LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, No. 12.
WEDNESDAY, 16TH NOVEMBER, 1892.
PRESENT:
HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR
(Sir WILLIAM ROBINSON, K.C.M.G.).
The Honourable the Colonial Secretary, (GEORGE THOMAS MICHAEL O'BRIEN, C.M.G.).
the Acting Attorney General, (ANDREW JOHN Leach).
the Registrar General, (JAMES HALDANE STEWART LOCKHART).
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the Colonial Treasurer, (NORMAN GILBERT MITCHELL-Innes).
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the Director of Public Works, (FRANCIS ALFRED COOPER).
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the Harbour Master, (ROBERT MURRAY RUMSEY).
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CATCHICK PAUL CHATER.
HO KAI, M.B., C.M.
THOMAS HENDERSON WHITEHEAD.
EMANUEL RAPHAEL BELILIOS.
JAMES JARDINE BELL-IRVING.
The Council met pursuant to adjournment.
The Minutes of the last Meeting, held on the 14th June, 1892, were read and confirmed. NEW MEMBERS.-The Honourable A. J. LEACH, Acting Attorney General, and The Honourable J. J. BELL-IRVING took the oath of allegiance on their appointment to a seat on the Council.
His Excellency then addressed the Council as follows:-
HONOURABLE GENTLEMEN OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL,
I have much pleasure in meeting you again for the transaction of public business, after a vacation which you have doubtless enjoyed.
I must confess, however, that it is not an unmixed pleasure, as I have to lay before you and to endeavour to explain a state of affairs, so far as Finance is concerned, which cannot be considered entirely satisfactory.
On the 25th January last, adopting the Estimates for 1892 as handed down to me, and making allowance for a loss of $114,000 on the Opium Farm, I remarked that the anticipated Revenue of $2,144,178 would not be secured, but that we might expect about $2,030,178. The ordinary expenditure was estimated at $1,773,918 leaving a possible surplus of $256,260, It appears likely that the total receipts for 1892 will be about $2,067,216. Of this sum, however, at least $50,000 is due to the reduction of the arrears of taxes outstanding at the end of 1891, through their energetic collection by the Treasurer's Department during the current year. $20,000 has also been received from the Military Authorities for the Lazaretto. These sums, the latter being purely a casual receipt, cannot be regarded as Actual Revenue, though they come within the year's receipts. The same may also be said of the deferred payments of the Opium Farmer; but deducting the two first items from the $2,067,216 before mentioned, we find that the true Revenue of 1892 will be $1,997,216, approximately, or $33,000 less than was estimated by me on the 25th January last.
The Estimate of Expenditure for 1892 was as follows:-
Ordinary Expenditure $1,773,918, Public Works Extraordinary $680,078, making a total of $2,453,996.
The Ordinary Expenditure will be about $1,782,000 and Public Works Extraordinary $583,000, making a total of $2,365,000. Supposing $2,067,216 to be the actual receipts. of 1892 and $2,365,000 the total Expenditure, Ordinary and Extraordinary, we have a deficit on the year's transactions of $297,784. On the other hand, allowing that the Ordinary Revenue, as distinct from Receipts, is $1,997,216 and the Ordinary Expenditure $1,782,000, we find that there is an excess of $215,216 of Ordinary Revenue over Ordinary Expenditure. This surplus unfortunately, however, is subject to further reduction for the following reasons.
A practice has been in force here for many years past in dealing with the public funds, which without full explanation must always have rendered the annual statement of the financial position of the Colony more or less unintelligible, if not misleading, to Honourable Members.