess of £B,OOO, and on ihe harbour dues an excess of £*2,000, making a total of £26,000 on the various items over the revenue of :864. Thus, the House will perceive that the estimated revenue ns now stated by me for 1865 will leave a surplus balance of £II,OOO. I think no one will question the accuracy of the statement. I have now made as we have now reached the tenth month of the present year and there is not like to be any such falling off in the estimated revenue bathe ensuing two months as to lead to any material alteration of the figures stated. The next sum to -which I come is that of £60,000 derived from the three eighths of the Casrom’s revenue paid over by the General Government to the Provincial Government. It is incumbent upon those entrusted with the Government of the Province not to raise hopes that are not possible of realization. And I am sure the Hoii'C will give me credit for being chary of raising any hopes that are not certain to be realized. From my own experience as a commercial man, and from the manner in which I have managed my own business, I hope that the House will arrive at the conclusion that I am not likely to run into any excess by overcalculating the probable income of the province. Within a very short t me something like £IO,OOO has been paid into the provincial chest from the customs duties, and I trust that the sum realised from that source during the past year will continue to be realised for many years to come. (A Voice—“ H*>w many?”) In my calculations, 1 have gone carefully over the Statistics of the colony, a work i i which 1 have been much assisted by the records kept in the Registrar’s Office; and allowing for all deductions that can reasonably be made, I do not think we arc likely to have a diminished consumption of dutiable articles during the ensuing twelve months. I am aware, however, that there arc those in the community and in the House who indulge in gloomy apprehension and who think that we are likely to suffer a commercial collapse, and that with that collapse wo shall have * diminished fopulation. This however is an anticipation in which do not agree ; whatever may be the alteration in our commercial condition the flow of population into the Province will still continue, and although there maybe one or two solitary exceptions to the general state of prosperity they will he exceptions only and not any general collapse. The apprehension in the public mind of the probability of a commercial crisis has no doubt arisen from the (act of tho G nrral Government having found it necessary to g» into the home market lor the purpose of raising a loan, and to the fact that from the temporary want ot success in raising such loan the General Government had to depend upon the Home Government to some extent for present supplies of money. It was true, as had been alleged, that the General Government had had, in obtaining this loan, to pledge to a certain extent the revenue and property of tbe colony, hut hon. members would recollect that in tints dotng the General Government had done no m )re than what a private individual did. When a private individual borrowed money, he did it in the full security that, lie would realise from the use of such money a large surplus over xpe jo per cent, or other interest he might havLO-tp-r -1 ’; for ir. x irut> it is wicn tns uencrat government of New Zealand. The money that they borrowed was to facilitate the settlement «of the colony, and as population increased so would increa e their ability to pay the principal and interest to tin? sum borrowed. In making this statement I am fully borne out by existing circumstances. In every province of the colony ther-* is an increase of population, and with the increase of population an increase of prosperity, the only exception to this is the province of Otago, but in Otago the check to its prosperity was only a temporary one. It had been, urged that the General Government would be embarrassed by the loan it had already raised, and by the loan that they were about to raise. Hon. members were not, however, to believe that such would he tho case, for the Government would be prepared amply to provide for both loans. This wouM.bc the more apparent fro n the fact that he had deduc d from very careful calculations that every individual coining into ths colony represented in himself an annual contribution to the customs revenue of three pounds. If the General Government borrow, it is with a view of applying the money to the intro Auction of population, and that population, when in- : trodneed, will assist in paying back bath interest and principal of the sum borrowed. I am satisfied, sir, that there never was a period in the history of this colony when the prospects of the colony opened out so prosperously as they now do. If wc look at the price of meat we find that it offers an ample and remunerative field for the sheep fanner, and if we look at the price of flour, we find that there is every inducement offered in a high price and large and i icreasing demand for the farmer to increase his o, c ations. Again, if they 1 ok to the Coromandel gold fiel d s i would be found that there was every reason to hope for an increased production from that source. The exceptional circutn-

