DOMINION REVENUE.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 24, 5 March 1914, Page 5

DOMINION REVENUE.

MINISTER OF FINANCE-PLEASED. Pleasure with the state of the revenue of the Dominion for the past eleven months of the financial year was expressed by the Hon. J. Allen, Minister of Finance, in talking with a SUN representative this morning. "The returns made up for the month just closed," added Mr Allen, "show that the increase—over the corresponding months of last year—the revenue for the eleven months of the financial year now completed, is £432,197. Of this increase no less than £266,765, came in February, this being chiefly due to the payment of the income tax. '' The revenue generally has been more than up to expectations, with the exception of the railway revenue, which has fallen short because of the upset to trade and traffic caused by both the strike and the epidemic of smallpox in the North." It is certain that the Minster of Finance would have been just a little better pleased if the railway revenue had not been affected by the strike, for a good railway year would have obviated any possible anxiety at all, and enabled increases in the railwaymen's wages and other things to be. done with greater comfort than might be the case. This aftermath of the strike was just another little indication of how strikes unfortunately reacted upon those least able to bear them.