SPEECH OF THE COLONIAL TREASURER, (THE HONORABLE MAJOR ATKINSON,) ON THE FINANCIAL POSITION OF THE COLONY. Tuesday, 14th October, 1879.

Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1879 Session II, B-02

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Sess 11.—1879. NEW ZEALAND.

SPEECH OF THE COLONIAL TREASURER, (THE HONORABLE MAJOR ATKINSON,) ON THE FINANCIAL POSITION OF THE COLONY. Tuesday, 14th October, 1879.

Sir, — The circumstances under which I am addressing you this evening are of so exceptional a character, and the demands of my honorable friends opposite so very imperious, that I have been obliged to disregard what I, for one, deem a very wise rule of this House —that the Financial Statement, or rather the statement of the finances of the year, should be submitted by the Government to this House in a carefully-prepared document. I do not at all believe in the plan of the Treasurer coming down and making what is called an ordinary speech on finance. To my mind, the plan that we have adopted—in common, I think, with the other Australian Colonies —of submitting to the House a Financial Statement in such a form that honorable gentlemen can readily understand our finances —is a far preferable mode of dealing with the question to speaking upon it as I am obliged under the present circumstances to speak to-night. Sir, our financial position has not been dealt with at all for some fifteen months. The colony is, I venture to say, in a state of complete darkness as to our real financial position. It is not my business upon the present occasion to ask why the colony is in this position; but I take it that what the House desires now is that I should give a broad outline of the finances, so that honorable gentlemen may be enabled easily to comprehend what are its main features, and so determine in their minds the mode in which they will deal with the difficulties I shall present to them. Sir, we have had no statement of the finances for some fifteen months; I must, therefore, ask you to bear with me while I take you back to the beginning of the financial year 1878-79. The then Colonial Treasurer, Mr. Ballance, estimated that he would begin that year with a surplus of £120,468. I may say here that I shall quote round numbers all through in my address to-night, in order that honorable members may catch them the more easily; and in the report of my speech I shall insert the correct figures. The honorable gentleman estimated the balance with which he would begin the year at £120,468. The assets realized were rather less than was anticipated, and the liabilities proved to be somewhat more; the actual surplus was, therefore, £116,844. The estimate was very accurate, the difference being a mere trifle in comparison with the large sums that we have to deal with. I—B. 2.

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FINANCIAL YEAR, IS7B-79. The expenditure proposed by the late Government for the year 1878-79 was £4,210,436. It will be in the recollection of honorable gentlemen who were in the last Parliament that a table was presented by the then Colonial Treasurer, Sir George Grey, at the end of the last session, indicating the savings Avhich had been effected upon the votes. The total expenditure, as given in the table, was £3,652,048, showing an apparent net saving of £558,387. But this table is entirely misleading without proper explanation, the truth being that there was no saving at all in the ordinary sense during the year. In the first place, we must take off from the apparent saving of £558,387 the outstanding liabilities, almost the whole of which have been since paid. Some of them are still outstanding ; but, practically, they have all been paid. The first thing we must do, then, is to take off the outstanding liabilities, amounting to £354,913. Having taken these off, honorable gentlemen will find that the balance of the savings is made of such items as these—l will not enumerate them all: of such items as £100,000 voted out of the surplus balance of the year before last in aid of the Public "Works Fund. Honorable members will recollect that it was proposed to transfer a sum of £100,000 from the Consolidated Revenue to the Public Works Fund, and a great flourish was made of that proposal ; but unfortunately it was never accomplished— the £100,000 was never paid over, and it appeared in that table as a saving. There is also another item of £74,031, which was included in the estimated amount required to pay the 20 per cent, of Land Revenue; the Land Fund having fallen much short of the estimate, that sum was not required to be paid. Another item of £46,188 was an over-estimate of the interest required, and therefore was not used. Honorable members, upon reference to the returns I shall place upon the table of this House, will see that nearly the whole of the supposed saving is made up of items similar to those which I have named. Now, the total payments within and on account of the year amount to £4,006,961. I will presently refer to one or two classes of expenditure, to which I think the attention of the House should be especially called. I now come to the revenue for the year. Honorable gentlemen will recollect that it was estimated to amount to £4,045,537, and that it actually did realize £3,751,598. The decrease arose almost entirely from a falling-off in the land revenue, amounting to the sum of £359,947. Receipts specially applicable also fell off by £30,430. There was, however, a net increase in the ordinary revenue of £96,439, derived chiefly from Customs, Stamps, and Railway receipts. The total receipts of the year, instead of being £4,045,537, amounted only to £3,751,598, the decrease being attributable, as I have just said, to the great falling-off in the land revenue. Now, taking the revenue of the year, £3,751,598, and adding thereto the balance of £116,814 brought forward from the previous year, together with certain assets amounting to £6,695 realized since the close of last year, we get a total of £3,875,137; and subtracting that total from the expenditure of the year —viz., £4,006,961, honorable members will find that at the end of the year we had a deficit of £131,824; and this sum we shall have to provide for during this year. Looked at in another way, we began the year with £116,844 to our credit, and we ended it with £131,824 to our debit; so that, looking upon the year as something

