THE REVENUE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 5347, 9 April 1879, Page 7

THE REVENUE.

The C.ronicle, in an apparently inspired article, state 3 that the revenue c f the first half of tbe cnrr nt financial year exceeded the Treasurer's e-thnate by about L3O. The returjs for January and Februaiy equalsd those for the same months uudfr the oil tariff. The revenue for the March quarter ivill show very litlle falling off. The June quarter, owing to the Banks " putting on the scmw," and the fall in wool, will tell a difftr-nt t .le. Though the lrad tax will yield L 20,000 in excess of the estimate, none of it will beavaila'ile for fie current financial year, owing to repa.ted prstp nements of time for completing thi vslaati >n. This loss absorbs any surplus from the Customs. The cost of collecting the land tax will be about T.,18,000, but the chief item is for valuation, which will hold good for three year?. The postal and telegraph revenues show that tbe increase in the land revenue for the fi'sfc lmlf of the financial year was nearly lAOO.OOO in excess of the estimate, but the second half will show a bid falling off. The total land receipt* f> r February were only L 15.000, and L 400.000 was expected from the Waimate Plains, but no more than 1/120,000 will be obtained. The gross land revenue will fall more than L 200.000 short of the estimate. Owing to the weakness of the financial system, it is nlmrst certain the Government will next session propose a tax of another penny per acre, and Urge estates must meet the deficit in the land revenue. The railways will probably yield L 90.000 in excess of the estimate. Looking over the whole financial field, the outlook is not so dark as croakers make it Tbe revenue for the third quarter of tlie financial year, which ended on .Monday, i^ not yet definitely ascertained, but returns sent in enable an approximhte estimate to bo formed, from which it appears tba\ notwithstanding the lo^s in revenue from land sale?, theie -»i 1 be a surplus over the estimate?.

THE GRAIN TRAFFIC. The grain carried on the Southern lines of railway is as follows :— Four werka ending February Bth : Canterbury section .. .. 3,547 tons Duuedin do .. .. 2,714 „ Invtirain.il] do .. ..377 „ Total 6,«3S ~ For the four weeks ending March sth : Canterbury flection .. .. 17,401 tons Dunedia do .. .. 2,735 „ Jnvercirjsill do .. ..379 „ Total .. .. .. 20,678 „ Grand total .. .. 27,213 „ The accumulation of grain at the various stations on the Canterbury railways on the 3rd amounted to 38.C01 bags. It was found necessary to dispatch a late special train of C 5 waggons as far as Winslow. The number of bags at the South Btations were:—lUkaift, 1842 ; Ashburton, 2500 ; Tinwald, 1500 ; and Winslow, 2800.

Daring the quarter ending 31st March there have b-en no lets than 209 summary cases, and 108 civil cases, disposed of at the Port Uhalniers Magistiat-j's Court. During tha month of March 25,020 cubic yards of mud, equal to 34,750 tons, were dredged from the Lyttelton harbour. The Boird's engineer estitnat.-s tint upwards >>f 1,000,000 cubic y.»rds h ivj yet to be dredged, whiik ;it the present rate of pio-jrees will occupy three years. The Customs duties for the past month amounted to Llo,oti2 11s 4d. For March, 1878, the amount was L 21.101 10s 7d. For the quarter ending March 31tt the total am .untid to LCO 122 2s Gd. The fame quarter last year was LC5,815 17a UJ.

The number of children at the end of Match in the Lytt-lton Orphanage was, bays 53, girls 30. Trie vajunt beds at present ill the ii.n;iu-ti-m aie, boys 28, girls 31. The Board are rsccivii.g a great many appliea'ion-i for orphans as apprentices to trade* aiid to adopt. Excellent report-i sue being received of tnoae already aijnrenticed. The sum of 1A532 Us Id was the amount < f duty collected in the long-room at the Customhouse lass week. The vital statistics of the registry district of Auckland for the March quarter of the present year are as foil >ws :—Totjl births, 374; total cle.tli-s 212; total marriages, 100. Of the 100 ma-riagea, 49 were s >lemui<ed in churches, 30 in dwelling-houses, and 30 in tbe office of tha ltezistr.ir.

