THE BUDGET.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVIII, Issue 1987, 24 November 1863, Page 2

THE BUDGET.

I The present northern mail brings parliamentary intelligence of more than ordinary interest and importance. Evidently we are entered on a lengthy contest, in which m'He by mile the country has to be conquered and occupied, ere we shall see the end. But with this dismal prospect before us, it is cheering to see that every preparation is being made to attain out objects at whatever cost. On the 10th inst the Hon Reader Wood, the Colonial Treasurer, made his annual financial statement to the House. It discloses some very satisfactory indications of the growing prosperity of the Colony during the past two years. The Southern Cross gives the following figurei :•— "In 1860 the estimated value of imported goods was £1,548,333, aud the year 1862 makes a return of £4,626,082— showing an increase of £3,077,749. The | difference in exports, chiefly on account of gold from Otago, between theyear 1860 and the year 1862,wa5£1,834,734, the amounts being: 1860, £588,000; 1862, £2,422,734. The estimated revenue for the past finaucial year was £458,000, which waff exceeded by £91,163, the Customs revenue alone yielding a surplus of £76,150. A small saving has likewise been effected on the sums votetfby.tbe House. The estimated ordinary revenue for the cnrrent financial period is £691,600. The customs revenue is estimated at £603,600, and the postal at £40,000, the balance being distributed over the other sources of ordinary revenue. Tlie estimated geueral expenditure is £297,291 4s Bd, and Provincial expenditure £146,616 ; the surplus revenue being taken at £247,692 14s 10d, The main feature of the Budget, however, was that part which treated of the suppression of the rebellion in the North Island, and the expenditure which would be necessary to accomplish the object thoroughly. It appears that from the Ist of July to the Ist of November, the country has been put to a war expenditure of £200,000, The Government propose raising £2,500,000 (or by absorbing the halfmillion loan oflastyear £3,000,000), by way of loan, to meet the present emergency and prevent the recurrence of rebellion by the natives. One million sterling, it is estimated, will quell the rebellion ; and it is contemplated to distrihute the remaining balance thus: immigration, £300,000 ; arms, £100,000 ; public works, £900,000 ; telegraph through the Middle Island and under Cook's Straits, £150,000. With an Imperial guarantee the money will be got at 4 per cent., but failing that the debentures will bear interest at 5 per cent., with 1 per cent, sinking fund. It is calculated that after locating military settlers as contemplated, there will be two millions of acres of waste lands in Auckland, Taranaki, and Wellington provinces available for sale to meet the loan* We agree with the Colonial Treasurer that this surplus of land, with the increased revenue which will result from the introduction of several thousand settlers, will enable the colony to meet its vast engagements. Doubtless the undertaking is one of the greatest magnitude which it has ever fallen ro the lot of any British colony to carry out, but we are not the less sanguine, on that account, of success. Annexed is an abstract of the Budget . — The hon. Colonial Treasurer divided - his , statement into five parts, as follows :— First, an account of the position of the various loans, secondly, a statement of the revenue and expenditure for the financial year ending on the 30th June last ; thirdly, a statement of extraordinary expenditure incurred on account of the war, since the Ist of July last; fourthly, an estimate of the revenue and expenditure for tb« current year ; and fifthly, the proposals of the Government with reference to the financial arrangements which would be necessary in consequence of the present state of affairs. On the first point, he explained that the £150,000 war loan of 186J was about all expended. The Imperial guarantee not having been yet ob» tamed to the Half-Million Loan of last session, only £100,000 of it bad been raised, and that on Treasury bills. Nearly £90,000 of this sum was expended. The total amount to which tit Treasury was liable on the 30th of June last was £119,,594 Is 9d. The customs revenue for the financial year 1862 1863, which had been estimated at £413,000, had realized £489,150, the increase being in the provinces of Canterbury, Otago, and Southland. The total receipts had been £549,963, as against £458,000 estimated. Tbeyear s expenditure had been£286,242 the f customs revenue paid to the Provinces £183,280, and refunds £4,425 ; leaving a surplus of £76,016. Upon the sums voted, there had been a saving of £6,000 against an unauthorised expenditure of £12,700. Against the surplus of £76,016 he proposed to charge the unauthorised expenditure, the cost of a Custom House at Dunedin, and an unjust postal charge made by the Home Post-office authorities, leaving still £36,744 for distribution. On account of the native insurrection there had been spent since July Ist to Oct. 13tb, £146,194 6s Id. Up to the Ist of the present month £200,000 would cover every expenditure aud liability, showing, he thought, au ecouomy for which the Government had not received credit. The hon geutleman next entered into figures showing the vast progress made by the colony in the past two years. The increase of impbrts and exports is particularly worth notice. For 1860, the value of the imports was £1,548.333, and of exports £588,000; tor 1862, the imports were £4,626,082, and the exports £2,422,734 ; and the total revenue had increased from £464,739 to £1,186,009 After some observations on the tariff, the Treasurer proceeded to give the estimates for the ensuing year, as follow : — Total customs revenue, £603,600, of which £105,000 was expected from Auckland ; postal revenue was estimated at £40,000 ; judicial, at £25,000; and other items brought up the to total estimated revenue at £691,600. Tbe expenditure was estimated at £297,840 generally charged, and £146,314 provinciajly charged. Of the latter, J621,§33 was devoted

to Auckland. The § th Customs would amount to £226,350, leaving a surplus of £21,096. With regard to his last subject, the suppression of existing rebellion and prevention of it in future, of course it was impossible for him t<» foretell the expense that might be required. He did not believe that a single battle would finish the war, uor yet that it would be interminable, but when they saw, as they soon would that all their efforts against us are practically unavailing, and that we are by far the superior power, then they would submit to the soverignty of the Crown, and to the law. For the suppression of the rebellion the Government weuld ask for a loan of £1,000.000, and further for purposes of immigration, £300,000: public works, such as roads, bridges, rendering rivers navigable, surveys and general expenses of ..location of immigrants, £900,000; for the establishment of telegraphic communication throughout tbe Middle and under Cook's Strats, £150,000, the question of further extension to Auckland and elsewhere being left open for a year, in the hope that tbe state of the country would then permit of its being carried overland; thus making a total loan of £2,500.000- If tbe Imperial guarantee to the half- million loan of last year could not be easily obtained on the same terms as were offered Mr Ward, the Government proposed to absorb that loan in this, making a total then of three millions, on which they proposed to ask the Imperial guarrantee, the expenditure being necessary for the pacification of the country, civilisation of the natives, tc. If this were granted, the interest would be 4 per cent; if not they must offer £5 per cent interest, and £l per cent sinking fund, to be charged in the first instance on the general revenue of the whole country, but ultimately on the proceeds of the sale ofland in rebel districts, which might be expected before very long to repay the whole of this large expenditure ; for they estimated that the land belonging to the rebels iv the Thames, Waikato, Turanaki, and Waoganui districts would after the location of settlers, leave a balance available for sale of about 2,000,000 of acres. After thanking the committee for their attention, the honorable gentleman concluded a speech of one hour forty minutes by moving tbe following resolution, " That, in the opinion of this committee, the expense of repressing the present insurrection in the Northern Island and colonising the rebellious districts, should be provided for by ' loan." J i