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complete in itself, our receipts did not come up to our expenditure by £248,668. I hope honorable gentlemen will bear these facts in mind, because they will then be able better to understand the figures I am going to submit for this year. I should point out here that this deficit of £131,824 may be said to be fairly reducible by £50,000 of land-tax, which the late Colonial Treasurer estimated to obtain during the last year, but which was not collected; of course, if I were to take it off there, I should not be able to count it as revenue for the present year, and, as it is revenue for the present year, I have treated it in that way. I wish to call the attention of the House to the fact, because, when these estimates were made, it was calculated that this £50,000 from the land-tax would come in as revenue, and would therefore have reduced the deficit to that extent. I should like now, Sir, to refer to one or two questions of general expenditure, and my object in doing so is to show that we are not exercising any economy whatever iu our public service. By that I mean that, although we have in this House made a great deal of talk about retrenchment —although Governments have been turned out because they Avere supposed to be extravagant, and others have come in pledging themselves to effect great reductions—the fact is, that we have not retrenched in any one respect that I can find out. I shall now read to the House certain returns which I have had prepared, in order that honorable members may see that such is the fact. Ido it because before I have sat down honorable members will see that we shall have to take some very vigorous steps in order to place the finance of the colony in that position in which it ought to be. Taking what I call the nine large departments—omitting such departments as Education, Railways, and Surveys, which could not be very well taken in, for obvious reasons, but including all the others —viz., Public Departments, Law and Justice. Postal and Telegraph, Customs, Marine, Native, Militia and Volunteers, Constabulary, and Public Domains and Buildings - I find that the amount voted by this House for these sendees for 1877-78 was £866,216. I find that the expenditure of that year on these departments was about £10,000 more than this House had voted: in other words, it was £876,397. The estimates for the same departments for 1878-79, as passed by this -House, amounted to £903,857 —a gradual increase, honorable gentlemen will observe, notwithstanding all our professions of economy; and they will not be gratified when I further tell them that the actual expenditure on these departments, instead of being £903,857, was, as a matter of fact, £953,671 for the last year. So much, then, for economy in these branches of the service where, if economy was to be effected at all, it ought to have been effected. In other words, the expenditure on these nine departments has risen from £866,216 in 1877-78, to £953,671 for the year which has just passed. And now, Sir, let us look at the Native Department. We shall find that this department in 1876-77 cost, including the Civil list, £34,124; in 1877-78 it cost £43,047; in 1878-79 it cost £58,336. So that all through the departments the increase has been —I can hardly say gradual —very considerable. In the second year the increase in the Native Department was apparently almost entirely for Native schools; and that, so far, is satisfactory: no one will begrudge that expenditure supposing the schools have been conducted properly, as to which it is not now my business to inquire. But tkere is also this significant fact, with