Too following education stat'stics were cjiven in the last issue uf tie Uovemm nt Ciazatte : — " Tho aveia.je attendance for the whole education district* of the Colony for June quarter, 1878, was 47,000; for September quarter of the s tine year, 47,8(14 ; for tbe Deceuibec quart<-r, 40,848. Tho number of schools fur tho last meiico'ieii <pa>t.-r was 748, aud the number of teachers 10S7. The aveu-uje atteudtnoe of pup: ls ia the Decumler quarter of 1878 was 41.773. The attendance in several educational diat;iots of thf Colony show el, in the aggregate very little difference in June aud Set-timber quarters, the number being gi eater in the Sep temb r quarter. Tne following is the retain for tho various educational (lis:iicts :—Auckland, 8089; JUawke's Bay, 1580; Tarauaki, 070 ; Wanganni, 1874 ; Wellington. 3245 ; Mar'.boruuxb, 751; Nelson, 2709; We-tlaud, 2004; Canterbury North, 9588; Canterbury South, 1745; Otago, 12,560 ; fcjjuthlaud, 2383. Total, 47,804. From a retu n just issued (says the P> Bt) we ga'.i.er that up to the 31it December, 1870, the total area of Crown landi xlieratei sines f->o ouudation of the Col.u.y haa beeu 12,220 071, acres, i. r which L 8.439.812 ha* been received and 17,998,421 acres ara open for sale. In tb.i Wellington Provincial District 1,079,370 acres have been sold for L644.G04, and 85 397 acies remain open for selection. Canterbury bap, of course, hitherto been the " mildh cow" ot the Colony. 2,291,400 acres in that Province having beeu sold for L3,C67,7CG, aud she has B'.ill 6,401,500 acres opea f<r s.tle. Otngi l>as disposed of nearly as much land—or 2,050,004 acres—but tho amount received has only been L1.807.G58, and the land open for selection comprises only 197,901 acres. It is ratter surprising to find that 5,871,777 acres are o; en for selection in the Nel-on province, only 1,013.721 acres having been sold, of the value of L 349.352. Even little Mailborough has still 2,159,000 aciei fir eale, her laud fund having hitti-rt. reacted L2G1.282, tho jr ■- ceeda of 840,999 ac>e< Bold. Auckland hus always been regarded as a spendthrift in re gard to her wealth in land, and this is proved by the return, which shows 2,168,625 arres alienated for ouly L 314.480. She has 1 254,181 avres left t r sble. This return is only u;j to tt.e Abolition oi the Province*, but the relative poaitioni of the Pro»inci»l Districts remain about tie name.

Four ihouraudone hundred andeeventy-sevin

acres, part of block XIV, Mount Benijee district, are to be disposed of us pastoral )a«d on deferred payments. Tw» hundred and fifty souls (equal to 224 statute adults) have been nominated in Canterbury during the month. The immigration officer at Wellington has re ceived 205 immigrants' nominations for transmission by the outward San Vrancixco mn.iL About 200 additional claims to vote for the city and suburbs have been lodged with the Registration Officer at Auckland, and 5000 in all for the province. During the month of March, 1879, 74 births aud 54 deaths (were registered in Wellington, and 33 marriage certificates issued. The receips for the four weeks ending March Bth, on the Amberley to Bluff line, amounted in round numbers to L 35.000, as against L 30.000 for the c rresponding period of last year. . Nearly 100 applications from persons desirous ot being em oiled on the electoral list for tha distiict of Port Chalmers ha.ye been lodged with Mr G. F. Duwces, the returniogoflicer at Port Chalmeis. The vital statistics of the borough of Auckland for March are as follows:—Births, 48; marriage certificates issued, 27 ; deaths, 23. The pil,,t<ge receipts at Lytteltou for the I last mouth amounted to over LSOO—the largest amount received in one month. The Registrar of the County of Selwyn has received 454 new claims t > be registered. During last last month 32 vessels, of 5076 tons, airived at Timuiu, while a larger number were despatched. During last month 44 births, 22 deaths, and aeven marriages were registered in Timaru. Tha deaths largely exceed those for a-.y i-ra-vioua month, typhoid and dysentery being still unpleasantly rite. The vital statistics for Oimaru for March are :—Births, CO ; marriages, 11; deaths, 8. The Customs returns at Invercargill for the quarter ended March 31st amount to L 10.745, as against L 10.421 for the corresponding quarter of last year. Four hundred and forty-five clainw to vote have been registered in Sjuthland- -namely, 332 for the Mataura district, and 113 for InvorcarKilL , Tae outgoing Canterbury mail on Saturday consisted of the following :—For London—looo letters, 120 books, and G7OO newspapers ; United Kingdom—7sßo letters; America—s42 letters, 2(5 books, and 373 uewsp.il ers ;—total : letter-, 9722; books, 1-JG; newspapers, 70/3. Tue Cu»tjms duties collected at Oanuru for the last qturter amounted t» L435G 2s Sd. The total for tin corresponding quarter of last year was L 3990 3s 6d. The Christchurch vital statistics for March are:—Bictbs: City, 43; district, US. Marriages : City, 30 ; district, 13. Deaths : City, 24 ; district, 10. The death-rate for March is considerably lower than in the two first months of the year, the totals being—January, 104 ; February, 91; March,74. Theinfectiou)diseases immbe-r 13, namely — typhoil, nine; diphtheria, three ; scarlet fever, one. The last report, which was for four weeks, showed 37 'The Customs revenue at Wellington for March was L 20.036 lls 2d ; and for the corresponding mouth last yeur, b15,57S 9s. The population of New South Wales at the beginning of the year was estimated at 093,743.