DOMINION FINANCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17038, 20 December 1918, Page 4

DOMINION FINANCE.

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE INCREASES IN BOTH BRANCHES. FIGURES FOR EIGHT MONTHS. [|1Y TKLECHAPU.— riIESS ASSOCIATION-] WELLINGTON, Thursday. Particulars furnished by tho Acting Minister for Finance, tho Hon. A. M. Myers, of tho revenuo and expenditure for the eight months ended November 30 show that the principal.items of revenue were :— Customs £2,396,177 Stamp and death duties .-. 1,241,105 Post and telegraph .. 1,059,957 Land tax .. .. .. 79.495 Income tax .. .. 818,927 Boer duty 165,462 Railways 2.928,868 The total revenue was £9,094,092,, The revenuo for November was £900,979, a decrease of £209,352 on that for November, 1917. The total expenditure for the eight months ended November 30 was £11,147,433. Commenting on the figures, Mr. Myers stated that the total rovenue this year was £1,232,444 in excess of tho amount received last year. Nearly all sources of revenue showed a considerable increase. Expenditure out of the ordinary revenue account for the eight months of 1918 showed an increase of £1,751,929, as compared with the corresponding eight months of last year. This, of course, was to bo accounted for by tho increased interest and sinking fund and pension charges. A return prepared for tho Defence Department shows that the war pensions bill reached a total of £742,585 during tho first eight months of this financial year. New Zealand has already paid out in war pensions £1,452,329, and the actual annual cost at tho present date is £1,352,612.