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regard to the Native Department: that 5 whereas the salaries for the year before last were £19,014, last year they were £15,321; while the contingencies had risen from £4,893 in 1876-77, to £16,741 last year; that is to say, the control is being gradually taken out of the hands of this House—the habit is growing up of expending all this money upon contingencies, instead of submitting each item tu the vote of this House. This is a question which I hope the House will take into its serious consideration. I hope it will carefully examine into this matter, and see how far the expenditure can be properly checked. Eor myself, I have not the slightest doubt it can be largely reduced with great public advantage. I might here incidentally remark that such expenditure as took place at the Kopua meeting is not, in my opinion, advisable at all. That meeting, the House might like to know, cost the country some £4,500, and the Waitara meeting cost over £1,000. Such then, Sir, is the general result of the last year —an actual deficit to be provided for of £131,824; an actual deficit on the transactions of the year —if the year were taken by itself —of £248,668. There were issued during the year, and paid off at the end of the year, deficiency bills to the amount of £184,000. I merely mention this as a transaction Avhich has occurred: it does not affect the balance one wav or the other. FINANCIAL TEAE, 1879-80. I now come to the present year 1879-80. The estimated expenditure, as left by the late Government, deducting from it a sum of £140,000 for contingent defence, which it is proposed to place upon loan, amounts to £3,974,034. This is exclusive, also, of a sum of about £125,000, which the Government merely collects and pays over to local bodies. I have omitted that sum from both sides of the account, in order to obtain greater simplicity. In quoting the estimate of expenditure as left by the late Government, I do not in any way wish to commit them to that expenditure. lam merely stating what I found in the office. Nor do I wish to commit the present Government to it; because honorable members will quite understand that it is impossible that I could have satisfactorily examined it or gone through it, so as to be able to speak Avith sufficient certainty to be committed to it. But I have given it what attention I could, and I say at once that, as far as I can see, there is nothing unreasonable in it, and that, if we are to continue the present system, I do not think we shall be able to reduce it to any great extent. This expenditure includes £1,325,373 for sinking fund and interest, £279,257 payable as subsidies to local bodies, and £63,540 being 20 per cent, of the Land Revenue. I might perhaps be permitted to remark here, with regard to this amount payable for sinking fund and interest, that it is to me a matter of very great regret that the late Government did not see their way to bring into operation the Consolidated Stock Act. I believe that, had that Act been brought into force at the time when the Government of which I had the honor to be a member was turned out of office, we should already have been deriving very considerable advantages from it. But, unfortunately, the one man who had taken the deepest interest in it throughout was not appointed agent until lately, and then only in such a way that it was impossible for him to go heartily into the work, being not at all assured of his.position in the matter, or of receiving any co-operation from the Government here.

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The estimate of revenue, as prepared by the late Government —and this was laid on the table of the House—amounts to £3,442,000. It is made up as follows, taking the classification adopted by the late Treasurer: from Taxation, £1,580,000 ; Services rendered, £1,362,000; Land Fund, £500,000. The estimated expenditure, exclusive of the £140,000 for contingent defence which it is proposed to take out of loan, amounts, as I have already informed the the House, to £3,974,034; and, if from this we deduct our estimated revenue, we arrive at a deficit for the year of £532,034. If to this we add the deficit with which we began the year, £131,824, we have a total deficit of £663,858 for the present year. I wish I could stop there; but I should not be doing my duty to the House if I were to say that I thought the estimates of revenue prepared by the late Government would be realized. Of course we have the advantage of three months' experience of the year, and are therefore better able to estimate what the revenue will be. I have gone as carefully as I could into the matter, considering the time at my disposal, and I fear the estimate lam about to submit will not be exceeded. We may hope it will be, but, as prudent men of business, I do not think it will be wise to calculate upon receiving more than the estimate I am about to give from our present sources of revenue. I estimate that from Taxation we shall receive £1,512,300; for Services rendered, £1,301,600; and for Land, £380,000, instead of £500,000. I have estimated the Customs revenue at £1,200,000, and the other departments I have reduced slightly, leaving the Railways receipts as estimated by the department itself. Now, if we take this revenue, £3,193,900, from the proposed expenditure £3,974,034, and then add the deficit of £131,824 with which we began the year, and which has to be provided for, we shall find that there is a total deficit on the year of £911,958, which must be provided for either by a reduction of expenditure, by increased taxation, or by some other mode which the House may decide upon. The amount is so large that I have no doubt it will take honorable members some time to realize what it means. It means that this House must immediately turn its attention to the finances of the country—it means that not a moment is to be lost in deciding how we are to face our present difficulty. It is not my business new to make any remarks upon the manner in which the deficiency has arisen, or how it should be met: that question will have to be considered when we have finished the unfortunate struggles in which we are now engaged. I conceived that it was my simple duty to submit these facts to the House. And this brings me to the reason for asking that I may be permitted to pass the Bill upon which I am now addressing the House through all stages at one sitting. I may tell the House that when I took possession of the Treasury I found the Public Account in this state : that the receipts for the quarter then just ended did not come up to the payments that had then been made by a sum of £330,000; that the late Government had issued £400,000 of deficiency bills, and had used the whole of the proceeds; that no provision had been made for paying the subsidies which are now due, or for meeting other payments which it is absolutely necessary to make. So soon as I found that this was the position of affairs, I at once, as I was in duty bound, came down to this House to tell it what further relief we wanted, and this Bill is the mode in which the Government think it best to deal with the question. We propose to take power to issue

