8.—6.

1894. NEW ZEALAND.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT (In Committee of Supply, 24th July, 1894) BY THE COLONIAL TREASURER, THE HONOURABLE MR. WARD.

Mb. Guinness, — In inviting the attention of the Committee to the consideration of] the financial position of the colony, I desire to say that it will be my aim to place the same before you as lucidly as possible. I entertain the opinion, that it is not, as is frequently said, the business of the Colonial Treasurer to attempt in any way to misrepresent the figures showing the position of the finance of the colony in order to make the results appear better than they really are. It is the duty of the Treasurer to state clearly, concisely, and accurately what our financial position is, and my object will be to do this ; if I fail to succeed it will not be for want of an earnest endeavour on my part so to do. I will first briefly review the results of the past year. CONSOLIDATED FUND (EEVBNUE ACCOUNT OF 1893-94). I need scarcely remind honourable members that the year through which' the country has passed has been remarkable for a heavy fall in the values of; some of our principal products, accentuated by one of the worst harvests ever recorded in the history of the colony. In the face of this it would be > not unnatural for many honourable members to anticipate a marked variation for the worse in the revenue of the year as compared with the forecast which it was my lot to give when placing my estimate before you last year. Under these circumstances it will, I am sure, be all the more gratifying to the Committee when I tell them that my estimate of the revenue of last year has been substantially exceeded by the actual results. The figures are — Estimated, £4,546,700 ; actual, £4,653,038, or £106,338 more than the estimate. The Stamps revenue contributed the largest excess, namely, £48,947; then the Customs, £35,502; Territorial, £13,059 ; and other heads of revenue made up a total excess of £116,584. On the other hand the Eailways fell short by £7,452, and Marine and Miscellaneous by £2,794 : making altogether £10,246 less than the estimate. Although there was a shortage of railway revenue, the net estimated return from this source has been very nearly reached by the saving on the estimated expenditure, thus : loss of revenue, £7,452 ; saving on expenditure, £6,197 : net loss of revenue on estimate, £1,255. On the expenditure side of the account a solid saving has been made. The estimated disbursements were put down at £4,460,547, while the figures brought to charge amount only to £4,386,359, or £74,188 less than was anticipated. In only one class of the annual appropriations has there been any excess —

i—B. 6.

Introductory.

Tables Nos. 1 and 2. Revenue, 1893-94, exceeded estimate by £106,338.

• Expenditure, , 1893-94, less than estimate by - £74,188.