CORRESPONDENCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIII, Issue 4482, 25 March 1876, Page 1 (Supplement)

CORRESPONDENCE.

m <; THE FINANCIAL CONDITION OF THE 1 PROVINCE AND COLONY.—QUERY. I To the Editor of the Hekald. J Sltt, —I have read, a great deal lately about t the- Financial position of the Province of 1 Auckland, and the more I read, -the more i confused the accounts between the General 1 and Provincial Governments appear to be. i Let us go back to Ist July, 1870, and calcu- c late the revenue of Auckland since then. ; t From the Ist July, 1870, to 31st December, t 1875, five and a half years, at the rate of e £300,000 per annum, will give the sum of c £1,650,000, about £1,000 per day for every 1 working day in the year. Now what I want a to know is, what has become of this large i sum of money T The General Government i have received it—how has it been spent ? j The railway, harbour works, water, &0., 1 hare nothing to do with this money, they f are all paid for out of loans. I see the customs 1 receipts for last week amounted to £6,281 1 103 7d. I also see that the gold-fields revenue t has been seized by the General Government. 1 Can these payments ■ by the inhabitants of < this province to the General Government be ( continued 1 I am inclined to think that the ] ! time must come when an alteration will be < insisted upon. Twelve men, I see; went j per Hero, from the Thames, and took £4000 j with them, because no public works are < being carried on there, and no land open for j purchase. Is it wise to drive these men s away ? Certainly not. I should like to see 1 the young men take an interest in this finan- < cial question. Let them apply to members : of the House of for the loan of their i ! Blue Book, and study the returns; 1 and I should like to see a prize of £50 given ] to the young man who produces the best ] return, giving reliable information -on this i question, to assist our members at tfie next ] meeting' of 'Parliament. _I will be a sub- < seriber. For instance, the amount expended i out of loans should be examined. How i mach has been expended "ia each proTiiice ? l

'DdesTeachrproviribe*Lpay-tiieLiß.t6r6steLOiiitiie sum expended* in. the province, ..or-is the interest takeri'lfroniL the"Customs" revenue of the whole colony ? Xf tiie interest is taken from the Customs revenue of the whole colony,.and Auckland million.out of tHe irayn and f millions,'we are paying five times more per cent, than Dunedin if our Customs is about equal. In other words, we "are paying annually as ■much for a million aa Dunediu is tor five millions.—l am,';&a, - T.i VJ I Colonist. P.S.—I .will give £2 towards the £80.