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£200,000 deficiency bills temporarily—for the Act is a temporary Act, as honorable gentlemen will see, if they read it. We propose to issue these bills in order to enable us to carry on the necessary payments during the months of October and November. That is all that amount is calculated to meet. By that time I hope the House will have determined how the deficiency is to be dealt with. It seemed to the Government that it would have been improper to do more in the present state of matters than to submit a temporary remedy, merely to provide the cash to go on with, until the House had determined how the matter should be finally disposed of. That was my reason for asking the House to pass this Bill. I find that during these two months the probable receipts will not equal the certain expenditure by the sum of £150,000 or £200,000; I have, therefore, asked for £200,000. And now, Sir, I will state the position of the Public Works Account. PUBLIC WOEKS FUND. We had a short, and, as I think the House considers, a satisfactory statement of the general position of this account from the Minister for Public Works last session; but I propose to mention the transactions of last year, in order that honorable members may get the matter thoroughly into their minds. We began the year 1878-79 with a credit to the Public Works Fund of £2,056,940. Some of us then hoped that that Fund was going to be augmented by some £700,000 which it was proposed to get from the Land Fund, and by £100,000 which it was proposed to take from the Consolidated Fund—from the surplus of the year before last. I need hardly tell the House that no relief was received from the Land Fund, and that the £100,000 was not paid over, so that we only had the £2,056,940 at our disposal in the Public Works Fund. We began this year with a credit in the Public Works Fund of £506,205 nominally; but, of this, £298,f;43 was advances outstanding, which, as honorable gentlemen are aware, is really money paid away and not yet brought to account; so that we really only began with £207,6b2 to the good. We actually spent during the last year £1,601,207. Sir, the expenditure for the last quarter —and I wish particularly to call the attention of honorable members to this point, because we are now spending the new five-million loan—the net expenditure for the September quarter, including advances outstanding at that date, which is money spent, amounted to £712,395. That is to say, we began the year 1879-80 with a credit balance of £207,662, and at the close of the quarter we had a debit balance of £504,733; so that we had actually spent, by the 30th of September, £504,733 of the five-million loan. I find, upon inquiry, that we have entered into engagements from which there is no escape whatever, as I am informed, for which we must find £733,553 by the 31st of December next, and that there are further engagements upon which we shall have to pay £921,818 more by the 30th of next June. In other words, by the 30th of June, upon works and services to which we are already committed, without including any new works or contracts or the cost of raising the loan, but including contingent Defence, we shall have spent £2,220,104 of c the new fivemillion loan. Mr. Macandrew. —Quite a mistake. Major Atkinson. —Of course I speak subject to correction. The honorable gentleman says these figures are incorrect, but I can only go by the figures furnished to me from his own office by his Under Secretary and other officers; and I may add that these figures have been carefully gone through by myself

