NEW ZEALAND STATISTICS IN "WESTGARTH'S CIRCULAR" (CORRESPONDENCE RELATING TO).

Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1877 Session I, H-10

H.—lo,

1877. NEW ZEALAND.

NEW ZEALAND STATISTICS IN "WESTGARTH'S CIRCULAR" (CORRESPONDENCE RELATING TO).

Presented to both Souses of the Assembly by command of Sis Excellency.

No. 1. The Hon. the Colonial Treasurer to the Agent-General. Sir, — Treasury, Wellington, 12th January, 1877. I have the honor to enclose to you a copy, received by last mail, of tho Circular issued periodically by Mr. Westgarth, of 18, Cornhill, London, and to call your attention to the trade and revenue returns of the Australasian Colonies as therein set forth. Tou will at once perceive that the amount which is there stated as the revenue of this colony for the year 1876, is really the revenue of the General Government for the financial year 1873-74. I enclose also a copy of the same Circular issued under date the 27th November, 1874, in which you will observe that the revenue of this colony is stated at the same amount as in the latest publication : in other words, for a period of two years the same figures have been continuously repeated as the revenue of New Zealand, notwirhstanding that a copy of the Financial Statement, in which the revenue year by year is plainly stated, has been regularly supplied to Mr. Westgarth, and that the colony has an Agent in London, at whose office the latest information on such a point might at once have been obtained. lam moreover under the impression that, during your stay in London in 1575, you called attention to the improper quotation of tho same figures (£1,420,216) as the revenue of the year 1874-75, either in Mr. Westgarth's Circular or in some other like publication. I need not point out to you the injury done to the colony by the continued publication of inaccuracies of this kind, in a document which claims to be an authority on the subject of which it treats. I presume that it is entirely through oversight that the old and therefore misleading figures have been retained in the Circular ; and I do not doubt that, upon a representation from you, Mr. Westgarth ■will, as far as he can, remedy the wrong done. He should, I think, be requested irot only to publish, at the earliest moment possible, the correct figures, but also, by a note or other special reference, to explain that the figures which have so long appeared in the Circular have not at all represented the real revenue of the colony. I have, &c., Sir J. Arogel, K.C.M.G., Agent-General, &c. H. A. Atkinson.

No. 2. The Hon. the Colonial Treasurer to the Agent-General. Sir,— Treasury, Wellington, 27th March, 1877. By my letter, No. 9, of January 12th. I directed your attention to the statistics published in " Westparth's Circular," under the head " Australasian Colonies," and I requested that you would point out to Mr. Westgarth the injustice he was, no doubt unintentionally, doing to New Zealand by publishing, as the colonial revenue for 1876, the figures representing only the revenue of the General Government for the financial year 1573-74. 2. " Westgarth's Circular," dated January, 1577, has now been received. 8. A table therein states the revenue of New Zealand for 1875 as £1,677,G26 ; and that of Victoria as £4,236,423. I quote the latter because, by the mail which brought the Circular, I received a copy of the " Statist ioal Register ot* the Colony of Victoria," for 1875; and I am thus enabled to show what the figures for New Zealand should have been as against those given for Victoria.

H.—lo

4. I append a statement in which the sources of revenue and the amounts stated in the first column have been copied from the Register of Victoria above referred to, whilst the second column shows the rev enue of this colony from the same sources, as given in the volume of Statistics of New Zealand for the same year; the result being that the receipts in New Zealand, during 1875, amounted to £2,841,953 (instead of only £1,677,626), as compared with the £4,236,423 received in Victoria. 5. It is true that there is appended to the table in " Westgarth's Circular " a note stating, " The New Zealand revenue is ex provincial revenues: adding these, which include the land revenue, the total is £2,813,928." This is still nearly £30,000 less than the fact; and the error is no doubt due to the compiler not being aware that the amounts of certain " Special Funds," such as sales of confiscated lands, and sales of lands set apart as security for North Otago and Westland Loans, are strictly colonial revenue. You will be able to explain this to Mr. Westgarth better than can be done in writing. 6. You should, I think, request that the figures in the tabulated statement may be corrected— because an explanation in a note is very likely to be overlooked ; and because there never has been justification for separating Provincial from General Government revenue when the purpose has been to compare the revenue of New Zealand with that of other colonies. It would be well, too, if you informed Mr. Westgarth that the statistics of the colony, and all other printed official documents relating to its progress, are promptly received at your cffice; and that, as they are freely at his service, it is not necessary he should seek information as to New Zealand from any resident in New South Wales. I have, &c, The Agent-General for New Zealand, London. H. A. Atkinson.

