BUDGET FACTS AND FIGURES.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 7917, 11 August 1917, Page 4 (Supplement)

BUDGET FACTS AND FIGURES.

Tt3 revenue and expenditure for the year 1916-17 as compared with tile previous financial year, reveals an aggregate increase oi £3,857,41U, the respective figures being:—l9l7, £18,367,047: 1916, £14,510,137. Tho increased expenditure for the same comparative period is shown as £1,065,663. The statement of the Public Works Fund shows a balance, as at 3ist March, of £521,525. Tho amount paid into the credit oi tho Public Account during the financial year immediately preceding the war aggregated £17,000,000, while the total lodgments for last year exceeded £50,. 000,000. The average cost of raising the last three loans in London prior to the war was 3£ per cent., and the average cost of raising two loans in New Zealand during the war was three-eighths of a pound per cent. The values of imports (calculated at invoice value plus 10 per cent, which is tho value entered lor ad valorem duties) as compared with the tonnage landed, will give some idea of the increase in the valite of merchandise as compared with the period before the outbreak of war. The totals work out thus:— Value. Tons. 1914 £21,856,096 1,538,755 1915 21,728,834 1,370,057 1916 26,339,283 1,299,944 The comparative figures showing the valuo3 of imports and exports for the financial years 1915-16 and 1916-17 are: Imports. Exports. 1915- ...£22,917,437 £33,781,711 1916- ...£26,162,706 £30,538,460 Had all the shipping space required been available, it is possible that the value of exports for 1910-17 would have equalled that of the previous year. The net land-tax and income-tax receipts for the past year amounted to £4,975,244, made up of land-tax £713,118, income-tax £4,262,126, and compared with tile collection for the previous year show an increase of £2,534,769. The amount of revenue collected through the Post and Telegraph Department during the year was £1,815,558. It includes tho war tax of id. on each article of postal matter excepting newspapers, and the 2d. war tax cn telegrams. Notwithstanding the fact that over £1,415,000 war loan certificates were sold by the Post Office, the Savings Bank business reached an unprecedented total, the deposits being £15,576,408, and the withdrawals £12,957,420. The balance standing to credit of Post Office Savings Bank depositors readied the very considerable total of £25,603,209, an increase of £3,436,844. The money-order and postal-note business was normal. Of tho total revenue, postages produced £913,458, telegrams £413,854, and telephone exchanges £317,275, the difference being made up of miscellaneous items. STAMP DEPARTMENT. This year the amount collected was £1,699,035, as against £1,470,307 last year, an increase of £228,728. The revenue from the totalisator, due to tho increased duties under the Finance Act and the additional investments by the public during the year, shows a marked increase—viz., from £179,547 in 1915-16 to £251,436 in 1916-17. LAND REVENUE. The gross revenue received from Crown and endowment lands during the year amounted to £1,241,366. Tho total area proclaimed as available for selection by discharged soldiers to date, 31st March 1917, is 337,961 acres, comprising 712 holdings. Up to the 31st March, 1917, 384 discharged soldiers ajid members of the Expeditionary Force have been placed on holdings, the total area allotted being 309,092 acres. Up to the 31st March last advances amounting to £62,421 were authorised to 199 soldier-settlers. Of this sum, £30,316 was advanced to 143 men. The advances were made under the Discharge ed Soldiers' Settlement Act, 1915, for tho purpose of enabling buildings to be erected, bushfelling, fencing, ana ploughing to bo done; and in addition assistance has been given to purchase stock, comprising cattle, sheep, horses, and pigs, also seed oats, wheat, and potatoes. Grass seed and fencing wire have been purchased in bulk and distributed to many of these settlers in accordance with their requirements, and the value thereof secured by mortgage. STATE FIRE INSURANCE. For tho past year the volume of business and profits derived by the State Fire Insurance Office have exceeded all previous records. The net premium for 1916 amounted to £82,694, as compared with £76,299 for the previous year, showing an increase of £6395. The net porfits, after placing £IOOO to Investment Fluctuation Reserve and £2577 to Unearned-premium Reserve, amounted to £35,697. The largest profit previously recorded amounted to £25,652, for the year 1915. PENSIONS. The gross payments made by way of pensions in New Zealand during the year amounted to £176,982, to which must bo added tho amounts paid to dependents of returned soldiers, who subsequently became pensioners, by Vay of allotment after the date of casualty, and also payments made to pensioners residing in Great Britain and Australia by the High Commissioner and Commonwealth pension authorities respectively, amounting in all to another £15,000 at present of which amount some £7500 only had been brought to chargo at the close of the year. The current expenditure in connection with the war may be estimated at approximately £1,900,000 a month. Although the public-works expenditure will be kept as low as possible during the current year, it will be necessary during this session to ask the House for an additional authority of £750,000. Of this amount £250,000 will bo required for telegraph extension. No public loan will, however, be required for these purposes. The result of the year’s operations shows a credit balance, at 31st March, of £6,474,854. “This credit balance,’* tho Minister says, “is large, and w;as intended by mo to be so. The Dominion’s financial war requirements are enormous, but not more than the country can stand. There is a considerable shrinkage in the revenue this year, and it is imperative that the Consolidated Fund should bo in such a position that it can make up any loss of revenue, and also, if necessary, contribute a [portion of the means required for carrying on tho war.”

The progress of the National Provident Fund has been maintained, and the general membership at the 31st March last numbered 10,143. with accumulated funds amounting to £135,000. Maternity benefits during the year

191 G totalled £3770. claimed i contributors. . The progress shown by the j ment of Tourist and Health I in last year’s Financial State* been continued. Tile direct- r returns disclose an increase ® over last year, having risen l'r°® 048 to £33,136. Owing to the continuance of» there was a great falling off in * her of immigrants arriving in ta® nion during the year ended 31st 1917. At the conclusion of tne is proposed to inaugurate a ni° rf ous immigration policy, and ® provision which will enable * of widows and orphans of * al diors and sailors to emigrate Zealand. „ ... The net profits of the Pnnl Office for the year arc, apP ri l*. £59,000. This i« the highest® tory of the office.