NEW ZEALAND'S FINANCE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11841, 3 May 1909, Page 5

NEW ZEALAND'S FINANCE.

THE RESULTS OF THE YEAR.

A SPLENDID SHOWING

THE TREASURER CONFOUNDS HIS

CRITIOS

REVENUE EXCEEDS KXPENDI-

TURE BY £215,000,

£2,169,275 SPENT ON PUBLIO

WORKS

GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS

LEND 2_ MILLIONS

£636,063 ADDED TO SAVINGS OF

THE PEOPLE.

POSTAL AND RAILWAY REVENUES

SHOW BIG INCREASE.

(Per Pressi Association,) INVERCARGILL, last night. Sir Joseph Ward delivered his promised policy speech here on Saturday. The audience, though not demonstrative, was attentive and friendly, the speech being frequently punctuated with applause.

Sir Joseph Ward said the financial year had been one of the heaviest, and m some respects, the most important m the history of the Dominion, and he was glad to say that notwithstanding the tightness that existed m tho money market m New Zealand for some time our finances were exceedingly satisfactory. As showing the desire of his op ponents to try to predict that things were really worse than they Avere, they had an opposition organ m Wellington stating : "In 1908 there Avas a surplus of revenue over expenditure m the March quarter of over £400,000. Has this been realised m 1909? We think not. Even if the revenue held its own, Avhich is open to doubt, the expenditure is certain to have exceeded that of the corresponding quarter of the previous year. What that expenditure has been Sir Joseph Will make known this, evening." "The position,'' Sir Joseph continued, "is the expenditure did not exceed that of the corresponding quarter of the previous year, . being 1908, £2,337,352, 1909 £2,333,577,/ which is nearly four thousand pounds less expenditure, and the 1 opinion expressed that it would be more is Avrong."

. For tlie financial year just ended, he estimated m financial statement/ the revenue at £8,965,000 and the expenditure at ,£8,878,346. After bringing forAvard the available balance of the previous year of £767,849 and transferring £800,000 out of revenue to public works account, he estimated the surplus at £74,503, and m view of the continued attacks at various times during the year as to the correctness of his. judgment he was, not unnaturally, more than ordinarily gratified to; be able to say that an analysis* of the figures showed the surplus for the year to be £184,321, that is £109,118 more than he estimated m the Budgqt. He twitted Mr --. Massey with Assuming the role of prophet m predicting that tbe surplus would be under £200,000, when anyone avlio turned to the Financial Statement Avould find the amount- stated Avas correct, and a further, gratifying feature of it Avas 7that the surplus exceeded the estimate by £109,118. ! The -revenue last year amounted to £9,001,185, an increase of £16,185 over the v estimate. Comparing the revenue w*ith that of the previous year, it Would doubtless afford' immense pleasure, and indeed to maiiy surprise, to nnd that there was only a decrease of £54,761 bh the total receipts. The previous year the revenue Avas £9,055,946, as aeainst £9,001,185 for the year just closed. He was glad to be able to say that the revenue for the year exceeded the expenditure by £215,672, the expenditure amounting to £8,785,513, which, if they deducted from the actual , revenue of £9,001,185 they would find left an excess of revenue over expenditude of £215,672. Dealing*, with the various heads of revenue, he said that raihvays contribut- ■ ed £2,918.507, as against au estimate of I £2,835,000, and actual receipts of £2,765,395 m 1907-08, the receipts being better, than the estimate by £03,507j and an increase on the previous year of £153,112. It must be borne m mind that a reduction m fares and freighthad been made of £950,000. '

Stamps last year brought m £1,591,---358, pr £18,328 better than the estimate, and ah increase of £40,394 on the previous year's receipts of £1,950,134. The return from land and income tax reached £925,000, the exact figures being land tax £604,901, income tax £321,044, or £45,945 m excess of the estimate, and £83;194 better than that of 1907-08.

