THE REVENUE OF THE COLONY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1950, 4 April 1889, Page 11

THE REVENUE OF THE COLONY.

THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE YEAR. (Fbom Oue Own Coreespondbnts.) Wellington, March 28. I am in a position now to give you some sort of an approximate idea as to the financial prospects of tbe year, which ends on Saturday, 31st insfc. Up to a month or two back even the warmest friends of the Government feared a ,deficit to be inevitable, while Ministers' enemies gleefully asserted that not only was this a dead i certainty, but also . that this deficit must needs be very large— £loo,ooo, £150,p00,,. and . even £200,000 being mentioned as. its probable , amount. Now let us see how- this is to be borne out by the facts. That, the customs ; revenue will prove somewhat short, of the rather excessive estimate which seems to have been adopted under a misconception by the Treasury lis very likely to be the. case. The estimate of the Customs department, £1,471,000, will be closely approached if not fully realised, but it is hardly possible that the Treasury estimate of £1,515,000 will be. This was based on the assumption that the new tariff would bring in during its 10 months' operation as much as the Customs department reckoned upon getting If it were in force during tbe whole year. The customs revenue may therefore be looked on as certain to fall behind the nominal estimate by at least £40,000 or £50,000, but unless March proves to have been' much worse than is believed to have been the, case the 'customs revenue for' the year ought not to be mnch under the Customs departmental estimate of £1,470,000. The largest revenue item is railways. This looked very bad indeed up to December, but the holiday traffic at Christmas and New Year, owing to the fine, weather, and the large grain traffic caused by improved prices, caused a complete revolution in the. position under that head, and the railway revenue, so far as the late returns go, has caught up the estimate within a few hundreds of pounds. There is every reason to believe it will fully equal, and perhaps exceed, the estimate' of £350,000. The property tax will not come , quite up to the original calculation, because the writing down of certain properties and securities has involved some considerable losses, one alone amounting to £3500, but other.wise the tar has come in so well that the, total shortcoming is not expected to exceed. £2000. Postal, telegraphic, and 'miscellaneous revenue, are likely to show very fairly. Stamps, on the other hand, for a variety of reasons are almost certain to fall considerably short of expectations. This item will probably be fully £20,000 below the estimate. As against 1 this there has been a remarkable influx of land revenue, tbe total receipts on which account are likely to prove the largest obtained for some .years past, so that taking one thing with another the colonial income will not be far behind hand.

The expenditure is understood to have been kept a long way within the appropriations, and savings to a very substantial amount have been effected by the progress of the work of retrench* ment since the session and civil service* reorganisation. There is at present, therefore, ■every reason to believe that when tHe accounts of the financial year are published, so far from there being a large deficit there is more likely to be a surplus,, if & small one. At the worst there will not be more than a trifling deficiency, but even* this is now unlikely, and there need be no apprehension of a " bogus "' surplus being shown by holding back due payments, for under the present regulations such statements have to

be laid „ before, -EariiamenV ;when 'any •: :Such; attempt must instantly be detected and exposed, so when I speak of a possible surplus, I mean a genuine and a non-Vogelian one. I • " ■ April 1. . - The customs revenue for March was £128,311. The amounts at the principal ports were: — Auckland, £22,277; Wellington, £15,569 j Christohurch, £16,346; Dunedin, £25,866. The total for the financial year just ended was £1,463,247, showing 'a deficit on the Treasury estimate of £51,753. a The beer duty for the year was £51,048, giving a surplus of £48. For last month it was £4876, and at the principal towns-.— Auckland, £990; Wellington, £477; Christchurch, £1018 ; Dunedin, £1031. -