B.—No. 2

12

FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

to the Committee at the time. As a matter of fact, a considerable part of the money was required, and we were glad to negotiate the bills. I will now put the available assets I have mentioned together:— £ s. d. Bank Balance ... ... ... ... ... 103,167 17 3 Treasury Bills renewable ... ... ... ... 6,000 0 0 Old Treasury Bills issuable ... ... ... ... 11,000 0 0 In Home Agents'hands, about ... ... ... 12,000 0 0 Due by Home Government ... ... ... ... 800 0 0 New Treasury Bills authorized ... ... ... 150,000 0 0 £282,967 17 3 Deduct from this amount the Liabilities, Engagements, and Overdraft 217,217 7 9 And we have a balance left of ... ... ... £65,750 9 6 This balance represents the amount available for next year's expenditure, after issuing all the Treasury Bills lately authorized and paying off the overdraft. I hope the result is clear, and that honorable Members find it better than they expected. It includes all the available balance out of the £1,114,000; and besides the Permanent Loan Liabilities there remains, as a floating debt, £378,000 on account of Treasury Bills, the whole sale of which is included in the estimate. The permanent Colonial Loan Liabilities amount to £3,835,000, exclusive of Amounts charged to Provinces. Full particulars of the Loans appear in a Return already laid on the table of the House, on the motion of the honorable Member for Gladstone, Mr. Jollie. ESTIMATED EXPENDITURE FOR 1869-70. The estimated Expenditure for the year is as follows. I contrast it with the Estimates for the previous year : — 1869-70. 1868-69. £ s. d. £s. d. Civil List ... ... ... ... 27,500 0 0 27,500 0 0 Permanent Charges ... ... ... ... 284,089 2 2 320,542 16 G ~ ~ on Provincial Account ... ... 157,416 0 0 Class I.—Public Domains and Buildings ... ... 2,480 0 0 2,880 0 0 Class ll.—Public Departments ... ... 40,890 18 8 38,543 7 3 Class lll.—Law and Justice ... ... 51,808 8 0 57,912 10 11 Class IV—Postal, &c, Services ... ... 134,334 0 0 116,236 18 7 Class V.—Customs Departments ... ... 40,475 15 0 42,288 12 6 Class Vl.—Native ... ... ... 21,407 2 6 17,663 12 6 Class Vll.—Miscellaneous, Special, and Temporary ... 31,516 17 6 190,215 6 6 Class Vlll.—Militia and Volunteers ... ... 27,669 14 2 23,882 5 1 Armed Constabulary ... ... 118,000 0 0 80,938 3 6 „ „ Defence (Contingent) ... ... 32,000 0 0 50,000 0 0 Total ... ... ... £969,587 18 0 £968,603 13 4 No conclusion can be arrived at as to the economy or otherwise of the proposed expenditure by comparing the totals of the two years ; because in the year 186S-69 a large sum is included for Treasury Bills, nominally to be paid off, but really to be renewed ; and on the other hand, in the present Estimates are included the permanent charges which have to be paid on Provincial account, and some of the services we propose to charge on the revenue this year were partly provided out of Special, or what was called Extraordinary Revenue last year. I will briefly refer to the separate classes which indicate an apparent increase over last year's Estimates. The increase in public departments arises through amounts being substituted for the word " fees" as payments to certain officers such as Registrars. In last year's Estimates " fees" were set down, but the unknown amount could not be detailed. In the Postal Charges there appears an increase, which is to be accounted for by larger payments necessary to be made on account of the Suez and Intercolonial Services, consequent on the discontinuance of the Panama line. It must be remembered, however, that this discontinuance leaves a saving on the permanent charges of over £50,000. The items for Intercolonial and Interprovincial Services are so set down as to leave to the Committee the opportunity of discussing the question of new contracts apart from those existing, for which payment must be made. The Postal Estimates are also increased, through its being necessary to place votes on the Estimates for Marine Survey and for Telegraph Construction, hitherto charged against Extraordinary Revenue. The Miscellaneous shows a large decrease, on account of its not being requisite to charge that item with the payment of any Treasury Bills during the year. I should mention, in regard to the Civil servants, that a difficulty has hitherto existed in the way of classifying them under the Civil Service Act, on account of its being found that the officers of some departments are not suited to the duties of other departments, and that therefore their transfer from one department to another would be detrimental to the service. We propose to obviate that difficulty by giving to the Governor power, for one year, by a clause in the Appropriation Act, to classify the servants in any one department, provided that such classification shall not increase the aggregate salaries voted. Should the plan answer, permanent provision can be made next Session for giving effect to it. Great inconvenience arises through the votes for Gold Fields officers being provided partly by the Provinces, partly by the Colony. We propose to introduce a Bill leaving to the Provinces the duty of voting such salaries; but providing that whenever they fail to