Miscellaneous revenue Avas responsible for bettering the. estimate by £25,210, the amount received being £264,210, as against an estimate of £238,C00, and £45,868 m excess of the previous year's receipts. Registration and otlier fees showed an increase on the estimate pf £2061, and marine brought m £3815 more than anticipated. Customs did not come up to the estimate by £148,852, the total amount for the year being £2,801,248, as against an estimate of £2,960,000. In ."his opinion ther*eakons fbr this Were : ; (i) An unexpected' falling off m the import A-alues for 1909, as com paired/ '.with a steady increase some years previously :'} (2) from excessive importations during 1908 m anticipation of the coming into operation of an extended preferential tariff which took effect ' on the 31st df March of, that year. As far as hp had been, able to see tliere had been a considerable falling off iii the reA'cnue m almost all the more important, countries during the past financial year, and it should not be„ su.rprisuig, m view of /Wliat has taken platfe m many other countries, to an enormous extent proJiortioiiiately by comparison Avith . New Zealand, that our revenue should be beloAV what it Was the previous, year — a fall m our revenue wliich was predicted by him iii the '-la/it Budget; but the gratifying feature of this avos that the revenue avos higher than the expenditure by over £2i6,000;

Revenue receipts for the past five years had been ass follows: — 1904-05 ... ... £7,282,870 1905-06 £7,584,359 1906-07 ... ... £8,399,075 . 1907-08 ...' ... £9,055,946 1908-09 / ... ... £9,001,185 A calm revicAV of the ' position musf have a reassuring effect. A satisfactory feature of the year's transactions avus that £800,000 was transferred from ordinary ■ revenue * and paid into the public works fund. During the year they had been able! to reduce the floating -clebt Of £700,000 by a'further £150,000, and having, during the two, former years * paid off £300,000;' there had therefore been no less, a* sum than £460,000 of this amount paid-' off since ' the WaTd Government took office ; m other words' the indebtedness m three years had been reduced by £450,---000, the amount ndw-cmtstandui^.-'being fmiy £250,000, as compared with .£700,---600 tliree years ago. Jle spoke of the- satisfactory, loan arrangements made by the , Government, 4nd > m connection Avith' loans mentioned that m addition to the authorities already given,' Parliament authorised the raising of £l;260,00p for public works and £1,000,0C0 for the acquisition of tlie Manawata Railway,- and ; it might; come as a surprise to most people to knPAV that practically the -whole, of this; largo amount of money was raised m London on the most favorable terms, and with a minimum of cost to the Dominion.

In the Dominion itself the amount of money borrowed from the public Avas less than £100,000, and this amount Avas iaken up m the Dominion unsolicited. On the other hand a much larger sum had been paid off m this country for the redembtion of bonds failing due. Applications from local bodies for loans for roads and bridges had been much . larger than usual during the past year. This Avas no -doubt due to the difficulty local authorities .find m obtaining money at a reasonable rate of interest Avithin the Dominion. During year. £372,000 had been spent m the acquisition of land for settlement,

Apart from the financial operations he had mentioned £1,493,535' had been advanced m the AdVanceß to Settlers Department, /and £298,185 m the AdvanceH to Workers Department, a total of £1,792,019 actually paid out during the -financial year, Avhich Avas a. record for the Department, the increase on the

previous year's figures being £390,635. These figures shoAved how ridiculous was the statement which had been made by those avlio had been pin-pricking the Government, declaring that the Dc partment had been sliort of funds.

He liad no hesitation m saying thai the result of the past year Avent to show | ')ii Avhat a solid foundation the Dominion vested, and iv spite of the stringency, jf the money market there was a steadiness and , general confidence which -uurured Avell for prosperity. The expenditure, under both headings of permanent and annual appropriations, had considerably increased. He was not satisfied '-with, the way m which the expenditure Avas mounting ■ip, and felt that a reduction must be made; nnd it Avas for this reason thai the Government had already set toAvork 'o make reductions m the public service to the extent of at least £250,000 per annum. , He wished, however, to say that he did not think there was any cause for apprehension. He had that day revived a telegram from the Secretary for Customs, informing him that there" was an increase of £9600 m the Customs duties for the month of April, as compared with, the corresponding month last year. There Avas also a very MUCH BETTER FEELING