Enclosure. Victoria, 1874^75. New Zealand, 1875. £ s. d. £ s. d. Customs ... ... ... ... ... 1,628,234 17 5 ... 1,274,400 12 6 Excise ... ... ... ... ... 32,474 15 8 ... 102,670 18 6 Ports and Harbours ... ... ... ... 19,935 7 6 ... 18,667 11 2 Licenses (business) ... ... ... ... 10,714 4 9 ... 48,861 15 10 Duties on Estates of Deceased Persons ... ... 32,526 1 1 ... 7,670 6 0 Land Sales (including Eents counting towards purchase money) ... ... _ ... ... 767,030 9 6 ... 486,278 9 0 Eents of Crown Lands (not counting towards purchase money) ... ... ... ... 174,193 17 8 ... 112,172 10 1 Kailways ... ... ... ... ... 921,713 14 6 ... 289,369 5 4 Water Supply ... ... ... ... 88,556 8 0 Public "Works (exclusive of Eailway and Water Supply) ... ... ... ... 6,834 6 7 Post and Telegraphs ... ... ... ... 198,325 17 7 ... 133,091 8 9 Fines, Fees, and Forfeitures ... ... ... 116,83115 6 ... 199,257 17 1 Eents, Ordinary ... ... ... ... 748 19 0 ... 3,738 9 8 Eeimbursements in aid ... ... ... 36,845 5 2 ... 5,542 1 5 Interest and Exchange ... ... ... 75,024 10 0 ... 95,64113 2 Miscellaneous Eeceipts ... ... ... 126,432 15 11 ... 64,590 2 3 £4,236,423 510 ... £2,841,953 0 9

No. 3. The Agent-General to the Hon. the Colonial Treasurer. 7, Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W., Sir,— Bth March, 1877. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 12th January, No. 9, in which you point out to me certain incorrect statements in Mr. Westgarth's Circular, of a prejudicial nature to the colony, and in which you direct me to communicate with him on the subject. In reply, I have the honor to state that I had already taken action in the matter. In the December Circular, Mr. Westgarth corrected the particular error of which you complain, by substituting £1,677,626 for £1,420,216. My attention was called to certain other errors in this Circular, the first one issued after my arrival, and I wrote to Mr. Westgarth a note, copy of which I subjoin, as also one of his reply. Since then, Mr. Westgarth has placed the population at 375,856, and the total revenue at £2,813,928. Most of the items, and the form of the statistics, are similar to those issued by the Government of New South Wales. I believe I have before pointed out that, whilst the Provincial system continued, the statistics did New Zealand injustice, as they purported to compare its revenue with those of other colonies, whilst leaving out of that revenue the large items of land revenue which swelled the revenues of other colonies. I have, Ac., The Hon. the Colonial Treasurer, Wellington. Julius Vogel, Agent-General.

