8.—6

1889. NEW ZEALAND.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT (In Committee of Supply, 25th June, 1889) BY THE COLONIAL TREASURER, THE HONOURABLE SIR H. A. ATKINSON.

Mit. Hamlin, — The accounts of the last financial year having been already published, honourable members are in a position to know that the task before me this evening, though not of course without difficulties of its own, is a far more pleasant one than either of those which fell to my lot on the last two occasions upon which it was my duty to present the annual Budget to this Committee. Our trade is reviving, our foreign markets have much improved, and our industries large and small, with hardly an exception, show increased activity and steady progress. The policy of retrenchment and strict economy sanctioned by Parliament in 1887, and since carried out by the Government to the best of their ability, has produced the result which sooner or later was bound to follow ; and I have to-night the pleasure, unusual for some years past, of announcing a surplus. That surplus is not, indeed, a very large one, but it is a surplus; and those only who have really entered into our financial difficulties for the last few years, and felt the responsibility of helping to meet them, can appreciate to the full extent the satisfaction of again finding the balance on the right side of the account. The Committee, I am sure, will feel as I do this satisfaction, and will, at the same time, join with me in the caution that we must now be doubly careful, lest with the return of increased prosperity there should be any return to unwise or unnecessary expenditure. CONSOLIDATED FUND. Expenditure for the Tear 1888-89 (Ordinary Bevenue). The estimated expenditure for the year 1888-89, including the votes taken upon the Supplementary Estimates and charges under special Acts, amounted to .£4,084,054. The actual'expenditure was .-£3,977,265; there was therefore unexpended of the amount authorised £106,789. Honourable members will find particulars of the unexpended appropriations in the tables attached to this Statement and in the Appropriation Account. I may, however, here mention that the nonpayment of any balance of subsidy due to local bodies arises entirely from their neglecting to make application according to law, and that tlie total liability of .£24,677 outstanding on the 31st March last is not unusual in amount, for in March, 1886, there was £51,736, and in March, 1887, c£69,390 outstanding, one moiety of which last two amounts was chargeable against the Consolidated Fund, and the other against the Public Works Fund. Honourable members will observe under Class 8, Education, that one vote —Public schools'—has been exceeded by nearly £6,000, and that art under-issue of nearly £7,000 has occurred on other votes, but chiefly on the vote for school-buildings. For the first time in our finance the vote for last year for school-buildings was charged entirely against the Consolidated Fund. .£30,000 was granted for that purpose, but, when the i—B. 6.

Accounts of last financial year already published.

Surplus announced.

Consolidated Fund. Table No- 2, Expenditure out of ordinary revenue, 1888-89: Estimated, £4,084,054; actual, £3,977,265.

For first time school-buildings charged entirely against Consolidated Fund.