amongst commercial men throughout the country as to the prospects and conditions of trade, and the increase m the Customs duties Avas a healthy sign. During the year the sum oi £2,169,278 had been expended on public Avorks, asj against £1,874,438 spent m the previous year. The principal items of expenditure were : Raihvay construction £713,---000, additions to open lines £390,000, roads £469,000, public buildings £285,---000, telegraph extension £163,000. The business of the Post' and Telegraph Department had progressed m a most satisfactory manner. W T ith a heavy reduction of 50 pci 1 cent, m money-order commissions, m private box fees, cost of postal notes, etc., the revenue increased by £91,000, Teaching a total of £914,000 for the financial year just ended. At thia Tate of increaso the, million should not now be far off. Tlie total expenditure amounted to £8,075,000, leaving a substantial balance of £106,500 on the year's transactions. Of the, revenue the Post Office contributed £544,648. and the telegraph and telephone £369,352. Postal stamp sales, with £480,958, approached ' closely to half n million, and exceeded all other sources of revenue combined. That a reduction m orates is folloAved by increased business is showii by the fact that with a '50 per cent, reduction m money-order commissions there was during the first year an, increase of £46,600 m the orders issued. The 'increased work -thrown upon the Department affected all branches of the service. 'In--Creased Avork necessitated increased expenditure. An additional £25,000 was expended bn, mail services, and £27,000 for misceltypeous .expenses of manage*nient. .-0: ■ ' ■■'." \ ',' -■''■'■':

THE PEOPLE'S SAVINGS. Notwithstanding pessimistic reports, the deposits during the savings bank year ended December 31st, 1908, amounted to £9,674,075, an increase of £32,4J1 over the previous year, and the total amount at the credit of depositors rose from £11,523,231 to £12,592,294. Thus, £636,063 Avas added to the savings of the population m .1908, although m the Sejptembor and December quarters the iwithdnnvnl*- exceeded the deposits. It >vns a gratifying fact that m the March quarter this year the deposits were again Sn excess, and there Avas no indication so far that the, June quarter Avould reverse the satisfactory position, and ' the imputation that the savings bank is being* used as a channel for investment %vas not bprne out by, the fact that the increased amount deposited is due to an increase of over 55,000 m the number of transactions. The funds are well invested, and as a consequence £379,808 was last year distributed amongst savings bank depositors ' within the Dominion aa interest, Avhich might otherwise have been paid out to the foreign bondholder. The. remarks made by Mr Massey at a social gathering at Rangiriri arguod a lack of ordinary intelligence on the part of such depositors they py no means deserved. Tlie depositors kere wise enough. to know that although Governments may '" c6me and go,, the credit of the Dominion was ' pledged, for the repayment of such moneys. In order to pay interest on depositors' money, it was < essential that such , money should: be invested to produce at least a sum equal to that which the Government contracts to pay. What more desirable channel for such investment could be

found , than the purchase of debentures created under authority of .Parliament? It was -true .that- the stringency of the money market m tho latter part pf £he year, .resulted m ah excels of Avithdrawals over deposits m the September and December quarters. Such movements Avere , regarded as a natural sequence folknving the fluctuations of the money market. Other institutions at a time , of stringency raised the deposit rates. He did not follow that course as far.os the GoA-ernment savings bank deposits were concerned, as he was- of the opinion it would be unwise, and Avould have| the effect, of making hiphoy higher and more difficult toY obtain. Tavo hundred and fifty ihotwand of post office savings bank investments were loaned to lpcaj public bodies la^t year, so that, m addition to the Avhole of the security of the Government of the' country, the depositors had ; also they rating security of the -lofcal public bodies Avho borrowed money. . ■ . ...- ■ -„, o , ;■ ... < t [The Premier theiy went on to speak of other matters, AV'hich will' be found dealt .with nnder, separate headings.] :