The Star. WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 1904. THE BUDGET.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8061, 13 July 1904, Page 2

The Star. WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 1904. THE BUDGET.

The Budget does not suffer frc-m. brevity. It runs into eleven columns of newspaper type and refers to a multitude of subjects, some irrelevant to ; Budgets, others not. However^ as the Colonial Treasurer- has a very pleasant tab to tell, and, moreover, has told it with commendable promptitude, " none but his most dysI- peptic critics will object to his method >oi t^lliag 1 it. He might have made ft shorter with advantage, but if he chooses to burden it with unnecessary detail that is his business. It hag long been known thaj>* the ln?.t financial year ended with .a considerable surplus. . The exact figures as disclosed in. the Financial Statement show that this surplus amounted to £649,740. The revenue -'totalled £7,130,116 and the expenditure £6,784,281. If we add the difference between tiheEe two sums to the balance carried forward iiorii last yenr we get the surplus. But in estimating the yielding capacity of ijhe 'Consolidated Fund' during the year we must not omit to take into -conridofatioii the fact that £350,000 was transferred from it to the Public Works Fund. Had no such transfer been ma<U> the. surplus afc the end' of the year would 'have amdtmb6d to £999,740Of this huge su-xa i'io toss thain £695,835 represents excess of revenue over expendi Iture during the twelve months ended March • SI, 1904. Compared with the eilimatcs, the' foregoing" figures show a remarkable increase. The actual revenue Was no " less than £601,516 in excess of the estimated revenue, and the actual expenditure exceeded the estimated Expenditure by £178,424^ while tße actual feurplus, after transferring £550,000 to the Public Works Fund, was about £75,000 above the- estimate. The- critics of the Government will find.soHi© difficulty in discrediting' these figures. .Probably they will fall back on the cry that huge surpluses are bad finance. So, no doubt, they aire in certain circumstances. When money is plentiful and it is an easy matter to float loans for public works, a largo surplus means unnecessary exactions from the taxpayer. When, however, as is the erase at present, the money market is "tight," it follows that, unless public works are suspendedj funds must be drawn from tho taxpayer. ' Happily, the" Government is in the pleasant position of being able to carry on its public works- construction 'for the present year without either making fresh demands on the taxpayer or borrowing on a large scale. It began the year with a 'balance of some £55,00D to the credit- of the Public Works Fund, ■with- cash and advances in hand estimated at £538,500, and with the prospect of being able to get rid 1 of £416.000, which, roughly speaking, represents the unallotted portion of the last half -million loan. By adding- together these amounts it will be seen that a. sura of. £809,852 was available at the beginning of the yeaar. To this maybe added contributions from, the Consolidated Fund and a, loan of £750,000 for which authority is to be sought, and we have a sum of nearly two million available for public works. Tho loaai, of course, is the peg on which the Government's critics- will hang ' most of their denunciatifinfe df the Government's financial policy. 1 We are fcold this morn'ifig, for instance,, that it is evidence that Mr Seddon is quit© incapable of practising what he preaches in the direction of economy. Probably we^ha]l hear a great deal more, with regard to the colony's debt, and the fact that it increased "by £1,478,548 during the year just ended. But, if the critics of the Government 'ate honesty they will bs \careful to discriminate; as the Colonial Treasurer does/ 02---tw&eh reproductive ~ and uhi^pfoductive^ debts. l( they will follow' this course," they will be forced to admit that the colony's unproductive indebtedness per head of its population has nob grown, but de*. creh.92d. Apart from the question of indebtedness, there is ho item of the-F"ina&» cial Statement which is Calculated* to disturb th& most ' pessiinistic of -financiers! The expenditure lias gfoWn, it isiiruej but the growth is small, compared with the increase of revenue, and it is chiefly in those departments are revehiie-eafnihg. Tlis refceipts from tMse depaftmerlts have still further increased, the railway revenue having, for th§ first time in the history' of tire cdlodyj exceeded two millions 5 ' and stamps, customs, \land and inebme taxi post, and telegraph", in fact,- ill -the items, except tefritbrjal . revenue, show considftrabie increAse^ In view of these «Hnd various aecdaapa^ying sighs of prosperity, the Treasufer" is fully justified in anticipating anotlief^ large safpltis U th& eloso of th6 cuiTent year. Hi3 estimate th^t bbe ¥6yeniie.- ■t*ill. be and theexpenditure £6j601,412, cannot by any pfot«9» of tea.spning ]^^ft tt> foe eitceajve.