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and the Secretary to the Treasury. I myself asked the Under Secretary for Public Works whether these were all absolute engagements for contracts entered into, and was informed that such was the fact. That seemed to me sufficient authority for the statements I have made. I Avas, of course, very much startled when I found that the amount was so large, and I took a good deal of pains to see Avhether I could not fairly state it at a less amount; but I found, on questioning the officers in whose departments the expenditure was to be made, that such an amount would be required if effect were given to present engagements. Included in this £2,220,104 is £200,000 for the purchase of Native lands. Of this we have already spent £36,561, and we are engaged to spend up to December next £81,500 more. That, the department assures me, is also necessary. And we have a further liability upon these lands —unless we are prepared to abandon them—and to which we are apparently committed, amounting to £957,177, or, in round numbers, to nearly £1,000,000 more, to be provided for the purchase of Native lands. We haA'e also, after June next, to provide for contracts now let, £128,815 more than I have stated. Of course it is not for me at the present time to say anything with regard to the policy of continuing to purchase these lands, or of completing the engagements already commenced. That will be for the House to discuss presently. It is only my duty now to lay before the House the facts which I have obtained from the department. Our position then is this : we have actually spent up to the end of September half a million of the loan. We have engaged to spend by Christmas £733,000 more, and we have engaged to spend by June next £2,220,000 of that loan. And this, Sir, before Ave know Avhether it is possible to raise the loan —before we have the slightest neAVS from Home as to Avhether it is likely Ave shall get the money. We have so conducted our finances that we have not considered it wrong or unadvisable to pledge the credit of the colony in this way without the slightest knowledge of whether we can meet our engagements. That, to my mind, is a most serious position for the colony to take up. It is beginning entirely at the wrong end. We are bound, if we are to maintain our credit, first of all to be sure that we have the money before we proceed to spend it. Of course it is not for me to say how far we may be successful in raising the whole loan. The credit of the colony, fortunately, has hitherto been very good; but I say nothing can justify us in spending money at this rate before we have got it. Such then, Sir, is shortly the position of our finances at the present time. I will simply say, in conclusion, that I am very much obliged to the House for the patience with which it has heard me. I would the tale I have had to tell had been of a more cheerful nature, and that I had been able, as it has been my lot before now to do, to speak of surpluses instead of deficits ; but it is clearly my duty to trace in bold outline the present position of our finances, leaving to honorable gentlemen to fill in the picture Avith information which I shall place, in the shape of tables, in their hands in the course of a feAV days. The position is undoubtedly an exceedingly grave one. It will require, as I have already said, the serious and immediate attention of this House. If Ave are not to get into very great difficulties we shall have to give up many things now considered necessary, and turn our attention to providing a remedy for the state of things I have shown to exist. It seems to me that it ia

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absolutely necessary we should, at the present time, have a Government not only capable, but sufficiently strong to govern in the interests of the colony, and not of a party. Whether we can hope by our present party conflicts, Avhichever way they may end, to get such a Government I leave to honorable gentlemen to decide; but I submit it is the business of all of us now to turn our immediate and serious attention to this great difficulty, and in some way devise some scheme Avhich shall place our finances in a sounder and better position for the future. I beg to move that the Standing Orders be suspended, to enable me to pass the Public Bevenues Act Amendment Bill through all its stages to-night.

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TABLES REFERRED TO IN THE PRECEDING SPEECH.

COMPARATIVE STATEMENT of the ESTIMATED and ACTUAL EXPENDITURE of the CONSOLIDATED FUND for the FINANCIAL Year 1878-79, including LIABILITIES payable in respect of the Year.

Estimated. Actual. Less than Estimate. Differences. Deduct Liabili- Less Mo: ties. thanEs- than ! timate. tirna More than Estimate. Permanent Appropriations : — Civil List Interest and Sinking Fund Special Acts £ 29,750 1,225,130 47,488 £ 31,555 1,177,726 36,281 £ £ £ £ 1,805 47,404 11,207 1,216 1,181 4(5,188 10,026 Annual Appropriations : — Class I. —Public Departmeuts ,, II.—Law and Justice ,, III. —Postal and Telegraph ... „ IV.—Customs „ V.—Marine „ VI.—Education „ VII.—Native ,, VIII. —Militia and Volunteers „ IX. —Constabulary ,, X. —Railways ,, XI. —Public Domains ,, XII.—Lands, Surveys, &c. ,, XIII.—Miscellaneous „ XIV.—Provincial Liabilities ... 199,074 144,454 245,139 40,907 48,360 222,270 32,240 30,178 144,964 493,152 32,541 241,338 137,293 237,258 173.775 142,655 231,786 41,002 42,866 221,454 35,801 27,856 138,613 495,264 24,938 186,300 84,414 158,393 25,299 1,799 13,353 24,575 8,700 14,900 550 3,500 550 13,050 1,900 20,200 69,000 6,675 25,800 23,500 67,420 724 6,901 1,547 645 5,494 816 1,994 266 2,822 6,351 422 16,611 7,603 55,038 52,879 78,865 928 29,238 29,379 11,445 13,849 71,112 Special Appropriations :— Subsidies to Local Bodies ... 20 per cent. Land Revenue One-third Deferred Payments New Plymouth Harbour Board Wellington Hospital Ellesmere and Eorsyth Reclamation Payment to Public Works Fund out of Surplus of 1877-78 ... Services not provided for ... 255,000 241,500 7,400 25,000 30,000 220,723 142,216 2,382 8,888 20,0fl0 1,452 34,277 99,284 5,018 16,112 10,000 29,850 25,253 6,233 584 10,000 276 4,427 74,081 1,215 15,528 1,728 100,000 5,708 100,000 100,000 5,708 Liabilities 4,210,436 3,652,048 354,913 573,121 354,913 324,596 121,121 Totals 203,475 4,210,436 4,006,961 Deposits refunded, and Revenue colled :ed and paid over to Local Bodies, are n< it included in the a1 >ove statei tent.

