The Budget.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4542, 13 January 1893, Page 2

The Budget.

Wi have, some materials now by which we may examine the Budget for the current ■year;' ; : The surplus estimated (exclusive, of Supplementary Estimates) waßJß33o,oob. Of that £165,000. was cash of the previous year remaining after payment of various matters, in the nature of floating debt and so forth ; and £165,000 was the surplus of the current year. Now the current year's ordinary revenue was estimated at .£32,000 less than last year's. As it has already exceeded three-quarters of that" revenue by .£82,000, it is fair (the indications being still good) to expect another .£27,Q00 to be added to that by the end of the year. That is 4110,000 better than last year's revenue, and as the estimates of this year were lower than the revenue of last year by £32,000, the actual resulir will beat the estimate— if all goes well— by £142,000; To this must be added ,£15,000 on account of territorial revenue, being the difference as above between £82,000 and £93,000, with proportion added for the remaining quarter. The direct revenue was estimated at £350,000. Of this the* Land tax has given £295,000, and the Income tax of the Companies alone amounts to £45,000, which leaves £10,000 for the whole public to find. Putting the publio at £30,000, we may expect on this account a surplus of £20,000. As for the supplementary estimates, we may eliminate, them from the calculation on the assumption (not by any means unfair) that they will be found to have been balanced by savings in the general expenditure of the year. We put all these figures together as follows : — Surplus estimated by the Treasurer ... „ ... £330,000 Betterment of ordinary revenue 142,000. Betterment of land revenue ... 15,000 Betterment of direct taxation... 20,000 Total probable cash surplus on March 31, 1893 ... £507,000 Could any Treasurer deßire any better financial position? What a" reply to the croakers who predicted a financial collapse as the inevitable result of allowing any ! new departures in taxation. The constituencies gave their mandate at the election of 1890, the present Government obeyed it, ' and their finance has. come within three months of a cash surplus of over half a million.