PUBLIC REVENUE AND ACCOUNTS RETURNS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 2842, 1 November 1883, Page 5

PUBLIC REVENUE AND ACCOUNTS RETURNS.

(By Teleobaph.) Wellington 1, Oct. 2i. The following are the Public Revenue and Accounts for the quarter ended 30th Sept., 1883 .— Ordinary Hcvenuo Account —Receipts — Balance on 30th June, 1883 : Cast m Public Account, £131,893 8?. Advances m the hands of officers of the Government : Colonial, £189,762 8s 8d; foreign, £75,714 3s 3d; total, £265,476 lls Id; grand total, £398,369 19s lid. Ordinary revenue: Customs: £360,1G5 153 2d; stamps (including postal cash receipts), £11-1,494 9s 7d ; property tax, £4518 7s 9d; beer duty, £12,119 10s Id j Railways, £205,893 13"s 4d ; Telegraph, £21,049 10s 7d ; Registration and other fees, £12,989 7s 2d ; Marine, £3427 6s 5d ; Miscellaneous, £7921 4s 9d ; total, £744,970 4s lOd. Territorial Revenue: Depasturing licenses, rents, etc., £15,284 Is sd; Miscellaneous, £3110 0s Bd. Total, £18,394 2s Id. Grand total, £763,364 6s lid. Recoveries on account of unauthorised expenditure of previous quarter, £2529 7s 4d ; Deficiency Bills issued under section 18 of the Public Revenues Act 1878, £100,030. Grand total of receipts, £1,263.263 14s 2d. The expenditure for the quarter was, Permanent Appropriations, Civil List, £7203 14s 8d ; interest and sinking fund, £455,295 12s lid ; under special Acts of the Legislature, £15,124 15s 3d ; -JEllesmerc and ForsytU reclamation and Akaroa Railway Trust, .6*12 19s 10d; total, £478,0-12 23 Bd. Annual appropriation by the Legislative, £14,281 13s Id ; Colonial Secretary, £61.032 15s 8d ; Colonial Treasurer, £22,01115s 9d ; Minister of Justice, £20,333 9s 2d: Postmaster-General, £65,260 3s od ; Commissioner of Customs, £20,933 los 2d; Cormnissionor of Stamps, £6930 14s lid; Minister of Education, £73,G09 143 9d ; Minister of Xative Affairs, £5108 9s 7d ; Minister of Mines, £4654 6s 8d; Minister of Public Works, £223,719 19s Id ; Minister of Defence, £44,611 5s 3d ;—total, £572,488 2s 6d. Services not provided for, £399 lls Bd. Grand total. £1,050,929 16s lOd. The balance on the 30;h September, 1883, was :— Cash m the public account, £8976 lls od; advances m the hands of the officers of the. Government, colonial £152,017 7s 9d, foreign £52,239 1& 2d, total £204,257 5s lid;— grand total, £212,333 17s 4d. The grand total of expenditure was £1,263,263 14s 2d. The Land Fund Accou*' for the quarter was as follows .—ReeeiW*—Balance on Juno 30th, 1883, cash v. the Public Account, £60 434 14s 6d • Advances m the hands of tho Government- colonial £27,821 16s 7d, foreign £668 14* pll s ' lllK' 5!1* 03 01" ce 'l 5' J > £53,785 2s 9,1. (!„ on deferred payments, £26,604 93 13,7; recoveries on account of unauthorised expenditure of previous quarter, £160 9s ; total receipts, £169,474 17s Bd. Expenditure— Under special Acts of tlic Legislature on the third of the proceeds of laud sold on deferred payments paid over to local bodies, £4763 17s lOd; New Plymouth Harbor Board endowment, £828 6s Id ; Ellesmere and ITorsylh Reclamation and Akaroa Railway Trust, £1465 Is ; annual appropriation, Minister of Lands, £12,245 18s 6d ; Colonial Treasurer, £1660 9s ; services not provided for, £900 0s 9d ; balance on 30th September 1883, cash m public account. £101,689 3s 2d ; advances m the hands of the officers of the Government, colonial, £15,376 ltis lOd; foreign, £545 14s 3d; total expenditure, £169,474 17s Bd.

Piscatorial. —-What is believed to be a real Californiau salmon was killed m the Opihi vivcr on Thursday by Mr M. S. Black, Mr G. C. Miles being with him at the time. The tish weighed fully three pounds., and provided excellent sport to^the angler before it was landed. Tho difference between this particular fish and ths trout is stated to be very marked, not only as regards shape, but also m marking, fins, &c. Mr Black, we understand, is preserving the skin of tho fish, and wo shall look forward with no little, intercut to its being submitted to v competent, authority to cay viietlier it is that of v real ealmou ur not.