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COMPARATIVE STATEMENT of the ESTIMATED and ACTUAL NET RECEIPTS of the CONSOLIDATED Fund for the Financial Year 1878-79 (exclusive of the Revenues of Local Bodies and other unavailable Receipts).

Dief: 1ENCES. Estimated. Actual. More than Estimate. Less than Estimate. Ordinary Revenue :— Raised by Taxation, — Customs Stamps Land-Tax Receipts for Services rendered, — Railways Postal Telegraphic ... Judicial Land and Deeds Registration and other Fees Marine Miscellaneous... £ s. d. £ a. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. 1,253,500 0 0 170,000 0 0 50,000 0 0 1,307.736 1 11 197,501 8 0 54,236 1 11 27,501 8 0 50,000 0 0 710,000 0 0 121,500 0 0 76,000 0 0 50,000 0 0 32,500 0 0 32,745 0 0 22,400 0 0 67,000 0 0 755,467 3 7 128,308 15 3 82,968 4 10 52,465 13 1 40,628 11 4 27,973 5 8 24,269 0 3 64,766 14 9 45,467 3 7 6,808 15 3 6,968 4 10 2,465 13 1 8,128 11 4 ■1,771 14 4 1,869 0 3 2,233 5 3 Tekbitorial Revenue : — Land Sales „ on Deferred Payments ... Depasturing Licenses, Rents, Assessments, Sec. 1,100,000 0 0 22,000 0 0 107,677 0 0 729,079 3 3 8,615 3 6 132,035 5 4 370,920 16 9 13,384 16 G 24,358 5 4 Receipts Specially Applicable : — Amount required out of Surplus Land Revenue of 1877 to provide for Arrears of Survey, — Hawke's Bay Canterbury... Provincial Liabilities, — Balance on 30th June, 1878 Receivable from Loan of 1877 Receivable from Wellington Trust and Loan Company ... Receivable from Sale of Reclaimed Land ... Miscellaneous ... 4,512 0 0 30,000 0 0 2,833 19 4 17,014 1 9 0 9 0 1,678 0 8 12,985 18 3 5,733 0 0 80,000 0 0 5,733 9 0 80,000 0 0 15,970 0 0 89,000 0 0 5,000 0 0 1,600 0 0 84,953 13 1 7,648 19 11 14,370 0 0 4,046 6 11 2,648 19 11 Totals 4,045,537 0 0 3,751,598 13 10 180,452 12 6 474,390 18 8 RECAPITULATION. Ordinaet Revenue Territorial Revenue Receipts Specially Applicable ... 2,585,645 0 0 1,229,677 0 0 230,215 0 0 2,682,084 18 8 869,729 12 1 199,784 3 1 96,439 18 8 359,947" 7 11 30,430 16 11 Totals 390,378 4 10 96,439 18 8 4,045,537 0 0 3,751,598 13 10 203,938 6 2

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COMPARATIVE STATEMENT of the ESTIMATED and ACTUAL EXPENDITURE in respect of the under-mentioned SERVICES for the Years 1877-78 and 1878-79.

RETURN of NATIVE EXPENDITURE, including Liabilities.

CONSOLIDATED FUND.—REVENUE of the FINANCIAL YEAR 1870-80.

