Parliamentary.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XVIII, Issue 1720, 14 August 1885, Page 3

Parliamentary.

SUPPLEMENTARY FINANCIAL STATEMENT. The following is the full test of the Statement : Mr Hamlin,—lt will be remombered that the proposals of the Budget resulted in an anticipate! surplus of L32,1y3. This result w;.s airivP'l at after provision was made for Pfi'.jn- on LoO.OOO of the deiicit of 1883-4, LOoUO on uecuuiit oi the first's .year classifiCitiou.d the Civil Service. and'L7s,OoO for sahfidics to loctl bodies. Ihe House declined to make the changes :n the tariff which we recommended, which would have left us an addition to the Customs revenue of about L7O 000. Certain alterations which were made in the Bill providing for an amendment of the succession duties will involve a reduction of the stamp revenue of about L 30.000. I do not feel it safe also to rely on quite fo much revenue from the railway* as was anticipated. They will realise more if the price of grain rise, but, as it is, I think it safer to be prepared for a less amount of net revenue than was anticipated, 'ihe loss from this source I set down at Li 7,000, which means less reoeipts to the extent of L 66.000, and less expenditure to the sum of Llfi,oGo. We have, therefore, the Budget disturbed to the extent of— Customs revenue £70,000 Stamps 30,000 Railways (net, including reduction of expenditure and receipts).. ~ 47,000 £147,000 The Supplementary Estimates will not, I anticipate, exceed L 12.000, so that I shall have to provide in ail, from various sources , LIS'.J,OOO to make up the amount. The surplus to which I have previously referred at once, provides 132,000, and it has already been announced that toe Government intend not to provide for the deiicit of 1883-84 this year. I shall ask that the deficiency bills already authorised for this deficit be extended until the 30th June, 1887. It has also been stated that we propose to charge to the Public. Works Fund L 25,000 on account of external defence. The statments'which have been made as to the falling off of revenue are grossly iuaccurate. For example I have seen it stated that for the three items of Customs, Railwaya and Stamps, the revenue actually collected for the four months eimiu» Jnlv 31st is less by L 70.000 than tub estimated revenue. The tact, however is that on these items the loss in the estimated amouut for the four months is only L 21.000. Some part of the receipts, however, include customs revenue paid in anticipation of increased duties. Viewing all the conditions, I have thought it prudent to provide for the diminished revenues which I have already stated, although these reductions are notably larger than on the receipts of the first four months. It is with regret I announce that the Government do not feel themselves justified in proceeding with the classification of Civil servants this year. Seeing the extent to which their anticipations of revenue have been disturbed, they do not think it would be acceptable to the House or to the country that they should undertake for the next few years the liubility to additional expenditure which classification in any B bape would undoubtedly entail. The House must, however, remember that a certain amount of increase on present salaries is demanded in bare justice :o many ill-paid officers. Instead of the LOoCO increase they proposed to ask, they will ask for L 2-300. One thousand pounds of the amount they propose shall bo allocated to the Post Office, and the balance to other departments, but in no case to officers win .-:u t-iUrits exceed L 250 a year. The Government feel as strongly as possible the desirability of retrenching the expenditure to the utmost extent possible o..usi,tei:t with efficiency. As I pointed out when Im.de the Financial Statement, the costly nature, of the Civil Service depends largely or. the conditions with which oilicers' appuintments aro hedged round, What with iertvus of absences find allowances, the dispensing with officers is attended with extra expenditure tor a considerable period, and the cases are numerous in which officers (lispit.sod with tiller back into the service. Oi c .'jrse, the rights of officers already in the s-rvice cannot he interfered with, but we shall hrtng in a Bill providing for different terms oi engiscmt-ut for officers taken mto the service after the passage thereof The artmlgimation of large departments will be another soutce of economy, which should be kept in nnud when Under-Secretaries retire. Another plan we have in view, which will conduce both to economy and efficiency, is to train up cadets into an acquaintance with tho duties ut several departments, with a view to am ilgamatiug the duties of officers in different p.uts of the country, and lessening their number.

u hj ive anxiously searched the estimates ovc-r with the object of finding items for saving eij.eu.mme. 1 regret we are not able to do uiui.-h. Wo nro willing to reduce the vote for Aimed Constabulary and Defence by LIO.OOO, and f flunk wo may utv-e some thousands in tbe cs. Lii.iituro of other departments without, However, taking less Votes than those set down. It will be necessary, instead of making tbu ft '(Vo tv tax thro-- Mi things, to add an eighth audio mdteit seven eights of a penny. I may observe also tint under tho new Properly Bill it is expected that LIO.OOO will l e added to the amount of property tax jstmiated in the Financial Statement. I b .ve already shown wu require to make up Ll.V.Uiuj for dimitiishe.l levenuo an,l foi' supplementary totiimues. The various itema iu ,u lof tiiiri t to which I havo ycpfiiutcly reftnud, may now bo summed un as follows , Surplus shown by Financial Statelu"llt L.82,000 Part of deficit, ISS3-81, postponed.. 50,000 External defence charged to Public Works Fuud 25,000 Savings in Armed Constabulary and , defence .. ~ .. .. 10,000 Deduction in vote for Civil Service Classifie ition -1,000 Property tax underestimated .. 10,000 Property tax additional one eighth of 11 1'vuny 17,000 L 178.000 Tins will leave n surplus of £IO,OOO after providing (or ill - Supplement try Estimates, 1 1 the eileut i-i f.l2.i)i.H», and i hope they will not exceed t!iat amount. I wni l have eiiierred adhering to the arrangements nropo.-ed by the iiudget, and I ..eii&i e that to have .lone so would have been iu-ie lei tiie uitelest of tile Ceiuuy. Tile -.un-mute, however, of an additional eighth of a p. any to the property tax is not very oneiouj, and with its aid we have the light to expect a small ampins at the end of the year.