The Poverty Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. Friday, September 19, 1879.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 899, 19 September 1879, Page 2

The Poverty Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. Friday, September 19, 1879.

If it be true, as is not improbable, the Imperial Government intend to place a limits/upon the borrowing powers of the Colonies, we think it is time that for the future the financial statements which are made annually should be placed before the people in such a way that those who read may understand them. The prosperity and commercial healthiness of a country, like to a commercial firm or company, depends upon its financial condition ; but can any one in New Zealand, with the exception of a few of the deeply initiated, say whether New Zealand is in a state to meet its liabilities as they fall due. Our Public Debt on the 30th June, in the present * year of grace, is condensed within the space of two pages of foolscap . paper. 'Now, how .many of our readers, we ask, has seen them, and having seen them how many have been able to arrive at a conclusion by the figures set down ; and yet what an t immense influence our large indebtedness must exercise on the future destines of New Zealand. We find the annual charges of interest upon our national loans are tabled at but only a slight examinationjof the items will show that .some amounts which are chargeable to this account are. omitted, the reason given being that the exact amount paid has n^t been ascertained. We will take, as an example, the item of " .£800,600 Immigration and Public Works Loan Act." Against this no annual charge is debited, because the interest is stated to vary according to the bank rates ruling at tl?B. time of obtaining the advance. What would be thought of a Public Company whose accountant ahad not ascertained what the shareholders had to pay for the money adcommraodation#they were receiving 1 But we shall, having no other alternative, take the figures as we find them printed in the last financial statement of the Premier, who delivered it in the character of Colonial Treasurer, although the figures showing our liabilities are greatly understated. Omitting a few odd hundreds, we find the Colonial Debt to be twenty-one and a half millions. We need scarcely 8&y- that this enormous sum has been obtained -■ under certain promises to pay it back in times to come, while the interest is to be paid annually. But a Sinking Fund has been established . in connection with some of the loans, in order to provide for their repayment ; and the sum which has accrued from the moneys so set apart amounts to only one. million seven hundred thousand pounds. The sinking fund,

where one is provided, is at the rate of one to two per cent. It will therefore be a long time* before it will relieve the sum total of the Colonial indebtedness. The amount of interest as against population and profitable industries, is enormous, being no less than one million and ninety thousand pound's. Add to this the sinking fund, and the annual cost of borrowin <* reaches one million two hundred thousand pounds. We think the import of these figures will be better understood when we state that each man, woman, and child in the colony has to pay on an average three pounds per annum as his or her share of interest on the public debt alone ; and furthermore, every man, woman, and child is indebted to the amount of fifty-one pounds to the public creditor, or in other words to those who have lent the money. The total revenue during the past year was £3,551,814 lOd 3d. Deducting the interest, &c, payable as above — viz., £1,200,119 6s 3d— we are left with a balance of £2,351,695 4s 6d with which to carry on the work of the Colony. Let us see what that work costs. The actual amount of money spent on the public service for the year ending the 30th June, 1879, was £2,474,322 19s Bd. In other words, the Government, in carrying on the ordinary business of the country, spent £123,627 15s 2d over and above its receipts — a not very satisfactory state of affairs. As we are anxious that those of our readers who have had the courage to follow us so far should have a clearlydefined idea of the true position of matters, we may point out that things would have been very much worse, were it not that £899,729 12s Id was received for land sold and depasturing licenses. From this it is evident that we are living at present to a great extent upon the only available capital we have — namely, our Crown Lands. But they will not last for ever. What shall we do when they are sold %