THE PUBLIC ACCOUNTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17649, 9 December 1920, Page 6

THE PUBLIC ACCOUNTS

An abstract of the Consolidated Fund Account for the seven months ended October 31 is now available. It shows a much more satisfactory position than was suggested, a few days after the close of the period, by Mr. Massey's somewhat cryptic warning that the financial outlook was " not nearly so good" as it was a month before. The revenue for October was £519,289 more than in October, 1919, while the expenditure shows an increase of only £182,109; so that the excess of ordinary expenditure above receipts for the month was only £175,548, against £512,728 in October last year. The accounts for seven months, in respect of ordinary transactions, compare favourably with those for corresponding periods of previous years, the details being as follow:—

7 m'ths Excess of ending Revenue. Expenditure. Expenditure. Oct. 31. £ £ £ 1920 . . 13.677,972 14,331.317 653,345 1919 . . 9.296,637 12,012,939 2,716.302 1918 . . 8,193,113 10,234.597 2,041,484 1917 . . 6,751.317 7,568,284 816.967 While the expenditure for the seven months is greater by £2,318,000 than last year's, the revenue for the period shows an increase of £4,381,000, of which £2,535,000 has been contributed by the abnormal receipts through the customs, the total from that source alone exceeding £5,000,000 for the period, a greater amount than the collections for the whole of the previous financial year. These figures deal only with the ordinary transactions. Further funds have been obtained by the issue of Treasury bills amounting to £1,100,000, of which £600,000 were issued in the June quarter to finance the Nauru and Ocean Islands account, and £500,000 in the September quarter to meet current needs pending the collection of taxation in the latter half of the year. October receipts were obviously inadequate to enable the Treasury to discharge any of these bills, especially as it was found necessary to transfer £250,000 to the Discharged Soldiers Settlement Account, presumably to meet immediate requirements pending the subscription of the new loan. The exact position of the Consolidated Fund Account at October 31 is not disclosed by the partial statement in the Abstract of Statistics, but it is apparent that cash funds were running low. However, land tax amounting to £1,500,000 was due in November, and with continued high receipts from the customs, the position should.be further . improved.