The Wanganui Chronicle WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 1931. GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 189, 12 August 1931, Page 6

The Wanganui Chronicle WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 1931. GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE.

JN THE LAST three years the Government expenditure has increased and decreased as follows :-

The total increase in expenditure during the two years was therefore £2,553,036, while the decline of £492,840 this year makes the increase in Government expenditure during the three years just over two millions sterling. The permanent appropriations and annual appropriations are as follows:—•

The permanent appropriations have, therefore, increased by £791,266, and the annual appropriations have decreased by £260,152 during the three years under review. The permanent appropriations naturally tend to increase. The increases for the year 1931 over the permanent appropriations of the previous year as as follows: — £ Civil List ~ ■ 334 Debt Services .. 220,370 Pensions 102,047 Motor Taxation . . .. 333,351 Compensation for stock destroyed .... 407 Decreases have occurred in the following:— Grants and Subsidies 561,470 Salaries and Honaria 5,635 Sundry Advances .. 165,477 Transfer to Discharged Soldiers Settlement Depreciation Account .. 50,000 Miscellaneous 65,669 It will be seen that the Motor Taxation, Debt Services, and Pensions provide the lion’s share of the increases. Leaving Motor Taxation aside for the time being Debt Services and Pensions must be regarded temporarily as inevitable increases. The major decrease is to be found in Government grants and subsidies. Included in this is a decline of £73,000 to hospitals and charitable institutions; £14,826 in the grant to education; £216,452 to Superannuation Fund and the National Provident Fund; a reduetion of £219,688 in grant to local authorities on rates; £29.929 less to the Working Railway Account; and £7,575 less in the contribution to the Singapore Naval Base. There is a decline also of £5,635 in salaries and honaria. Tn toto, the permanent appropriations, when compared with those of the previous year show increases £656,509, with decreases £848,251. It must be said, therefore, that the Government has exercised a restraining hand in so far as the permanent appropriations are concerned, a field wherein exists a considerable resistance to reductions.

In the annual appropriations there is more facility for reduction in expenditure. The increases in the annual votes in 1931 over 1930 total £238,095, while the decreases total £539,193, a net decrease of £301,098. The year 1930 saw a net increase in the annual appropriations of £40,946, while the previous year saw a net increase of £163,863. In other words the present Government increased annual appropriations by £204,809 in two years and then reduced the total by £301,098 in the third year, which makes a net economy of £96,289 for the periodThe foregoing analysis indicates that although the economies for the year at first look impressive, a net saving of £96,289 for the Government’s period of office is not a lot to be thankful for, and when it is remembered that there has been a decrease in the vote of the Defence Department of some £177,029 in 1931, as compared with that of the previous year, further economies in the real sense, in the Government’s expenditure, seem to be possible.

Year. Expenditure. Increase on previous yeai £ £ 1928-29 .. . . .. 24,176,928 + 1,529,082 1929-30 .. . 25,200,882 + 1.023,954 1930-31 .. . 24,708,042 492,840

Permanent Annual appropriation, appropriation Year. £ £ 1928-29 ... . .. 16,244,597 7,932,331 1929-30 17,277,605 7,973,277 1930-31 17,035,863 7,672,179