A HANDSOME SURPLUS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1510, 7 February 1901, Page 49

A HANDSOME SURPLUS.

(“N.Z. Times,” February I.) 1

In spite of all temptations to go down, the revenue of New Zealand insists upon keeping up. Neither the remissions of the Budget of 1900, nor the increases of the Appropriation Act which i oil owed, availed to keep down the swelling tide; and the railway concessions were followed by an increase cf revenue. Ig is certain that if the postal income is to be reduced by the policy which the whole world is praising, the general increase all round the revenue departments will more than counterbalance the loss, and it is evident that the low price of the chief staple of export deed not spread desolation among the people. The quarterly revenue returns are worth setting forth, three having now been published. Their aggregate! is as under : HE VENUE. June quarter ... ••• £1,135,002 September quarter ... ... 1,339,051 December quart dr ... ••• 1,556,522 4,030,625 Debentures in aid of Sinking Fund ... ... 52,800 £4,083,425 EXPENDITURE. June quarter ... ... £1,344,754 September quarter ... ... 1,126,738 December quarter ... ... 1,822,606 £4.294,098

These figures represent the actual collections and the total expenditure between March 31st, 1900, and January Ist, 1901. They show that if there ware nothing more to dxpect from the fourth quarter for the revenue than for the expenditure, things' would not appear in a favourable light. But experience has taught for years past that the March quarter is the best of all for revenue and the lowest, or second lowest, for expenditure. The way in w r hich the revenue has bettered the estimate in the other three quarters warrants the belief that the same thing will occur in the fourth. On the other hand, the heavy expenditure of the December quarter (a quite* abnormal expenditure) is a sure sign that the calls on the Treasury in the March quarter will not be above the usual March level. At the same, time, the January returns, so far as they have been published, justify the best expectations for the March quarter. On the whole, then, it will be fairly safe' to estimate the March quarter on the basis of the returns of the corresponding quarter of last yelar. The revenue of that period was £1,735,403, and the expenditure £1,175,094. With these figures added to the totals for the three quarters given above, the probable (practically certain) results of the current yeUr will be: Revenue ... ... ... £5,818,828 Expenditure ... 5,469,192 Surplus , ... ... ... £349,636 There will obviously be some abnormal etxpeditr.re in the March quarter, from causes unforeseen at v~.e date! of the Budget—South African contingents, Imperial visiting troops, and many other things. Putting these at £49,636, wo have a surplus within two months’ reach, of £300,000, as the surplus on the year’s operations. Bearing in mind that after the surplus of last year (£605,351) had contributed half a million to the Public Works Fund, a sum of £105,351 was brought forward in the public accounts to the credit of thd consolidated revenue, it is plain that in all probability the Treasury wall present at the end of the year a credit cash balance of £405,000. The prospect is certainly not repeilant. And, pleasant as it is, it is the logical consequence cf a state of things disclosed by the leaflet published last year from the Registrar-General’s office. The leaflet revealed a phenomenal decennial progress along every line of productive life. What was .most remarkable about the story was that the land and all it contains bulked largetet. In other words, the prosperity that prevailed was shown to be due to the settlement of the country. Thel forests were falling in the North; the population was spreading into their places ; the rapid advance of the farming population was telling its own tale. Ministers met this tide of prosperity, revelled in it, rode on it for some time, expecting to see it ebb. When the tide kept

Sowing higher and higher, the Government tried to square the public accounts, as other Governments have in their time tried; and like other Governments it has, it now appears, failed. In another rebpect, however, it i nlike all other Governments wLc have* wrestled with the financial problem. Whereas the others have been troubled with obstinate deficits, this one is tormented with a seemingly irreducible surplus. The Treasurer will have a pleasant new year’s greeting on his return next week, when he looks over the figures of his Department, and makes his calculations for the remaining two months. For once', the people may, we think, enjoy this satisfactory prospect in advance of the! official announcement.