PROVINCIAL COUNCIL. THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 110, 5 June 1875, Page 9

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL. THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

On Monday evening, on the question of Supply, the Provincial Treasurer, Mr. Moody, made the following financial statement : — Mr. Moody said : In coming before the Council to-day, I must claim the indulgence of hon. members, as my political experience has not been so great as to give me that confidence in addressing the House, -which time alone can produce. I feel, in following in the footsteps of my predecessor; whose experience in the office of Treasurership has been so great, that I do so at a decided disadvantage j and I am sure hon. members will extend moderate forbearance while I attempt to lay before the House a short abstract of the estimated receipts and expenditure of the present Government. I may observe, before going further, that it will be quite unnecessary to make any allusion to the items under Receipts from the Colonial Government, as they must remain in all circumstances as presented on the Estimates brought down by my predecessor. Assuming as a basis the main features of the Bheets submitted by the late Government, and keeping before us carefully the consideration which weighed so heavily on the mind of the hon. member for the Taieri — the expense of printing fresh Estimates — we have adhered, with the greatest consideration for his economical scruples, to the forms as far as possible ; but we have departed in many instances from the apportionments of both receipts and expenditure. You will observe that we have added to the receipts £50,000, for sales of Crown lands. After careful examination and consideration, we are fully justified in arriving at this conclusion, more particularly as we find the receipts of the Treasury from land Bales during the last two months will have averaged at the rate of .£250,000 for the year ending March 31, 1876. In estimating the revenue from this Bource at £200,000, we consider that we keep it ■within a very safe limit, at the same time asserting confidently that a judicious administration of the land laws will undoubtedly produce an excess. We have also increased the amounts derived from Educational Reserves £500, and from school fees £1,000. This makes a total addition to the estimated revenue of £51,500, bringing the total estimated receipts up to £616,826 14s 6d. The estimated expenditure will be found to reach £727,923 18s 6d, showing a decrease on the total expenditure proposed by the late Government of £13,670; and you will find, on referring to the various items, that, notwithstanding this apparent decrease of expenditure, we propose to expend a considerable sum in excess of that proposed to be spent by the late Government on roads, bridges, and other pressing and necessary works. There would have been a still greater expenditure on works of this nature had -we not thought it advisable to Bet aside a mm of £500 to meet the

probable refund of gold duty. I may also point out that, in Bridges department, we hare added sums for the construction of two new bridges — one over the Makarewa, costing £500 ; and one between Inch Clutha and Matau, costing £3,500 — but this expenditure of £4,000 has been balanced by reducing the amount laid aside for the Waitaki Bridge to .£3,5000, as we consider it is very unlikely that more than that amount will be required during the present financial year. To explain the apparent anomaly of decreasing the expenditure and spending a greater amount on necessary works than was on the last Estimates, I must draw the attention of hon. members to the fact that £25,000 for school buildings has been omitted, as the present Government has, after mature deliberation, come to the conclusion that it is a mistake to go on from year to year appropriating from Ordinance Revenue large sums for the building and maintenance of schools when, without any prejudice to the Province, this system could be effectually carried out by raising the necessary funds upon the security of the Education Reserves already Crown granted, thus freeing a large sum yearly for application to those public works of practical utility, such as roads, bridges, jetties, and harbours : the claims of which hon. members so frequently make, and the urgent necessity for which every member of the community acknowledges. The scheme appears the more judicious, as it must be apparent to hon. members tbat it is no injustice to posterity to bear a small proportion of the cost of those institutions in whose benefits they will bo largely participate. In order to carry out this proposal, I would suggest that a sum of £30,000, upon the security of the rents of the Education Reserves, should be raised, and I believe the system of terminable annuities, at 30 years' date, bearing interest not to exceed 7 per cent, (including sinking fund), would be the most advantageous to adopt. This interest would amount to £2100 annually,and, after paying this for 30 years, principal and interest would both be extinguished. In a scheme which proposes, and very legitimately proposes, to relieve our present heavy expenditure on educational buildings, and their maintenance, at a moderate rate of interest, more particmlarly when that interest is considerably- more than covered by the rents received from Educational Reserves ; and, with the absolutely certain prospect of a steady increase in the revenue from these reserves, I urge very strongly the present benefit to the province to be derived from this scheme, seeing that we may avoid immediate taxation on ourselves, and entail a burden of the very slightest description on our successors. Should, however, the Council not coincide with these views, the amount will be brought down on the Supplementary Estimates, and we have no hesitation in expressing our confidence in the elasticity of the revenue bearing this charge, more especially as we have not drawn within £50,000 of the estimated land revenue. Summarising results, it will be found that, taking the balance of cash on hand at March 31, 1875, of £64,976 18s lOd, and adding to it the estimated receipts of the current year, £616,826 14s 6d, we have a total of £681,103 13s 4d, to be dealt with. Turning now to the proposed expenditure in the hands of^hon. mem« "bers, it will he seen that the sums submitted to the committee for appropriation will amount to £728,423 18s. 6d., leaving an apparent deficit of £46,620 18s. 6d. It must, however, be borne in mind that these appropriations include sufficient to cover all railways under contract ; but, on this account, it will be impossible to spend, during this current year, the whole sum of £129,000. In all probability there will remain on these and other works in progress, which cannot b» completed and passed before the end of this financial year, a sum of £70,000, and if this be so (as the Government feel satisfied will bo the case), it will bring our expenditure within the limits of the estimated receipts by the sum of £23,000. It will not be necessary to go over the details of expenditure at present. Any explanation required will be given by myself or colleagues, as the items progress through committee. In framing these Estimates, we have endeavoured to dispense the means at our disposal with the greatest justice to all parts of the province ; and it is hoped that having increased the amounts as much as we could for works, roads, and bridges, hon. members will see the necessity of refraining as much as possible from attempting to load the Supplementary Estimates with any further additions for such purposes. We fully concur with the remarks made by the late Treasurer with regard to the sale of the Bluff, Invercargill, and Winton Railway to the Colonial Government, the constructions of further branch railways, &c, and particularly as to the inadvisability of sacrificing large areas of land for payment of such expenditure. It will therefore be unnecessary for me to allude to these matters at any greater length. I beg in conclusion, to thank hon. members for the patient hearing afforded me, and to assure the House that, in my new office, I have endeavoured to grasp and master the details of the situation, and to further assure them that my endeavour will be always directed to the careful and systematic administration of the duties, both financial and departmental, entrusted to me, and to the welfare of the province as a whole. He (the Treasurer) concluded by moving that the committee report progress on the item "loans," and that the late Estimates be discharged.