THE SUPERINTENDENT'S EXPLANATION.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 391, 31 October 1868, Page 2

THE SUPERINTENDENT'S EXPLANATION.

To the Editor op the ' Nelson Examinee.'

Sir—l have been reminded by several electors of this city, that in my speech on Monday last upon the proceedings in Parliament, I made no mention of a matter of great interest to the people of this province, namely, the large over-payments made to the provincial treasury from the colonial chest during the financial year ending on the 31st of March last. It was my intention to refer to this matter, but somehow it escaped my memory at the time. The following extract from Uansa?'d, of part of the report of my

speech on the subject in the house of Representatives, on the 20th August, will explain how the matter stands : "He must say that, as far as the province of which ho was one of the representatives was concerned, the confusion in the accounts has been the cause of very great inconvenience. They had been perfectly at a loss to know what the state of their finances was in regard to that part of their revenue which they derive from the consolidated fund. He had been pleased for some time to sea large sums of money coming in, and believed that the ' Public Revenues Act' was very favorable for Nelson, because that province had larger sums of money to expend on public works than he had expected. That was all very well while it lasted, and when the Provincial Council met in April he was able to present them with a most favorable financial statement, founding his estimates on the amount of the consolidated revenue paid up to the 31st March. But in June he began to see that something was wrong, for from succeeding accounts it appeared that the Colonial Treasurer had been paying the province too much money, and when he came down to the session of the Assembly he investigated the matter at the Treasury, and found as the result of those investigations, that up •to the 31st of March last, a sum .of £13,800 had been paid to the province in excess of that to which it was entitled. Then he found the province in this disagreeable position, that it would bo obliged to refund the sum of nearly £14,000, and himself in the disagreeable position that he had entirely misled the Provincial Council and public of Nelson by stating that they might anticipate a much larger revenue than they could possibly have. He found, in fact, that the revenue for the year would be deficient by some £35,000, being this £14,000 that had to be refunded, and the consequent excess in the estimates for the current year, which hsid been calculated on the basis of the sums paid to the province out of the consolidated revenue during the six months ending on the 31st of March. He need not say that when the public found that certain public works which were to be executed in all parts of the province were suddenly discontinued, or not commenced, they would be very much displeased, and he had reason to expect a large amount of dissatisfaction would be felt with himself for having misled them. It could, therefore, be pretty well understood that he did not feel in a very pleasant state of mind towards the Colonial Treasurer or the Colonial Covernment, or anyone connected with the matter."

I have only to add that since these remarks were made a further error of £1,700 has been discovered, which increases the sum we have to refund to £15,500; and that as the amounts paid to us by the Colonial Treasurer were " estimated," and not founded upon actual calculation, the Provincial Government could have no suspicion that they were in excess of what they were entitled to received ; on fie contrary, they presume that there was still a balance of a few thousand pounds coming to them. The mischief, it will be seen, lies not merely in the fact that we have to repay a large sum of money which has been already expended, but more especially in the calculation of our revenue for the current year upon the basis of our receipts during the last — a basis which turns out to be alto-, gether fallacious. Our available provincial revenue for the present yeav was, from these errors on the part of the Colonial Grovernment, over-estimated to the extent of £35,000, and intended public works to that amount have consequently to be abandoned. I am, &c, Oswald Curtis. Nelson, Oct 19, 1868.