A BUOYANT REVENUE

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10628, 3 December 1910, Page 4

A BUOYANT REVENUE

GRATIFYING FIGURES. By Telegraph. (From Our Own Correspondent.) - Wellington, December 2. A statement of the Dominion's revenue for the eight months ended. November 30tli was presented to Parliament to-day by the Prime Minister, along with "a comparison with the corresponding eight months of last year. The figures were as follow: 1910. 1909. £ £. Customs ... ... 1,933,807 1,G56,034 (Stamps, Post and Telegraph ... 887,143 728,854 Post and Telegraph (cash receipts) ... ... .88,037 77,168 Land and income tax ... ... 74,688 62,301 Beer duty ••• 70,455 68,849 Railways' ... 2,045,857 1,860,881 Registration and. other fees ... 46,110 46,907 Marine ... ... 28,'460 26,443 Miscellaneous ... 149,505 3.52,163 Territorial ... 139,239 107,771

Totals ... £5,463,301 £4,817,371 Total increase: £649,385. Net increase, £645,930. The net increase for the seven months ended October 31st, 1910, was £528,759, and the statement, thereforeindicated a further increase of £117,171.

Sir Joseph Ward said that he was glad to tell the House and country that the upward tendency and buoyancy of the revenue were as marked as on the last occasion. There had been a considerable increase. He did not know anything more gratifying than the figures connected with the geneI ral position of the country. It ! must be put down entirely to the [ increased activity of trade, wiiicli clcari ly had become normal, and more than normal compared with the preceding eighteen months. The country was in the happy position, apart altogether from aiiy increased returns on exports, of having not a spasmodic but a steady increase in trade, which would be invaluable to every business man, settler, and worker in the country. He expressed the opinion that as the result of the large sums of money coming into the country all the institutions to which the people applied for money would be competing with one another before very long oil a. lower basis of interest than at present—(Hear, hear) —and that undoubtedly would mean increased investments in industrial and commercial matters, land settlement, building of houses for workmen, and so.on. He was sure that they would go on to a greater extent .during the next year than' had been the case in the past five years.—(Hear, hear.)