stances of the Colony had caused a reduction of those employed in working the gold mines, but even with this reduction it was found on a comparison of the gold produce that the lesser number had so far continued to produce a more than proportionate amount of the precious metal. Then, too, if we look at our prospects as regards coal, lion, members have but to call to mind the cheerful fire that they have seen burning this evening (laughter), and they will at once come to the conclusion that the black dust is likely to produce to this Colony results equally valuable with the dust which is more generally sought after, w© have heard complaints of the great numbers of people now out of employment ; and accepting those Statements as true, what I am now saying may appear contradictory. But honorable members will recollect how soon in the fluctuations of the colonial labor market the tables are turned. I have little hesitation in saying that were any employer of labour to go into the market to morrow, seeking fifty additional laborers, he would clear the labor market. The same argument will apply to female labor. I admit that it is quite possible that should fifty female servants laud tomorrow, they would not all-find immediate employment, but it is very certain that they would find employment in the course of a few days. There may not be employment at the present moment for the whole of the persons who are now seeking employment; but there is a fair field and a fair hope tint employment will, within a sh >rt time, be found for all who require it. Nor is there any reason in the fact of the General Government seeking to borrow three millions why their anticipations should not be realised. The money was sought not to embarrass but to further the progress of the colony ; and so far its the province was concerned, there could bo no doubt that the three-eights of the customs revenue would continue to be handed over to the Provincial Government. Enquiries have been addressed to me to-day by an honourable member as to whether this three-eighths will continue to be handed over, and I have had to reply as the General Government has replied to me, that nothing definite can be said upon that subject at the present moment. But in the present circumstances, there is every reason to believe that arrangements will ho made to continue flic payment of tho three-eighths of the customs inties. We’cannot imagine that, circumstanced as the present' Ministry a’e, they will give a definite reply to <he question which has been put to them, but even ihould there be a change of iVlinistry still I feel assured that the same proportion of the revenue will still continue to be paid over to us, and I am the more confirmed in this opinion by the fact that by act of the General Assembly this sura is to he paid over up to the first of March next. The Assembly was composed of individuals from all the provin. e«, and was it to be supposed that these gentlemen wonld commit political Suicide hy voting for any measure that would tend to reduce the income of that • > om:cil (cries of oh, oh, and psha), a course so suicidal that it would affect the income o! every one of the other provinces as well as that t of Auckland. There can be no doubt then

I think that the Assembly will bo faithful to the arrangements they have made and that they will do all that is to be done, without t'esp.-.**-ing upon the three-eighths of the Customs revenue hitherto paid over to the Province. I hold hand, sir, a paper forwarded by the hon. Header Wood tothe Secretary of State for the Colonies, Mr. Cardwell. Mr, Reader Wood stated that he did not consider that there would be any necessity to intert-re with the three-eighths of the Customs revenue now bid cover to the Province, as the other sources of betorae of the General Government were ample to pay he Interest of an 1 provide a sinking fund for tha extinction <>f the debt about to he incurred. In this I agree with Mr. Wood, and I am sanguine enough in my own mind, although 1 have not ventured to put it upon paper, to think that we shall have a surplus much beyond that that I have alrea-'y stated for the enminf year. Indeed there ie no doubt that ths surplus f<7r'Lß6s will be rtalized. The land revenues for the past year has* been .£*2,000 in excess of the estimateand while on this subject I may explain that tire necessity of a sinking fund has aiisen from the liability of the General Government for oar proportion of the gross debt due by iho Province. Tho Pilot and Harbour dues are estimated at £3,600, and thu calculation is made according to the amount now received which I am sure will not diminish next year. Tho Provincial revenue is put down at a sum of £7OJO arising from various sources one of which is the repayment of the sum* advanced for passages, those repayments are put down at .£2OOO. ihcre has been great delay in making these repayments by the persons to whom the sums had been advanced «nd hon. members are aware how difficult it is to recover money duo by individuals to Government, I ha»e however determined to recover these sums. Peop’e when they owe oney to Government say, “ Oh, it is only due ,’fo the Government and it does not matter about repaying it.” This is not moral, but, nevertheless, it is so, ,and as unm Oi the persons arc in circumstances that fudy enable them to payback the money due, I think we are perfectly safe in estimating the sum of £*2,000. It is estimated that the whole sum of £200,000 for the construction of the wharf will be called up by the end of the year, and provision has been made, therefore, for the payment of the interest From this source, however, I confidently expect there will be a much larger revenue than that set clown As the consideration -of the land in lieu or house in Short-street is set down for another day, I will now content myself with merely refeui.ig to it, as I will also do with the sum of £1,300 due for military prisoners incarcerated in the stockade. I next come to the expenditure. The first it-irn under that head is provision for an advance upon the salaries of those officers who have by their attention to their duties deserved such favor at the hands of this Council. I need hardly tell hon. members, that as the work of the country increases, so also should the piv of the officers who have that work to do be increased. The work within the past two years has largely increased, and as in many cases no additional help has been given, it is but just and fair that there should be additional pay for the work done. Ido not expect that all the sums upon the estimates will be passed. (Loud c*ies of hear, hear.) But I do hope that the