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THE COLONY'S FINANCES. [
0 ? ?
STATEMEM' BY THE PREMIER.
The Premier was asked by on© of our
representatives! yesterday afternoon
whether he would make q. statement
concerning tho condition of the colony's
finances now that tho expenditure for
the year had been made known. In
response to tho request, Sir John
said : —
' The estimate of the revenue of the
colony for the year ended June 30,
made by tho Treasurer, was
£3,008,000, whereas the actual re
venue received for that period was
tt^,754:,74G, showing that the estimate
was too great by ,£253,25-i. This re
sult may be accounted for by the fact
that largo stocks were held by import
ing houses, which were imported .in
some cases in order to start their busi
nesses, and this would account for their
having imported much less this year
than they did hi the previous one. No
doubt, too, tlie lesaening of the amount
forwarded to the colony for investment
in gold mines by London companies
had on influence upon the revenue, es
pecially -with i-egard to the Customs
and railway revenue. Although tho re
venue fell short of the estimate by
£253,254, still the amount received can
not but be regarded as a very large re
venue when tho population and other
circumstances in the colony are con
sidered. As to the expenditure, the es
timate was £3,320,891, and the actual
expenditure was £3,256,912, so that
the Government was able to spend
£63,982 less than it was authorised to.
For several months I have been aware
that it was necessary to curtail expen
diture, but it was found difficult to do
so on account of the many works that
were in hand, and also owing to the
large expenditure that had to be in
curred in connection with the Railway
Department for, the carriage of water —
whioh was a very considerable sum —
and also for the upkeep of hospitals
and other necessary works. Many of
those works are either completed, or
nearly so. and. thorofovft. t.hft n-wftj-n-
ment will be in a better position to
ourtail expenditure on woi-ks. and in
other ways during the coming year
than it had been for a long time past.
I don't anticipate that there will bo any
difficulty in preparing the Estimates
for the coming year so as to pay off
the deficit during the year. Our Esti
mates for the past year were framed
with only a balance of £2,468. There
were special reasons why it was impos
sible to make thia amount larger, but
I hope during tho coming year to frame
the Estimates in such a way as not
only to wipe oft' the deficit but also to
have a larger balance available to come
and go on than was the case this year.
While I should much prefer that there
was a balance to credit, still I see no
oouso for any groat dissatisfaction at
tho result. In my opinion, it was bet
ter for us to go on with our works and to
have the present result than to stop
works in order to have avoided it. I
think that when the whole of tho finan
cial statements aro presented to the
public, the small amount of overdraft
will not be considered to be one that
need give any cause for serious com
ment,'
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