The Timaru Herald THURSDAY, JULY 15, 1909. DOMINION FINANCES.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13955, 15 July 1909, Page 4

The Timaru Herald THURSDAY, JULY 15, 1909. DOMINION FINANCES.

There lias been' a seo-saw about the' Dominion's finance hist year between -Mr Kent, chairman of the' Auckland Chamber of Commerce, and the Hon. Mr Millar, Acting Finance Minister, and some puzzlement in other quarters. I ( or the latter the Premier and the A'-ii"." Premier are chiefly to blame. The former, before going' Home, said tho finances were in good condition; vet also said that drastic retrenchment was necessary. The latter publishes, a. statement that the receipts for the June quarter were larger than those for the same quarter last year; yet also savs there is no money to spare to provide work for unemployed' or public works. • The two things are distinct, but the public generally take them to be .closely connected. Mr Kent was right in one sense. He contended that £BOO,OOO which was transferred last year from the Consolidated Hevenue to the Public AVorlcs Fund should be treated as expenditure lor the year. Of course it has been spent. But lie declined to take into account a balance of nearly the same amount brought forward from tho preSmnnn' 1 '- for this the A 800,000 could not have been transferred, and tho Public Works Fund would have been shprt last vear, instead of this year. The revenue of tin Consolidated Fund was otilv a little smaller last year than it'was tin., year he lore, hut the expenditure was over half a million greater. Then* uas nevertheless an excess of rovenun over expenditure exceeding £200,000. Tho transfer of £800.001) to public works absorbed the balance at'tho beginning of the year and £30,000 of the. year's surplus, leaving this at £IBI,OOO. Jt was probably that increase of over half a million in the expenditure from the Consolidated L' mid that caused a scare in tho Treasury, and the sudden decision to applv ilie tomahawk, although £200,000 of the increase was due to the cost of the gt neral election and the licensing polls, and paying oif £150,000 of Treasury bills—part of a long-standing ite» v of Dominion 1.0.U.s to the Banlc. Jt is clear that with the big balance of last year reduced to about a fourth of its dimensions this year, there can bo | no such transfer made to the Public Works Fund as has been customary for some years. And at this point another question crops up, which has not been answered. The revenuo return for the June quarter has been published, but not the expenditure; and the belief is common that every cent that can bo got in is collected before the end of a financial year, and that every payment that can bo delayed is put off, so as to make a better surplus. This tactic would be useless in the long run, of course, but at the moment, in a year when the finance :!s at all strained, it would serve to put, a better face on the financial statement. To turn to the Public Works Fund. Mr Kent's contention stands, that the £SOO.OOO transferred has been spent. At the end of March there was only £354,000 in tlifc fund, "u ith

£50,000 of loan money authorised hut r.ot received. Adding this, Sir Joseph Ward said the total £434,000 would not carry on the public works in hand beyond the present month, and a fresh loan must be authorised. The loan was authorised, but as it must take seme little time to negotiate it, the Public Works Fund threatened to run out. Hence, no doubt, Mr Millar's tight hold on the purse strings in the meantime. Fortunately it seems to he his nature to apply the curb rather than the spur. He quite evidently does not believe in " galloping to a deficit.'"