Council will take into consideration the increased cost of living and the larg-ly increased value of labor. It is most desirable that tho Government should give those employed by it a fair remuneration for their services, but at the same time I am prepared to leave the matter in the hands of the Council, to make such reductions as they may think proper. The auditor’s salary is increased by the sum of £IOO, a large amount of additional work having been thrown upon this department by the increased expenditure of the Province, and the works about to be carried out under ths direction of the Railway Commissioners. With these remarks, I shall leave ths matter. The next item concerns a gentleman now present in the House, so I shall pass over it in silence. The next that I wish to refer to is the returning officer. He is now put down at £SO a year, which, when we consider that he has been performing his duties hitherto for nothing, is very far from being too much. (Hear.) The salaries of the Chief Clerk and two other clerks o 1 the Executive Council are also mentioned. They are very valuable public servants, and their labour 'has been' very much increased of late, The Engineer-in-Chief is a new appointment, made by the sanction of this Council ; and I think when they know the valuable man who has obtained the appointmant they will not consider the £BOO a year which he receives to be one sixpence more than he deserves. Then I wish to draw the attention of the House to the appointment of the Waste Land Commiss oner at £2OO a year. His predecessor in office had been the Receiver of Revenue. The Council save money by this appointment, and in him are vested the rignts of the Waste Land Commissioner, Commissioner for the tbc Poor and .n-f 11 -);. " 1 " 1 Receiver of R.p.vt*rm*> /ur oroivn Lmds. Either or these appointments is worth £l5O a year, and yet here we have one man filling not only one but all at a salary of £2OO a year. He is moreover a man peculiarly adapted for the position which he fills. For the Commissioner for the Relief of the Poor, it requires a man of a peculiar disposition to give the required relief without hurting the feelings of those who require his as-istnnce. It is useless to look for perfection anywhere on earth, but it would be hard to lind anv one more peculiarly fitted to fi'l a difficult position than the man who now is the commissioner for the relief of the peor and destitute. Before this appointment was made the Superintendent was often interrupted while transacting important business by the more urgent cases whose wants were too pressing to brook delay. Tbe different public officers have had a very large increase in the way of work, an*d you will here notice a new appointment, that of compiling draughtsman. This man had been taken into the office som i time ago as a supernumerary, but he has since proved himself to be so well able to discharge the duties of his office, that they have been induced to put him down upon this paper as a permanent officer with a fixed salary. I have already stated my satisfaction in the increase of local hoards, bit' what they always require most is enginetringassistance. It is the intention of the Superintendent to afford them every assistance in his power, and with that view the appointment of Assistant Engineer is about to be made. I confess that I am somewhat staggered by the proposed estimates for the increase in the police. (Hear, hear.) Until I had given the subject the most careful consideration I did not deem myself warranted in toposhg this increase, but with the increase of population the increase of crime has been so rapid that there appears to be no means of avoiding the employment of a large additional police force. I am, however, prepared to go into these estimates, and to consider with tins House what reductions can he made consonant wfth the maintenance of an j

efficient police force. The increase of prisoner has been so rapid that it was impossible previously to have calculated upon it. The increase macleinthesalary of the Governor of the gaol is one to which he has been long since entitled, and oucht long since to have had. The claims for increased hospital accommodation were so frequent that that ac.ommodition must at once be provided. The sum put down for the Fanmure ferry is only half the sum required for the twelve months, as it is hoped that the bridge will soon be completed, and the revenue thus relieved from the

charge upon it. This shows the advantages of tho loan in a very striking light, as by the expenditure of the money necessary for tile construction of the bridge weave really richer than we were before. The Kaipara ferry is put clown at the sum of £l3O, but I anticipate that it will betaken at a much lower amount than that. The sums for other ferries are placed upon the estimates in the hope of facilitating the return to their farms of those settlers who have been compelled by the war to abandon their homes. The Waikato ferry is introduced for the first time in consequence of notice having been given by the Defence Minister that this ferry will no longer he maintained by the General Government. Objection may be made to the course here taken, but T should consider that I was unfitted for the offi e which I hold had I not attended to this matter and placed the sum upon the estimates. It is necessary that we should give no ground for saying and I hope the day is far distant when it will be said that the Province is 100 large. The only way that we can keep the Province intact is by attending to the work to be done. I now proceed to the special estimates. The first is a sum to provide for tho cutting of roads through blocks of land surveyed fir sett'erneut, and with a view to enable people to go at one. l , upon their land ; this sum, it is hoped, will be reproductive as by making roads a higher price will be realized for the land. The rote for branch roads will. 1 think, be willingly passed by