2

3

H.—lo,

Enclosures. Dear Mr. Westgarth,— 7, Westminster Chambers, 27th December, 1876. I am sure you will excuse me for pointing out that the returns which you publish in your interesting Circular this month about New Zealand, are not quite correct. The population which you give for 1875 is the mean average population, European, during the year. Without that explanation, the return would naturally be held to mean the |total population at the end of the year. The official returns published by the Registrar-General show, at the end of 1875, a population of 375,856, besides an estimated Maori population of about 45,470. The last was obtained from a return of the Ist June, 1874. Altogether, therefore, the population at the end of 1875 could not have been less than 421,326, instead of 358,860, as would be gathered from your Circular. There is, besides, an important error in the returns. The total revenue stated in the foot-note is £2,313,928, instead of £2,813,928. I have, &c, W. Westgarth, Esq. Julius Vogel. Dear Sir Julius Vogel,— 28th December, 1876. I am very much jobliged by your note, received this morning, pointing out several important errors and omissions in the statistics of my Circular regarding your colony. The due corrections will be made in the next issue. It is very important, for the standing usefulness of the circular, to have it revised by an authority like you. I have, &c., Sir Julius Vogel. W. Westgarth.

No. 4 The Hon. the Colonial Treasurer to the Agent-General. Sir, — Treasury, Wellington, 3rd May, 1877. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the Bth March, notifying the steps you had taken for the correction of certain erroneous statements contained in the Stock and Share Circular issued by Mr. Westgarth, of Cornhill. In reply, I have to inform you that the Government is much gratified by the prompt manner in which, prior to the receipt of my letters on the subject, you had taken up this matter. Tou will, no doubt, have informed Mr. Westgarth that the most recent information as to the finance and population of the colony is always obtainable at your office. It is hoped that, with such means of obtaining accurate information, errors of the character referred to may not occur in future. I have, &c, Sir J. Vogel, K.C.M.G., &c, Agent-General. H. A. Atkinson.

No. 5. The Agent-General to the Colonial Treasurer. 7, Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W., Sir — _ 29th May, 1877. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 27th March, No. 28, directing my attention to the unsatisfactory manner in which the revenue of the colony is stated in Westgarth's Circular of last January. I had already, as you are aware by my letter of the Bth March, No. 223, been in communication with Mr. Westgarth on the subject, before I received your letter of the 12th January, No. 9. I now enclose you his Circular of the 11th of May, by which you will observe that he has adopted the plan of including the provincial with the colonial revenue in the body of the table, instead of by foot-note. I have written to him enclosing an extract from your letter, and telling him that I shall be glad to give him access to any information concerning the colony I possess in this office. I enclose copy of my communication and of his reply. I have, &c, The Hon. the Colonial Treasurer, Wellington. Julius Vogel, Agent-General.

Enclosures. 7, Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W., Sir— 29th May, 1877. Referring to a previous correspondence I have had with you, on the subject of the way in which the revenue of New Zealand is stated in your monthly Circular, I have the honor to enclose you a copy of a despatch I have received from my Government on the subject, by the mail of this week. lam glad to see, by the Circular for May, that you have already adopted the method of stating the colonial revenue which the Government suggest. I have only in consequence to draw your attention to the inaccuracy caused by the omission of nearly £30,000 of Special Funds, which are strictly colonial revenue ; including which, the New Zealand revenue amounts to £2,841,953, instead of £2,813,298. I have to ask you to be so kind as to make this alteration in future issues. Allow me, in conclusion, to add, that I shall be happy at any time to give you access to the statistics of the colony, and all other official documents relating to its progress, which may be received at this office. I have, &c, W. Westgarth, Esq. Julius Vogel, Agent-General for New Zealand.

4

H.—lo,

D SlB j ULITrs _ 28, Cornhill, London. E.C., 30th May, 1877. I have to'thank you for your letter of the 29th, and am quite pleased that I had anticipated in my Circular the defect your Government's letter alludes to. I will attend to the further correction of the £30,000 in the next issue. _ . , . I am further obliged for the comparative revenue table for New Zealand and Victoria, and ior your kind offer to supply all New Zealand statistics when wanted. J rr I am, &c, Sir Julius Vogel, Agent-General, New Zealand. W. Westgaeth.

By Authority: Geoege Didsbtiey, Government Printer, Wellington.—lB77.

Price 3d.]