8.—6.

The following is a summary of the position Revenue. £ £ Taxation .. .. .. .. .. 31,664,000 Interest .. .. .. .. .. 2,141,000 Other receipts .. . . . . .. 2,254,000 36,059,000 Expenditure. Permanent appropriations — £ Debt services . . . . 9,441,000 Exchange .. .. . . 1,828,000 Highways . . .. . . 2,835,000 Other services .. .. 1,517,000 15,621,000 Annual appropriations— Social services .. .. 11,872,000 Other services . . . . 7,756,000 - 19,628,000 - 35,249,000 Surplus .. .. .. .. .. £810,000 It will be noted in comparing these results with those of the previous financial year that both revenue and expenditure have reached record proportions. This is in accordance both with modern trends in public finance and with the Government's policy of increasing the range and scope of social services. Such a policy requires little justification in the light of present day enlightened standards. The Government has already gone some distance along the road of social amelioration, but there is much still to be done, and the remaining problems will be faced with the same resolute determination as has characterized the Government's action up to the present. No nation can afford to rest content so long as numbers of its citizens who are able and willing to work are denied the opportunity of providing for the reasonable comfort and advancement of themselves and their families. Moreover, if any real benefit is to be obtained from the progress of science and invention, it must be shared by every section of the population. It will be appreciated, too, that an individual is able to take advantage of the various forms of material progress only to the extent to which he has the necessary means of making his demands effective. A progressive extension of social services tends to bring these material advantages within the reach of all. Of the total increase in expenditure (compared with the immediately preceding year) of £4,574,000, social services accounted for an amount of £1,959,000. Other annual appropriations accounted for an increase of £1,082,000, the result very largely of additional Defence expenditure. Exchange charges were responsible for £247,000, and other services for a total of £1,286,000. The major portion of the increase in the last-mentioned item is largely accounted for by an accretion to the general Reserve Fund of the Dominion. On the revenue side of the accounts the increase of £4,912,000 is due largely to the more prosperous conditions which obtained in the Dominion as there was very little variation in the actual rates of taxation. Of the increase referred to, income-tax (which surpassed expectations) accounted for no less than £2,461,000, Customs duties for £1,260,000, and land-tax, together with miscellaneous items, for the balance, leaving a surplus for the year, as already stated, of £810,000. Full comparative details regarding both revenue and expenditure are included in the Budget tables.

Summary of year's transactions.

Social services.

Revenue.

3—B. 6.

9