THE PUBLIC ACCOUNTS

Taranaki Daily News, 1 June 1927, Page 9

THE PUBLIC ACCOUNTS

FINANCIAL YEAR REVIEWED SURPLUS OVER HALF A MILLION. SUMMARY OF TRANSACTIONS. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. The public acct tints for the year ended March 31, 1927, appear in a special Gazette this week. The Minister of Finance lias issued the following summary of the transactions in the ordinary revenue account during the year: The receipts during the year were: Revenue, £24,313,982; departmental and other receipts, £629,125; total, £24.943,107. The expenditure during the year (less credits in aid) consisted of: Permanent appropriations, £14,264,945; annual appropriations, £10,091,020; total, £24,355,965. This left a surplus of £587,142. The balance brought forward at April 1, 1926, was £4,428,092. Add to this the surplus of £587,142, reparation moneys received from Germany (£39,307), and the recovery from the Cheviot Estate account in terms of the Finance Act, 1926, section 25 ( £50,400), and there is a total of £5,104,941. From this has to be deducted the amortization of debt, £588,868; charges and expenses of redemptions (war expenses loans), £l3; transfer to the Bank of New Zealand shares account in terms of the Finance Act, 1926, section 8, representing £750,000; preference B shares at cost, £750,000; transfer to th“ Bank of New Zealand shares account in terms of the Appropriation Act, 1926, section 17, first instalment for the purchase of C long term mortgage shares, £58,494; temporary transfers to other accounts in terms of Public Revenues Act, 1926, section 40, £26,000; making a total of £1,423,475. The balance at March 31, 1927, was: Cash and imprests outstanding, £1,987,876; investments, £1,693,590; total, £3,681,466. The revenue shows an increase of £217,345 over last year. The principal increases and decreases are as under:— INCREASES. Postal and telegraph— £148.823. Income Tax— £53,700. Interest on railway capital liability—: £100,122. Departmental receipts—s7,49l. DECREASES. Customs — £131,302. Land tax— £37,592. Interest on public debt redemption fund— £33,814. An increase of £785,882 in expenditure over the previous year will be found, mainly under permanent appropriations, where the principal increases are:—lnterest, £317,995; special Acts, £27’2,280. The principal increases under special Acts are: Subsidies paid to hospital boards, £34,721; cost of maintenance of war graves and memorials overseas, £36,655; refunds to racing clubs of proportion of totalisator duty, £31,174; subsidy to Railway Department on account of losses on branch lines and isolated sections, £84,238; fruit export guarantee, £82,619; pensions (other than war pensions), £93,407.

The principal decreases under special Aets are: —War pensions, £56,811; advance to the British and South Seas Exhibition during 1925-26, which did not recur, £30,000. Under the annual appropriations the increase is only £107,865, and the principal items of increase or decrease are:—

Increases. —Public buildings, £15,009; Department of Internal Affairs, £28,418; naval defence, £85,820; Defence Department, £33,981; Customs Department, £14,121; Department of Agriculture, £29,877; Education Department, £99,878. .

Decreases.—’Post and telegraph working expenses, £03,353; Department of Industries and Commerce, £56,592; Electoral Department, £91,410.