PUBLIC FINANCE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19042, 12 December 1923, Page 6

PUBLIC FINANCE.

The last three months of the fiscal year are those that are of principal concern to the Minister of Finance. It is in the course of the final qjiarter that the largest contributions to the revenue are expected, and it is then that the Minister most anxiously scans the returns. But the results for a period that comprises nearly three-fourths of the year necessarily convey a valuable indication of the probable outcome of the twelve months’ operations. From a' progress statement which Mr Downie Stewart, acting-Minister of Finance, has issued it appears that the expenditure for the eight months of the financial year exceeded the revenue by £699,255. That is, however, not a circumstance that need excite any grave forebodings. Relatively, in fact, the position is quite satisfactory. This will be appreciated when it is stated that at the corresponding period twelve months ago the excess of expenditure over revenue was £1,896,064. Yet, the balance to the good at the close of the last financial year exceeded £1,300,000. There was, as will be seen, a remarkable recovery in the final quarter of the year. How important the results of the operations in that quarter are will, therefore, be readily perceived. On balance, the position at November 30 last was more advantageous, to the extent .of £1,196,809, than it was twelve months previously. This difference in favour of the current year is accounted for by an increased revenue of £1,052,525 and a reduced expenditure of £144,284. As was to be anticipated, the Customs receipts contribute most largely to the expansion in revenue. They are more than equal, indeed, to the whole of it, the comparative increase in the tariff collections being £1,080,416. The importations during the year have been on a large scale, and, as most people have realised by an examination of their household accounts, the duties are levied with an unsparing hand. The most notable increases, apart from the Customs yield, have been in the receipts of the Post and Telegraph Department and of the Railways Department. An increase of £192,608 in the amount collected in the taxation of incomes may be regarded as more or less accidental, for most of the income from this source is obtained after the New Year. The information respecting the details of the revenue and expenditure is, however,. not sufficiently complete to admit of an analysis of the figures. The salient point is that which is shown in the aggregate returns. They encourage the hope that, when the year ends, the Minister of Finance will be able to exhibit a substantial balance of revenue over expenditure.