Estimates, 1877-78, as passed. Expenditure, 1877-78, includinj Liabilities on Estimates, 1878-79, as passed. Expenditure, 1878-79, including Liabilities on 30 June, 1879. 30 June, 1878. Public Departments Law and Justice Postal and Telegraph Customs Marine Native* Militia and Volunteers ... Constabulary ... Public Domains and Buildings £ e. d. 180,749 17 0 139,745 3 7 232,325 0 0 41,103 16 6 39,511 3 1 33,963 19 7 31,322 12 10 138,625 10 0 28,869 4 0 £ I. d. 194,833 6 7 148,313 12 4 226,227 16 9 39,330 0 9 34,739 5 3 38,450 12 10 24,992 9 5 137,911 7 1 31,599 6 4 £ a. d. 185,073 18 7 144,454 7 4 245,139 0 0 40,906 13 1 48,359 14 10 32,239 15 0 30,178 12 0 144,964 0 0 32,541 4 0 £ s. d. 198,679 1 5 151,355 10 9 246,685 15 8 41,552 0 11 46,366 0 1 48.851 10 7 29,755 10 8 158,812 16 8 31,612 1G 6 Totals ... 866,216 6 7 876,397 17 4 903,857 4 10 953,671 3 3 * Ex. elusive of chari res oi the Civil List.

1876-77. 1877-78. 1878-79. £ s. d. 6,385 15 4 £ s. d. 4,597 6 1 £ s. d. 9,484 9 9 Civil List ... Annual Votes — Salaries Contingencies Native Schools Native Lands Frauds Prevention Act Wairarapa 5 per cent. Land Purchase Account ... 19,909 13 4 4,893 2 6 2,461 5 0 311 18 3 163 3 3 19,014 0 4 5.767 18 8 13,129 9 6 348 0 3 191 4 1 15,321 1 8 16,741 0 6 16,189 15 0 467 13 10 131 19 7 Totals ... 34,124 17 8 43,047 18 11 58,336 0 4

Estimates of late Government. Estimates as Revised. More than before. Less than before. Ordinary Revenue — Customs ... Stamps Land-Tax... Railways ... Postal' ... Telegraphic Judicial ... Land and Deeds Registration and other Fees ... Marine Miscellaneous Territorial Revenue — Land Sales Depasturing Licenses, &c. £ 1,250,000 180,000 150,000 !)50,000 135,000 90,000 45,000 36,000 33,000 23,000 50,000 £ 1,200,000 165,000 147,300 900,000 135,000 80,000 48,000 36,000 34,000 22,100 46,500 £ £ 50,000 15,000 2,700 50,000 3,000 iaooo 1,000 900 3,500 368,000 132,000 248,000 132,000 120,000 252,100 4,000 Total 3,442,000 3,193,900 248,100

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CONSOLIDATED FUND.—ESTIMATED REVENUE (from present sources) and EXPENDITURE for the Financial Year 1879-80.

Estimated Revenue as revised by the present Government. Expenditure as estimated by the late (3-overnment. Ordinary Revenue, — £ £ Customs... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...1,200,000 Stamps ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 165,000 Land-Tax ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 147,300 Railways... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 900,000 Postal ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 135,000 Telegraphic ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 80,000 Judicial ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 48,000 Land and Deeds ... ... ... ... ... ...' ... 36,000 Registration and other Fees... ... ... ... ... ... 34,000 Marine ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 22,100 Miscellaneous ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 46,500 2,813,900 Civil List ... Interest and Sinking Fund ... ' ... Under Special Acts, including Subsidies, &c. Annual Appropriations, — Class I.—Colonial Secretary II. —Colonial Treasurer III. —Minister of Justice IV. —Postmaster-General and Commissioner of Telegraphs... V.—Commissioner of Customs VI. —Commissioner of Stamps ... VII. —Minister of Education VIII. —Minister of Native Affairs IX. — Minister of Lands and Mines X. —Minister for Public Works XI. —Minister of Defence £ £ 29,750 1,325,373 411,771 1,766,894 232,035 22,640 124,089 271,319 91.741 25,853 245,015 53,093 227,565 702,941 327,849 Territorial Revenue, — Land Sales ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 248,000 Depasturing Licenses and Assessments, — Rent3 and Miscellaneous ... ... ... ... ... 132,000 380,000 Total as estimated 2,324,140 £4,091,034 £3,193,900 Deduct Contingent Defence Expenditure, chargeable on Loan Additional Expenses for Legislative Department, second Session Deficit of the Year 1878-79 ... 140,000 £3,951,034 23,000 £3,974,034 131,824 £4,105,858 Balance for which provision must bo made during the present Session of Parliament ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 911,958 £4,105,858

B—2

13

ACCOUNT of the PUBLIC WORKS FUND, from 1st JULY to 30th SEPTEMBER, 1879.

