The Sun.
London, England, 1860-09-04 00:00:00

THE CORPORATION FINANCES.

The Chamberlain of the Corporation of Lon-
don, Mr. Scott-or the civic Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, as one might designate a man through
whose hands far on to half a million of money
passes every year,-has just issued his statement
for the past year touching the financial condition
of " the first city in the world." Considering that
two-thirds of the present year have passed away,
the first thought which such a document suggests
is that its publication cannot be said to be in the
least premature, seeing that it enlightens the
citizens on subjects of corporation finance down
to a period no later than the 31st of De-
cember,- 1859. Taking it, however, as it is,
we find that, inclusive of a balance in hand
on that day twelvemonths of £56,346 odd,
and of a loan of £20,000 raised within the
year, the aggregate receipts of the Corporation for
the year 1859 amounted to £366,228 19s. ld., and
the total expenditure to £287,421 14s. 6d., leaving
a balance in the hands of the Chamberlain at the
beginning of the present year of £78,807 4s. 7d., or
larger than that of the previous year by £22,461.
Among the receipts, by far the largest item is that
of £100,876 18s. 4d. derived from rents and quit
rents. The markets have raised £14,119 in round
numbers-namely, Leadenhall, £2,920 ; Newgate,
£4,452 ; Farringdon, 1794 ; Smithfield (shorn of
its ancient significance), only £233 ; and Billings-
gate,.£s,7l9. Under the head of "Duties" £90,533
odd have been realised, including the metage on
coals, £73,881 ; the metage on corn, £14,007 ;
the groundage of corn, £879 ; the metage on
fruit, £1,651 ; and the stamping of weights and
measures, £ll2. Then follow a number of mis-
cellaneous receipts, amounting in the aggregate to
£289,882, and including, among others, £60,000
derived from the sale of securities; brokers' rents
and fines, £4,451 ; justiciary fees, £1,087 ; interest
on Government securities, £3,991; reimbursement
on account of prisons, £4,573 ; ditto on criminal
prosecutions, £2,221 ; officers' surplus fees and
profits, £2,131; and casual and incidental receipts
to £2,827. Turning to the expenditure side of the
account, it embraces, among other items, charges
on the corporation estates to the amount of £8,585 ;
on the markets, £5,019 ; on the Metropolitan
Cattle-market, £8,969 ; charges on the various du-
ties, £19,636; charges in aid of public improve-
ments, £31,500 ; expenses of magistracy, £7,128 ;
police expenses, £ll,BBB ; expenses of prisons,
£18,836 ; administration of criminal justice,
£7,453 ; civil government, £27,441; charitable do-
nations, pensions, and honorary rewards, £7,243;
education, £5,091; Holloway Prison, £3,476 ; city
library, miscellaneous and incidental expenditure,
£4,388; purchase of securities, £11,137; and cash
applied in discharge of loans, £105,000. The
above is a synopsis of the general receipts and dis-
bursements. Singling out some of the details,
the outstanding loans contracted by the Corpora-
tion, mostly for purposes of public improvement,
represent an aggregate sum of £1,700,600, which
is held at interest varying from to 5 per cent.
Of these about £242,800 fall due in the present
year. The sum borrowed for the building of
Holloway Prison was £92,700 ; for the formation
of the Metropolitan Cattle-market, £305,000 ; for
Cannon-street improvement, .1500,000 ; for Thread-
needle-street and other improvements, £40,000; for
Reserve Fund, £350,000; for New Cannon-street,
£106,000 ; for Clerkenwell improvement, £128,800;
for building the Royal Exchange, £85,000; and for
repairihg Blackfriars-bridge, £73,100. For sewerage
purposes, £20,859 has been expended, including
£11,806, a contribution towards the expenses of the
Metropolitan Board of Works. The balance in the
hands of the Chamberlain at the end of last year
in respect of the reserve fund was £7,748 6s. 4d. ;
of the sinking fund, £2,300125. Bd., and of the city
accumulation fund, created by resolution of the
Common Council in 1858, £924 12s. 3d. The cash
liabilities of the Corporation on the 31st of Decem-
ber last amounted to £1,866,732145. ld., and the
cash assets to £1,207,034 16s. 10d., showing an
excess of cash liabilities over cash assets of
£659,697 17s. 3d. The various accounts are car-
ried out in detail over 71 folio pages of print, but
we have extracted the more prominent items of
public interest ; and such of the citizens as may
desire to dive deeper into the subject may pro-
bably be furnished with the requisite materials
on application to their representatives in the
Court of Common Council.