THE New Zealand Herald. SPECTEMUR AGENDO. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1874.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XI, Issue 4050, 5 November 1874, Page 2

THE New Zealand Herald. SPECTEMUR AGENDO. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1874.

Peovln'oiai and. General Government returns, quarterly and yearly, come before us in Blue-books with unvarying ty. Xotliing appears hidden which should be made known; although, at times, we are bound to confess that returns to hand are occasionally given in such complicate d ways, we a-c frequently at a locs to say what should appear to the cedit and what to the debit side of a statement. Still there is seldom any tiling that a little patience and " figuriug-up" will not unravel.

But, for the first time, we are in receipt of returns for the year 1873, shewing the amount of revenue and expenditure of sixteen of the municipal boroughs now in operation in the colony. From these returns we are completely taken by surprise—indeed, almost startled —at finding the enormous expenditure in proportion to receipts for the Borough of Auckland, as compared with other municipalities. Our local revenue for the year mentioned, derivable from rates, was £5,582, while the salaries paid were £1,445. This shews that four shillings, or very close upon this, were paid away for every pound sterling received in the shape of rates. A little further on we shall give figures, proving that we are now paying quite six shillings in the pound, instead of four, for doing the work of the Citv Council.

JTow, there are very many shopkeepers in Queen-street, and other streets in Auckland, whose receipts exceed three times tlie amount of our city rates ; shopkeepers who have to enter debits and credits in day-book, c..sh-book, and ledger, and added to this have to send out an employee to collect all accounts due and owing, both small and large. But would any tradesman who was anxious to avoid the Insolvent Court think of paying in salaries for the conducting of his business at tlie rate of nearly four shillings in the pound for every twenty shillings' worth of goods lie sold to his customers ? We are inclined to think not. Here we have quoted from the returns for 1573. But we find the Government compiler placing tho following footnote to the figures forwarded to him from Auckland :—" Tlie return for the Borough of Auckland does not give all the information required." It is somewhat strange that the compiler does not feel himself called 011 to make a similar statement with respect to any other borough of which he has taken cognizance.

We have been at some pains to ascertain the actual receipts and expenditure of the Borough of Auckland for the year 1873 from independent sources, and we find tlie former in round mimbors were £G,S(JO. To collect these receipts and enforce the by-laws, tho following expenditure was incurred :—Town Clerk, £300; Treasurer, £'250 ; Collector, £175; Inspector of Nuisances, £175; Surveyor, £300 ; Valuator, £100 ; oilice boy, £50 ; rent, £125 ; stationery, advertisements, and sundries, £150; Mayor, £250. So that last year, instead of £1,445, as returned, having been expended, against a revenue of £0,500, the actual sum was one thousand eight hundred and seventy-jive pounds; or not far short of six shillings and eightpence in the pound expended for every twenty shillings of revenue collected.

It will naturally be asked wliy so much money is expended for such a small return, and our answer at present must be that we are really quite unafele to say. To us the amount appears out of all proportion and all reason. We think we may venture to say this much—that there are business men in the city of Auckland who would undertake to keep the municipal accounts, receive the rates (they have not to be collected), assess the annual values of the properties ; employ a surveyor and inspector of nuisaw es for probably quite a third less than what is now being paid. We a~e quite open to correction in this matter. But our expressed opinion is fully confirmed by those well capable of forming a judgment. We shall now place before our readers the retumsof revenue and expenditureofother boroughs which will admit of comparisons being drawn, although our city authorities may view such comparisons as extremely odious. Wellington is recorded to have had a local revenue of £27,403, and pays in salaries £1,113. That is to say, a revenue more than four and a-half times that of Auckland, while the borough pays a very much less sum to employees. Christchurcli had a revenue of £7,882, wliile she paid in salaries no more than £814. Invercargill had a revenue of £8,002, and paid in salaries £323. Timaru, with a revenue of £I,SSI, expended in salaries £120. Hokitika, where expenditure of all kinds is higher than in any other part of the colony, spent in salaries £707, against receipts amounting to £3,294.

We liave been referring to tlie receipts and expenditure of Borough Councils for the year 1873. Now, we learn tlmt Auckland since then lias increased its expenditure from £1,575 to £2,075, shewn thus : —Town Clerk, £400 ; Treasurer, £300 ; Collector (he does not go out of doors), £250 ; Surveyor, £300; Inspector of Nuisances, £175; Valuator, £100; delivery of rate notices, £50 ; two bovs, £75; Mayor, £150; rent, £125 ; stationery, advertising, and sundries, £150, making a total expenditure of two thousand and seventy-five pounds to collect £0,000. It is not for us to enter into all the minutia} and details of municipal work, and say what should be done. It is quite evident that the whole system of keeping the Corporation accounts calls for a thorough and complete re-prganisation. Anything less than this, after the returns which have been given, we are quite sure will not satisfy the ratepayers. All classes are heavily weighted, but so long as they feel that the burthens of taxation placed upon tliem are absolutely necessary, they are patient and long-suffering. When, however, it is told them that a City Council in the receipt of £6,000 per annum spends over £2,000, it is not to be expected they will remain much longer without raising a protest which the civic body must not treat with inattention, indifference, or contempt.