* This amount is not included in the Treasury Accounts to 30th September, but as the orders were sent to the Agent-General within the quarter, it is convenient to show them in this place. STATEMENT of the AMOUNT required out of the NEW LOAN to meet LIABILITIES incurred to 30th JUNE, 1880, and FURTHER ENGAGEMENTS.

By Authority: Geokqe Didsbuby, Government Printer, Wellington. Price 9d.]

Advances Outstanding, 30 September, 1879 Final Payments. Total. RECEIPTS. EXPENDITURE. £ s. d. 46,358 3 8 3,541 0 8 300,056 7 6 2,304 G 0 29,757 0 4 36,561 14 5 7,424 4 5 19,068 9 0 81,117 14 8 1,565 7 2 30,854 11 7 80,000 0 . 0 4,000 0 0 175,024 13 0 Balance on 30 June, 1879,— Cash in the Public Account Advances to be accounted for, — In the colony ... ... ... £27,789 14 -8 In London ... ... ... 270,753 6 3 £ s. d. 207,662 9 7 298,543 0 11 £ s. d. 506,205 10 6 Immigration Public Works Departmental Kail ways Surveys of New Lines Roads Land Purchases Wai ei'-Races ... Telegraph Extension Public Buildings Lighthouses Miscellaneous ... Contingent Defence Services not provided for Outstanding Balances of Totes of 1878-79 ... £ s. d. 26,915 11 11 300 0 0 56,137 3 10 569 19 0 6,357 19 6 20,647 1 10 1,250 0 0 2,375 8 5 800 0 0 557 12 3 1,110 9 6 £ a. d. 19,142 11 9 3,211 0 8 243,919 3 8 1,734 7 0 23,399 0 10 15,914 12 7 6,174 1 5 16,693 0 7 80,317 14 8 1,007 14 11 29,744 2 1 80,000 0 0 Special Receipts, under section 9 of " The Railways Construction Act, 1878" ... Miscellaneous Recoveries... 27G 11 6 10,637 16 7 10,914 8 1 4,000 0 0 175,024 13 0 296,045 19 3 521,587 13 ■1 817,633 12 5 Orders sent to Agent-General, — Immigration Public Works Departmental ... Railways Works on open Lines 10,000 0 0 220 0 0 191,500 0 0 2,500 0 0 Balance, being amount expended in anticipation of New Loan... 504,733 13 10 £1,021,853 12 5 £1,021,853 12 5

Expended to 30 September, 1879. Liabilities to be met during Three Months ending 31 December, 1879. Liabilities to be met during Six Months ending 30 June, 1880. Total to 30 June, 1880. Further Engagements. Public Works Departmental ... Eailwajs .., Surveys ... Roads Water-races Public Buildings Miscellaneous Public Works ... Immigration Land Purchases Telegraph ... Marine Works on open Lines Contingent Defence... £ s. d. 504,733 13 10 £ s. d. 3,125 5 2 340,787 11 4 964 9 5 14,363 8 4 5,415 11 0 73,000 0 0 28,443 14 9 68,463 0 0 84,500 0 0 12,000 0 0 1,600 0 0 100,890 0 0 £ s. d. 6,030 10 4 401,987 4 3 1,928 18 11 28,720 16 9 10,811 2 1 124,790 0 0 56,887 9 6 28,600 0 0 80,000 0 0 58,250 0 0 400 0 0 123,400 0 0 £ 6. d. 2,160,104 15 8 £ s. d. 105,450 0 0 21.315 0 0 2J050 0 0 957,177 0 0 60,000 0 0 Totals ... 504,733 13 10 733,553 0 0 921,818 1 10 2,220,104 15 8 1,085,992 0 0