EDITORIAL NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXIII, Issue 7212, 17 May 1898, Page 1

EDITORIAL NOTES AND COMMENTS.

The Wellington Post makes a labored atempb to show that the surplus 011 the year's financial transactions was only L 75,258, and not L 521144, as the colony's accounts show. The method adopted by the Post to demonstrate its contention is disingenuous and nob convincing. It starts out by eliminating the credit balance with which the year .began, L 354,286, and various other sums,.from the receipts, and then sets down the actual revenue at L 4,987,629, and against this .it charges •'actual expenditure," including permanent and departmental, public works, and cyanide , patent, L 4,912,371 j leaving a balance of L 75,258. Then it proceeds to show how the surplus of L 521.144 is made up. Starting with what it calls" the true credit bilance" of L 75.258, ib adds last year's balance of L354.28S ; seized sinking funds, L 69.600; lastyear'sadvances repaid by Advances to Settlers Office, making up a total of L 521,144, the surplus disclosed by the certified accounts, Now, this appears to be a fair way of statin?, the position, but it certainlyis nothing of the kind. We . are. prepared, to. admit that it is a legitimate thing, when testing the relative positions of "income and expenditure for the year, to remove from consideration items which cannot 'rightly be placed in the category of income belonging to the year, For that reason ihe amount derived from released sinking funds, the.recovery from the advances to. Settlers Office, and the balance with which the year commenced may properly be eliminated from the income. But the rule is one that "cuts both ways." Such disbursements as do not belong to the year or do not form a part of the expenditure chargeable against the year's income must be struck out of the expenditure side of the account to obtain a true balance in respect to the year's operations. This the Pose does not do. Of the balance of L 354,286 existing at the close of the previous year L 300.000 was transferred by Parliament from the Consolidated Fund to the Public Works Fund, and the actual balance with which the year opened was reduced to L 54.286. The Post is perfectly well aware of the transfer, but, in order to put the colony's finances in as favorable a light as possible, it charges' the L 300.000 in the " actual expenditure' of.the year. With just as much propriety might a sum transferred by a bank from profit to reserve account be charged as part of the institution's expenditure of the subsequent year. Had there not been a surplus of L 354 286 at the close of the last year the sum of L 300.000 would not have been transferred to the Public Works Fund, and what the Post now claims to be the " actual expenditure " of the year would have been L 300,000 less than it states it at, and the surplus which it admits to be existent would have beßn L 300,000 greater than it sets it down at. That is a perfectly plain and indisputable proposition. Again had not the House authorised the transfer of L 300,000 out of the credit balance to the Public Works Fund, the money must have remained in the Consolidated Fund, and the credit balance in that fund at the 31st.March hßf; would have been L 821,144, instead of L 521,144 as the accounts show it to be. There is no getting over that fact, and that being the case it is quite clear that it is an improper thing to charge the year with a credit balance at its beginning which the House had practically made non-existent. One cannot eat one's cake and still have it, nor can a surplus which has been hypothecated be available for future use. The credit balance ab the end of the financial year as shown by the accounts is L 521,144. If we wish to get at the trae surplus of revenue over expenditure we must eliminate from the accounts such items as do not belong to the year. For the sake of convenience we will place the figures in tabulated form, thus : Credit balance at end of year ... £521,144 Deduct — .Balance at beginning of year, less amount transferred to Public Works Fund ... ... £54,286 Released Sinking Funds ... 69,'600 Advances of last year repaid by . advances to Settlers Office ... 22,000 £145,886 Actual surplus of revenue over for year .... ... £375,258 A sense of fairplay and a regard for the credit and good fame of the colony should have led the Post to adopt this, the only true, way of testing the condition of the year's finances. But its aim was to discredit the Ministry, and so long as ib could succeed in even appearing to do so ib cared nob a fig what false light ib pub the colony in nor the harm that it did to it. Traitor is an ugly word, but ib is the only name that can be applied to those who do such ugly deeds as the Post has been guilty of in this case.

Some figures published by a contemporary are calculated to lead to the -conclusion that Spain would be a gainer rather than a loser by the loss of Cuba, which has, owing to misgovernmenb, been a veritable white elephant to her. According to the last official return the Spanish national debt amounted to L 353,265,771, of which no less than L 70,220,000 bad been Incurred on account of Cuba. Since the figures were issued, however, the cost of Cuba has vastly increased* and it is estimated that the present rebellion alone has cosb the Spanish Governmenb nearly L 60,000,000. If she succeeds In retaining the country there may be a reduction in the cost of its governmenb, but lb could nob be a material reduction, for a large army would still have to be maintained to hold the rebellious population in check. What thiß would mean "may be gathered from the fact that within the last two or three years 200,000 men have, been sent from "Spain to the island, and thab the rebellion is as live and potent as ever. Of the troops sent to Cuba 52,000 have passed out of existence, died from disease or been killed in action; 47,000 have been invalided home and 42,000 are In hospital unfit for duty; leaving less than one-third available for active service. The nation could nob hope to be able to keep up the supply of men to fighb the Cubans and the fever, even If the necessary money could be provided. It Is plain, then, £hab Cuba is a source of weakness to Spain, and that' the retention of the island would In time land the natlon : in; irretrievable bankruptcy. The .establishment of Cuba as a self-governing country would be the best thing that could happen for Spain, and probably bhe Spanish are hob altogether blind-to thab fact, bub their pride precludes them, from giving it practical recognition., Still Cuba is a country of great possibilities, and under wise, rule would be wealthy and prosperous. Whether in the event of the i§land; being removed from: Spanish control, as will assuredly be the case, those possibilities r will be realised Is a problem that ib will take.many years to solve.