Mr. Fox's ; most p'uzzlm'g k^aiidr m many respects objectionable Incenang 'Act | into operation on the first day of next monthj- j when the*' Licensing Courts will sit to consider and determine applications for; publicans' liccnces, transfers, renewals, or removals. These applications can now be entertained four times in each year instead of once. With respect to bars to a house, the eighth clause of the amended Act permits more than one bar in any house on payment of a fee of one-third the amount of licence, or such other rate as the Provincial Council of each province may fix. In case of opening any bar without payment of such fee, or without permission of the Licensing Court, the hotelkeeper will be subjected to all the penalties attached to selling without a licence. The 13th clause provides that the sittings of the Licensing Court be in December, March, June, and September. An addition is made, that after the end of the present year no licence shall be issued for any house not previously licensed, excepting at the June quarterly meeting. Those about to apply for licences must bear in mind that twenty-one days ? notice to the Clerk of the Court must be given on or before the 9th November, otherwise applications will not be entertained. The 22nd clause of the amended Act provides that the licences granted under certificates ordered to issue at licensing meetings in June shall not come into force till July; those in December not until January, and so on, though why such an absurd interval should be insisted on it would be hard to say. If an applicant is fit to have a licence on the first of one month, surely the same fitness exists at the time of the Court granting it, and the quarters, for all financial purposes, might as well have begun one month as another. This will tell hardly with many who purpose to apply at the forthcoming meeting; for though they may secure their certificates they cannot open till the new year, so that the best time of the whole year must be wasted. All the existing Provincial Licensing Acts will require to be amended, in order that they may dovetail in with Mr. Fox's Ordinance.

We were rather surprised to see an advertisement in a recent issue of a Wellington contemporary, calling for tenders for 150 tons of Newcastle coal for Napier railways. Surely the Public Works Department is rant of tlie fact that we possess in this province one of the finest steam-generating coals in the world—that to be obtained from the Bay of Islands mine. It is rather an anomaly for the Government to be giving out assurances on the one hand that it will foster by all legitimate means local industry, wliile on the other we find one of its principal departments advertising for the product of foreign mines whilst equally as good an article is lying at oar own doors. In connection with this subject we may refer to the advertisement in auother column announcing the fact that the prices of coal and slack delivered at this company's mine, Kawakawa, have been reduced at the rate of 2s per ton. Two or three cargoes have recently come to hand of inferior quality, which has resulted in a general order being given that nothing but the very best quality coal is on any account for the future to be sent down. The company's machinery is at this moment in splendid working order, and equal to the execution of large orders with quick despatch. We should like to hear of the Railway Department making use of the products of this and any other of our mines suitable rather than encouraging the importations from the neighbouring colonies. There may be some valid reasons for preferring Newcastle coal, but we are not aware of any.

Like unto New Zealand, Victoria complains of the large decrease in the returns from the aUuvial divings, md the diminution in the number of men engaged in this department of gold-finding. In ISGu tlie mining tion of Victoria was 80,000, wliiie now it numbers only a little over 40,000, of whom nearly 13,0C3 are Chinese. The large falling off in the mining population, it is said, is continuing at a rapid rate ; for instance, at the end of 1573 there were 50,000 miners, while in March this year the number is returned at4S,OOO. r ? M -o decrease in Victoria, as in this colony, is among the alJuvial miners. There, as here, there is no falling off in the mimbors of those engaged in quartz mining. On the West Coast of the Middle Island the decrease in alluvial gedd is fully made up b}'the increase from the yield of the quartz reefs. At liiangahuathepresentraacliinevy is to be supplemented considerably, the prospcct3 of .some new strikes promising magnificently.

A very sensible suggestion came from Mr. Hughes .it the meeting of tlie Doniaiu Board hi_-ld yesterday. It was to tlie effect that in tlie Domain should be preserved aud restored, r-far as possible, tlie Zer.la.nd forest, ai'd to this end lie proposed a reso'ation that all tlie sucita of native trees and slimbs in tlie Domain should be saved, and tlirt an endeavour should be made to obtain 11 a Live seeds from elsewhere. A collection of Xew Zealand trees aud shrubs should, as far as possible, be made as suggested, for it is by such means only that we can offer passing visitors to our city a view of the many valuable timbers peculiar to the colony; indeed, very few people who have been residents in New Zealand for many years are acquainted with anything like the large variety to be found in various parts of the colony—or even in any one province. Many o" our trees and shrubs surpass in beauty anj ihing we can import from abroad, and are equally as worthy of preservation in the manner suggested.

Professor Tykdall'.s address to the British Association has been very severely dealt with by the leading New Soutli Wales and Victorian journals. Tlie Professor is characterised as having displayed much courage, but little discretion ; and he is pertinently told that his science would have commanded more consideration if he had refrained from going outside of subjects lie had studied to dealing with theology of which he knows nothing. When he ventured to speculate on the workings of a great first cause his hearers must have felt that he had gone beyond his depths. It is repeated of Tyndail what men of high scientific attainments had previously said of him —that he is bri"iaut rather than safe :n recondite researches.

A reti'f.n" of the number of electors for each electoral district, according to the rolls of the year 1573-4, shews that tlie number of electors for the House ot Representatives amounts to 51,523. The Thames electoral district has the largest number of names on the roll—34GG, the City of Dunedin coining next, with M'24'2. The smallest electoral district is Wallace, in Otago, which only contains 103 electors.