THE CHATTELS SECUBITIES ACT. [From the Tijiabit Hbbald, Oct. 26.] The Chattels Securities Act 1880 Amendment Act 1883 is a Statute whieb, owing, perhaps, to its somewhat misleading name, has not hitherto attracted as much attention as it deserves. Many people who have noticed that such an Act was passed last session, probably imagine that it is one of these dry Law Statutes which somehow or other seem never to make any difference to anybody. Under that comfortable delosion the public have taken little notice of the Act. The time is not far distant, however, when a good many of them will b*^ occasion to take rather P&»" rf '™ ai ' notice of it. The " shor>^ ltle " as it is called with pleasins>"* on y> i Bas we Lave given it, the J*& ttela Securities Act 1880 Amep-flfieat Act 1883 ;~ a very fair^-*' r^ a a c mouthful for a short >rtfeT This may mean pretty nearly anything you please. The '■' long title," however, is "An Act to make further provisions m retation to Bills ,of Sale ;" and that, it mil readily be seen, is a matter which tradesmen will do well to make themselves acquainted with. We do not wish to alarm anybody: but we think :t right to mention that the Chattels Securities Act 1880 Amendment Act j 1883 is catenated to shut up jalf the draper's shops m the iolony, s<iid revolutionize the retail ;rade generally. The Act is to •ome into force on the first of January 1884, and it is to apply to every Bill of Sale made or given after that date. The aperative clauses of the Act m which traders and financiers are most directly concerned are as follows : — 3. Every bill of sale shall bo deemed to bo riven on, and shall only take effect from, the lay on which auch bill is actually executed. 4. No bill of sale shall have any legal *«cc or effect nhleS3 it shall set forth a f"U> true, md clear statement of the entiro amount of money paid or value of any goods supplied by the grantee thereof to tb» grantor m consideration whereof snot bill is given, distinguishing m such ocatement the amount of money paid or value of any (roods supplied respectively prior to the execution o£ such bill of sale and contemporaneously therewith. 5. Every bill of sale shall have annexed thereto, or written thereon, a schedule containing an inventory of the personal chattels Comprised m the bill of sale ; and such bill of sale shall ba valid only m respect of the personal chattels comprised m the said schedule, and shall, so far as regards the properly m or right to tho possession of any personal chattels not comprised m saoh schedule, be void and of no effect, except so far aa relates to trade fixtures, machinery, plant, and appliances fixed or substituted m place of the like contained m said schedule. 6. No bill of sale shall be valid, or have any affect as regards any goods or ohattels acquired ■>y the grantor after execution of snch bill of sale. _7. All personal chattels seized under or by rirtuo of any bill of sale may remain on the >remises where they were so seized, and shall lot be removed or sold without the written consent of the grantor until after the expiration >f five clear daya from the day they were so teized. Now, we are given to understand that egal opinions differ very widely as to .he practical effect of these provisions ; md the lawyers are looking forward to i grand reaction from the present dull ■imes as soon as the Act comes 'ully into operation. It is said ;bat this short and apparently simple Statute is calculated to produce more itigation, and more tedious and costly itigation, than any other passed last lession. And some of the others are juite bad enough m that respect. The ;rnth is the Act is only short m regard ;o the actual lineal measurement of its ilauses, and only simple m the sense m which a man is said to be a simpleton who imagines he is doing a very fine ihing when m fact he is doing some;hing very foolish and mischievous. £a tlie first place there seems to be x>nsiderable doubt as to whether Bills of Sale made or given before the coming into force of the Act, will really come under its operation or not. If not, if the wording of the Act is to be interpreted literally and strictly, then the existence of a great number of Bills of Sale, drawn m extremely comprehensive terms, prior to the first of January next, may enable many traders to evade or at least to escape from its operation for a long time to come. They will simply arrange Bills of Sale over the goods m particular premises for various amounts and extending to distant periods ; and, as far as those Bills of Sale go, of course, the Act might as well have never been passed. Another supposition, however, and a more reasonable one is, that though Bills of Sale current on the first of January will be valid with reference to all goods or amounts covered or secured by them at that date, they will not be valid or have any effect as -egards any goods or chattels acquired •y the grantor after that date. In ther words, the 3rd, 4th, and sth lanses of the Act will not apply to Bills f Sale made or given before the first of anuary ; but the 6th clause, the most tnportant, will apply to all Bills of Sale fithout exception. This point alone hould suffice to bring joy to many a 3gal breast, and. relieve that "just-'uried-my-grandmother" sort of look fbicb at present overshadows the earned visage of too many of our minent lawyers. Be the correct solution of that •roblem what it may, however, the proisions of the Act which are comparaively clear and free from ambiguity oo clear by half, indeed — are enough to aake many a -worthy citizen mindful ■f his latter end. The effect of the Let will be to make it exceedogly difficult for tradesmen to ;et goods on"credit at all; for the eason that the customary Bill of --Sale ver their stock, which is the safest ah& dost convenient security of the wholeale dealer, will no longer be available or that purpose. Hitherto it has been he practice for a large firm, a whole;ale dealer, or a capitalist to Bupply the imaller houses with goods or money as •equired by their business, on the lecnrity of a Bill of Sale covering all iheir stock, whatever it may consist of it any time during the currency of the :>ill of sale. Goods are sold from lay to day, and fresh goods come n from time to time. Sometimes the ?alue actually covered by the Bill of Sale is more, sometimes less ; but the jrantee is always secured to the amount represented by the stock whatever it may be. Under the new Act all this will be changed. The Bill of Sale will need to set forth, m detail the precise jjoods which it covers ; and it will not cover any goods that come into stock after the date of its execution. Thus the security of the grantee will be a constantly diminishing quantity. That js to say, ho will not have any security, >* his client is to be allowed to do any business ; and tho consequence will be

. }that he will declino to supply the goods or to make the advances, as the case may be. It is no secret, we presume, that many businesses, especi- ; ally m the soft goods trade, are carried ' on almost entirely under this system of ' continuous credit and Bills of Sale; 1 and, if our understanding of tb»;'Act is ; anything like correct, those businesses 1 will come to a melan^% standstill ! very shortly after tUo' iil ' 8t of January ' 1884. Z'' 1 Some peqpJ'O )ev k a P s > will say that ; will be,^* cr y 8 00( l thing, because : cashx^de * 8 healthier than credit ! tr*^- Very well; — if that is clearly iJtinderstood on all hands, by all meana let us establish the cash system and prepare ourselves for the worst. But we do not think it is clearly understood and we do not believe the public are at all prepared for anything of the sort.