UP TO EXPECTATIONS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18547, 6 November 1934, Page 5

UP TO EXPECTATIONS

NATIONAL FINANCES HALF-YEAR'S RETURN'S INCREASE IX REVENUE (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, hisl night. On iln' presontaiion of tin* Appropriation Rill to-night, i lie Rt, JI on, (!. Coatps reviewed the budgetary finances for tin' half-year ended September no. He said that as the bill tfns the final stage of the budgetary programme, members A* on Id, rio doubt, 'bb interested to know what progress had been recorded jii terms' of the consolidated fund finances for the first six months of the current financial vear.

The Budget, he continued, Was based on the expectation of a substantial increase in revenue compared with that received for last financial year.

The results for the half-year ended September 30 last are in accord with these expectations, and will show that the revenue for the period amounted to £9,900,125, compared with £8,204,008, an increase of £1,046,027. Of this increase, £1,300,000 represents buoyancy in taxation receipts, the principal items concerned being customs £.100,000, sales lax £160,000, highways £IOO,OOO, stamp and death duties, £310,000, The remaining £216,000 Of the increase came from interest and other receipts, ■ Practically every item contributing to the revenue is normally higher in the second half of the year, find in the last financial year only 31 per cent of the total revenue for the year was received during the first half of the year. For the current period, the receipts for the half-year represent 40 per cent of ihe Budget estimate, thus indicating that, so far, receipts are well up lo Budget expectations, EX PEN!) Print E CONTROLLED On tlie other side of the picture, expenditure for the six months amounted to £12,860,171. The main classes of expenditure involved. Were as follows: —Debt services, £1,826,000; exchange, £1,417,000; other permanent appropriations, £947,000; social services, £3,114,000; other votes £1,656,• 000; total, £12,860,000.,

'“This total,” said Mr Coates, “is approximately £1,000,00(1 ahead of the proportionate part of the Budget estimate, but f may explain that substantially the full amount allowed for debt repayment for the, year has already beeri-paid hut, and this item demounts for £710,000 of the apparent excess of expenditure, “Similarly, .the expenditure on exchange included covers the requirements for the whole year, in fact, there are some credits still to come, so that, the hot, expenditure for the year will lie slightly Jess than is shown for ihe half-year. * This item accounts for a further £710,000 of excess over the proportionate part, of the estimates. This means that other items were proportionately under-spent to the extent of the financial year, as it; is largely due to seasonal or accounting .fluctuations. “In the analysis the figures will show, however, that, the expenditure generally is being held within the aggregate allowed in the estimates. This satisfactory state of affairs, combined with the ’fact that the revenue is well up to expectations, supports the Budget forecast that, the year will close with a small surplus. Many factors are involved and not the least is the psychological reaction and interaction front the ..steps, already taken, and the proposals made for economic, rehabilitation generally. Trade, and industry are, of course, the basis upon Which 'the Budget rests, and, as Finance Minister, I am always on the look-out for indicationjs. of continued improvement, tip to the present, me trend of affairs shows that the budgeting was not. over optimistic,”