, 1884-03-29

Revenue last financial year, OF SIO9Z.61.
On the other side the Total Expenditure
is now estimated at a253, 3O7.92; in this
respect he would, however, now beg 10
observe that there is a small mistake Ill
the Draft, caused by the Money Bill XVI
Expenses for Building and other uncer.
tain EXpenSeS), the total amount ot which
is $11 ,3l3.O0 instead If 81 ,50l, as III the
Draft; hence the Total Expenditure ought
to be entered with 1858 1882; this
amount, compared with the estimated
expenditure in last years Budget, sheWS an
increase Of $5,O36.UO III this Bulge, and
a Total Deficit OF S79, 990.36. 1t might be
expected, as it was the first time he had
the honour to Introduce the Draft OF Bud
get III this Council, that he should say
something as 10 the possibility OF removing
that deficit he wished he could do so as
satisfactorily as deserved; but he was
afraid he could not. He would. however,
make some remarks OH this occasion. A
large part of the Deficit in he DRAFT Of
Budget is caused by the guarantee which
the Colonial Treasury has undel taken III
reference to the Central Factory. 1t is,
he believed, expected that the Fac Dry
will soon be able to fu fiji i'll its obligations;
therefore it may be expected that ibis part
of the deficit will now disappear from the
Budget. In fact, we would anticipate that,
and would deduct the sum entered for the
said guarantee, $40 1855; and the deficit
would then become S34, 714.3S. With
regard to the possibility Of reduci g. ur
altogether avoiding this deficit, there are
two ways that presented themselves.
Firstly, to increase The revenue. If we
take the Revenues for The last Is years,
from 1865 66-lSS2-83, the average is
$lG5,S25; The highest amount Of revenue
Obtained du, ing tn It period was i'll 1871 u
when the actual revenue amour ed to
$210,479.49. That high amount OF revenue
in that year was owing to the large crop
and high prices; the Lowest amount OF
revenue was that Of 1S74-75, when the
actual to al sun was as low as $llS,292. II.
But, as already stated, the average was
Sl65,S25. Now, he thought that we can
not expect the revenue from he present
sources OF revenue 10 give more than that
sum, on an average. II the production Of
the Island were inc eaSed, then the REEVE
u to the public Treasury would increase
too; this was proved by the results Of the
financial year lS71.72. But this is a queS.
ton which belonged to the future; It
seemed to be- certain, that for some years
to come we cannot expect more than that
average revenue. The actual amounts
nave during the last 5 years varied from
SlGO,000 to $175,00O. He considered it
extremely doubtful whether any new source
of revenue can he gained.-As regards the
other way to remove The deficit to reduce
the Expenditure, he would beg TO point
out, that after deducting the amount for
the Factory guarantee, the g. hPr Expenses
OH the Budget would then Shew S2O7.753.94;
Of this sum $3.50 are an extraordinary
item for rebuilding and repairing some
buildings at KingSlill the ordinary Bud
get Expenditure would then in the coming
year amount to $204, 1895 4 The EXpen-
diture for the ) years from 1S7S-19-
1928 has varied with round figures from
100000 to 500, 000. The question is,
how far there is any probability Of educ
ing that expenditure. AS stated before,
he di not believe that the Revenu- can he
increased, except by new sources, the
obtaining Of which h. considered very
doubtful. AS for the expenditure, we
have gained a sad experience III regard to
the reduction Of expenses, if we take the
L years already mentioned lS65-G6 to
1928, and especially the period 1869
1878, which period contains a long series
of years Of sad memory, when the Revenues
were steadily declining and the Colonial
Council in conjunction with the Govern
ment tried earnestly and honestly to balance
the Budget by reducing the expenses
The expenses were reduced gradually, i'll
the year 1S77-7S they amounted only to
Sl59,959,S5, but the limit was then trans
crossed; and the very next year the
expenses reached up to S2O1 1906. He
believed. that with an experience of that