FIFTY YEARS AGO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15900, 24 April 1915, Page 9

FIFTY YEARS AGO.

NEW ZEALAND'S REVENUE. OTAGO LARGEST CONTRIBUTOR. 'From the HERALD of April 25. 1865.) The statement of receipts and expenditure of the ordinary revenue of New Zealand for the year ending June, 1864 has ;„»* been published in the New Zealand Gazette. The date when this statement was issued from the Treasury is March 31, 1865; that is just nine months after the close of the year to which it refers. How it takes nine months to prepare such a financial statement in New Zealand, embracing an income of £709.028 Is lOd, when a few weeks suffices for such abatement to be published in connection with Great Britain, and embracing a revenue of over £70.000,000, is entirely past our comprehension, It was only the other day the registrar's returns lor 1863 were published, and about the same time we tutually got similar returns with respect to Ireland for 1864. It is quite evident that there is some mismanagement somewhere, and that we ought to have quarterly and annual returns of our revenue quite as early as similar returns are published by the Treasury of Great Britain. '

The revenue for each province for the year ending June, 1864, stands thus:— Marlborough, £5717; Taranaki, £12,224; Hawke's Bay, £14.121; Nelson, £30,048; Wellington, £52,372; Southland, £68.582; Canterbury, £101,288; Auckland, £141,132 • Otago, £278,797. o