B.—l [PT. lIJ.

Repayment of the Public Debt. The following table gives particulars of the amount of securities redeemed during the year under the provisions of the Repayment of the Public Debt Act, 1925, and also of the total amount so redeemed to 31st March, 1934 : —•

It will be seen that an annual saving of interest amounting to £137,436 17s. 9d. has now been effected by the operation of the Act. The following figures show how this saving increases year by year as the cumulative effect of the sinking fund becomes apparent:— Annual saving in interest on securities redeemed to £ s . a. 31st March, 1926 .. .. .. .. .. .. 8,137 10 3 31st March, 1927 .. .. .. .. .. .. 27,043 9 3 31st March, 1928 .. .. .. .. .. .. 39,592 0 4 31st March, 1929 .. .. .. .. .. .. 46,782 0 4 31st March, 1930 .. .. .. .. .. .. 57,218 13 7 31st March, 1931 .. .. .. .. .. .. 69,198 9 3 31st March, 1932 .. .. .. .. .. .. 90,816 3 3 31st March, 1933 .. .. .. .. .. .. 109,236 2 3 31st March, 1934 .. .. .. .. .. .. 137,436 17 9 Of the £1,776,270 securities paid off during the year, £1,180,000 consisted of Treasury bills under the Banks Indemnity (Exchange) Act, 1932-33. These bills represented short-term or " floating " debt, and the corresponding amount of sterling purchased from the proceeds of the Bills was held in London and had been credited to the Ordinary Revenue Account. The effect of redeeming these bills from the Public Debt Repayment Account was to free this credit in the Ordinary Revenue Account for general revenue purposes, as the charge against such credit represented by the Treasury bills no longer remained—that is, the result has been to restore to the Ordinary Revenue Account an amount approximately equal to the £1,180,000 expended from the Repayment of the Public Debt Account in redeeming the bills, so that the annual contribution from the Consolidated Fund to the Public Debt Repayment Account has not in effect been made to the extent of approximately £1,180,000. The following statement shows the amount of loans subject to the repayment of the Public Debt Act, 1925, and of those not subject to the Act, as at 31st March, 1934 :— £ s. d. Debt subject to the Repayment of the Public Debt Act, 1925 .. .. .. 226,543,393 1 3 Debt not subject to the Repayment of the Public Debt Act, 1925 — Exempted under section 2 of the Act — £ s.- d. Treasury bills issued under the Public Revenues Act, 1926, section 41 .. .. 3,452,109 0 0 Loans raised in respect of the— State Advances Account — £ s. d. Advances to Settlers Branch .. 20,311,415 8 5 Advances to Workers Branch .. 12,145,734 10 4 Advances to Local Authorities Branch 2,778,690 15 7 — 35,235,840 14 4 Loans for which special sinking funds are provided— State Coal-mines Account .. .. 114,233 6 8 Electric Supply Account .. .. 12,147,770 11 1 Nauru and Ocean Islands Account .. 479,200 0 0 Westport Harbour Account .. .. 614,250 0 0 Samoan Loan Suspense Account .. 105,000 0 0 13,460,453 17 9 Funded debt to the Imperial Government— Land for Settlements Account .. 33,446 6 11 Naval Defence Act Account .. .. 577,446 11 5 Public Works Fund —General Purposes Account.. .. .. .. 169,109 15 3 War Expenses Account .. .. 23,320,196 17 0 — 24,100,199 10 7 76,248,603 2 8 Exempted under Finance Act, 1931 (No. 4), section 7 (2): Deed of hypothecation .. 4,050,000 0 0 Total debt not subject to the Act .. .. 80,298,603 2 8 Total debt as at 31st March, 1934 (see 8.-l [Part lII], 1934, page 7) .. .. £306,841,996 3 ll* » N.B.—This does not include loans under ltaral Advances Act, 1926, amounting to £4,213,050, which are not treated by the Treasury as forming part of the public debt.

V

Nominal Value of Securities. Kate : Total Cost Annual Saving of of of Interest, i Total to v itm 94 1 Total to Redemptions. Interest.* 31st March, 1933. lear ' I 31st March, 1934. I J I Per Cent,. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. .31- .. 900 0 0 900 0 0 900 0 0 4 2,29|),863 0 0 .. 2,290,863 0 0 2,279,175 9 1 11,454 6 3 4| 2,070,940 0 0 .. 2,070,940 0 0 2,055,562 5 0 20,709 8 0 5 1,416,400 0 0 1,180,000 0 0 2,596,400 0 0 2,595,846 5 0 38,946 0 0 5-i 790,440 0 0 562,650 0 0 1,353,090 0 0 1,353,072 10 0 23,679 1 6 51 921,060 0 0 32,720 0 0 953,780 0 0 951,364 12 2 19,075 12 0 6" 942,900 0 0 .. 942,900 0 0 921,603 18 11 23,572 10 0 8,432,603 0 0 1,776,270 0 0 10,208,873 0 0 10,157,525 0 2 ! 137,436 17 9 * Difference between the rate of interest which the securities bore and the rate (3J per cent.) payable by the Consolidated Fund to the Public Debt Repayment Account on the amount of securities redeemed under the Act.