the Council ; they will serve to bring out the energies of the individual,*and facilitate the march of improvement, and I trust it will bo no longer a reproach that in New Zealand people have lived for ten or twenty year* without having made, any local improvements whatever in their neighbourhoods. The subsidising the construction of branch roads will also hold out an inducement for the collection of local rates, and will, I hope, start them upon a rotd of improvement upon which they will not stop. This is one of the lan votes that the House ought to curtail. I think the lime has come when the rich should help the poor, and the strong should sustain the weak- The ' time has come also when the city of Auckland should | not come to that Council to ask for a paltry sum to be ; placed upon the estimates. It wonld even he a virtue were the citizens at the present lime to forego their | claim so that others might be helped whose need is

greater than theirs. I think even that their virtue

shauld bs abovs claiming this assistance. (Great laughter and cries of Oh !) If the city does forego its claim a*.d hctp.a tKe country -istnets, tho money will still be so spent as to bring back a return to the edy of more than tenfold interest, and the citicens will rejoics in foregoing their just claims at the present time when they find in the future so large a reward. I admit that there are many places in the cty much neglected, and first on tho list so neglected, 1 would place Newton. (Hear* hear.) Ido not know how the sum now proposed is to bo spent, or where it is to be spent, but I would certainly not oppose an addition to tho amount of the rote. Other district* placed upon the estimate* have special claims, to assistance. The steamboat on the Manukau side, I believe, will be self-supporting, but in any caso it is incumbent o« the Government to facilitate ths traffic at this place and with that view tho sum is a-ked for. The same argument applies to the North Shore ferryboats, which I hope speedily to see plying there. In the construction of the jetties, it has baen thought bv ths Goverement to give extended accommodation for the steam wharf. The sum of money put down for Coromandel on a previous Estimate had not been expended, and therefore it was thought right to reinstate it in the present Estimates. The sum of £1,500 for increased accommodation for the Supreme Court needed no comment, as its necessity was acknowledged on all hart is. Tho sums for Wangarei and Waipa and other places were n necessity. Population was flowing in, and police protection must be provided. The staff of pilots on the pilot stations had been increased for the purpose of extending to trade that protection to which it was entitled. At Kt'pnra the shipping had increased more than thre.-fold, and it was impossible for one pilot to meet the requirements. His Honor the Superintendent has therefore appointed an additional pilot, y am quite aware that such a course is unconstitutional, inasmuch as there was no vote of this House for such a purpose, but there was only a choice between loss of life on the one hand and the risk of censure ou tho other. Should that censure come we must bear it ns best we may ; and in any ca?o we can better bear censure than tho loss of life and property arising from the want of proper precaution. I am satisfied however that the House will deem that the circumstances of the caso have fully justified the appointment. The proposed light at the entrance of Auckland Harbor is put down at £1,500. Hitherto life and property has been endangered by the absence of this light, but I shall leave it to those more conversant with the matter than lam to defend it. The necessity for the light is alleged, and I shall endeavor to lay the requisite information before the House upon the question. The Slaughter-houses is a subject which has previously been under the consideration of the House; the want is patent to all. and though I am not confident as to the sum being sufficient, yet I shall leave the matter until it again comes up for consideration. It has also been deemed incumbent upon the Government to provide suitable house accommodation for the assistant pilot for Auckland Harbour; but the providing of that accommodation will not entail an increased expenditure, as a sum equal to the interest of the cost of the building will be deducted from the salary of the pilot. The beacons on the black rock at the Kawau arc rendered necessary by the construction of the light at Tiririri. It is thought that tho Tiritiri light will cause vessels to give it a wide terth, and thus they would approach so near the black rock os to be in danger. With the proposed beacons this danger will be obviated. Additional accommodation is required in the hospital and in the stockade, and that accommodation is provide I for in the estimate. The claims for Crown Grants have got so far in advance of the staff employed that additional assistance has to be given. A stun of £SOO is also put down for parish plans to scale, and suitable individuals arc employed for their production. The vote for edit cation must increase with the increasing population of the country. There is also a vote for stationery with the object* of keeping a small stock on hand. The vote for the steam service to Kaipara is only equivalent to the expenditure for six months as it is hoped that the development of that district consequent upon the recent discovery of coal will either greatly reduce the amount or altogether obviate the necessity of tbe vote. The other votes for the Bay of Islands, Wangarei, &c., are only for the purpose of carrying out what has already been determined upon by this House, and I shall, therefore, leave them without further comment. I have to thank hon. members for the kindness with which they have heard a statement that I feel has been far too long and too dry, and I now, sir, beg to move that the Appropriation Bill bo read a second time.