THE FINANCES OF THE COLONY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12600, 2 March 1903, Page 6

THE FINANCES OF THE COLONY.

AN INSTRUCTIVE INTERVIEW. ESTIMATION OP THE SURPLUS. (Fhom Our Own Coiirespoxpext.) WELLINGTON, February 13. In view of tho cable from London last ' night stating that New Zealand is placing a million and a-quartcr loan on the market there, I took tho opportunity this afternoon of interviewing Mr W. Eraser, M.H.R., ; on the subject of tho revenue and expenditure of tho past year. Mr Fraser, as is i well known, is, a very close student of our : . financc, and is, moreover, recognised as a i very fair critic, so that any remarks ho ! might havo to make upon the actual posi- j tion so far as it is disclosed should be woll worthy of consideration. I found that Mr Fraser had already gono into the matter very thoroughly. THE CONSOLIDATED FUND. Dealing first of all with the Consolidated Fund, .Mr Fraser said the expenditure for the nine months of the year ended Decom- j her 31 last was and the receipts ; £4,426,000, leaving a debit balance of j £406,000. " From that," added Mr Fraser,! " you would have bad to deduct £270,000, '■ only that £50,000 was paid from tho Consolidated Fund to the Publio Works Fund during the September quarter; therefore, you have to deduct from tho £406,000 only £220,000, which leaves a debit balance 011 ; December 31 of £186,000. I " For the March quarter of 1902 the re- j ceipts exceeded the expenditure by £657,000. , It is therefore fair to assume that in the ' present quarter of the current year there j will be a similar net excess of receipts. 1 From that, however, has to be deducted £150,000 still owing from the Consolidated Fund to the Publio Works' Fund, which will leave a credit for this quarter of £507,000. The difference between this and the debit balance of £186,000 • at December 31 last would give the estimated surplus for tho year, which would be £321,000. It is therefore to fair to estimate that tho credit balance on the 31st March, 1903, will be at ; least £320,000. | "So far this is catisfactoiy, but what is ■ not satisfactory • is that, while. the receipts for the nine months have exceeded the receipts for the similar period of the former year by £152,000, the expenditure for tho same period of this year has increased by . £157,000. It was admitted that during last financial year thero was abnormal expenditure owing to tho Duke's visit and other causes, but it was understood that the abnormal expenditure would not continue; yet without any abnormal causes it appears that the expenditure has gone on increasing for the first nine months of tho year. Tho increases are:— Interest and sinking fund... ....£72,000 Under special acts 32,000 Old-age pensions 11,000 Postmaster-general's Department 27,000 Education Department ... ... 27,000 Working railways 16,000 Defence Department 97,000 Total ... .:. ... £282,000 Against this,- however, there are several small .decreases and a docrease of £45,000 in the Colonial Secretary's Department, the latter being accounted for becauso of

the absence of the abnormal causes that prevailed during tho previous year. Taking the total of those decreases, and placing them against, tho increases, we have the not increase of £157,000, as above stated. | PUBLIC WORKS FUND. j "In regard to tho Publio Works Fund, , £515,600 wan borrowed on short-dated de- 1 ! bentures during the first nine months of the year, while somo £99,000, the balancc of tho million loan of the previous year, also came to account. Thoso amounts, together with the £50,000 received from the Consolidated Fur.ul, mnko practically all tho new money hrought to account. Coming to tho expenditure, we lind that for the nine months of 1901-2 there was spent on rail■ways £1,014,878, whereas for tho tamo period of this year the expenditure was only £452,912; and on roads tlm expenditure in lf'ol-2 (nine months) was £316,159, and for the same period of tho current year on'y i £155,186. It therefore becomes apparent that nothing like the amounts vote<l last, [ setsion can be extended during the 12 ' months of the financial year which closcs 011 the 31st of March next. Furthor, it is quite unlikely that anything liko Iho amm:«i!r> voted can bo spent oven up to tho extended time of appropriation—viz., the 30th of Juno next. Tho.reason is only too evident: the Government, simply could not get tho ■ money. Tho Parliament and tho people bad been fold that (hey could afford to snap their fingers at (bo London money-lender, and that we could get plenty of money in , tile colony. The result has proved that we could not got even ono-third cf what wan required -during the first nine months, and now, instead of snapping our fmgars at the London monoy-lendcr, we are asking him to lend us another million and a-quartcr I THE YEAR'S BORROWING. " The increases ill the public debt for the first nine months of the current year were ' as follow:—Advances to scit-lcrs loan an- i count, £249,713; land? for eettkmcnts, £76,5Q0; loans to local bodies account, j £127,500; commission account, say £7000; j consols account, £2700; State coal miner, account, £25,000; —total, £488,713. To this ! has to bo added tlio new loan money tor public'works—viz., £518,600, giving a total increase in our debt for those nine months of £1,007,313. Adding lo these figures the | new million and a-quartcr loan now on tho . market, we got a uum of £2,257,313, which , . will bo the increase in our indebtedness for j : the current financial year to close 011 tho J . 31st of March next. But this may not be ; j all, for further debentures will probably lie ' i issued between now and tho 31st of March j on account of tho advamccs to settlers loan ! account, land for settlements account, and ; the loans to local bodies account. " We may therefore safely assume that at I least two millions and a-half will be added I to our colonial debt during the financial ! year about to close. This is a pretty big ; sum, but the worst feature of it is that tho , money is not wiso'y expended." THE COST OF BORROWING. | I asked Mr Fraser if ho had gone into tho '■ question of the cost of recent loaiK. He said ho had. It cost w £87,917 to raise the , last million loan in London.," Last session," J said Mr Fraser, " I stated if would be found ! that we only received £91 3s 4d for every ; £100 of that loan. I find I was wrong. We | got £91 4(J." "But," he added, with a ( smile of satisfaction. "I was only 8d out." : The loan was sole? at £94, aaid the expenses I camo to £2 16s, so that we only got £91 4s : for every £100. What arrangements have ! ' bwn made regarding the loan just an- : nounced I do not know. Probably it has • already been underwritten."