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From the latest returns the following will approximately be the amounts:—
Revenue $2,186,506, $179,000 more than the estimate. Expenditure $2,252,912, defi.it $66,406. Of the above Expenditure $150,000, as I have said, was spent in grappling with the plague; $150,000 is owing to depreciation from 2/6 to 2/1 the dollar, and about $22,000 is owing to loss of Rates, Crown Rents, &c., caused by the plague.
For 1895 I have taken 2/1 as the probable average value of the dollar, and the Estimated Returns will be as follows :-
Revenue $1,999,076. Expenditure $2,041,637,-showing a deficit of $42,561. On account of Public Works Extraordinary a further sum of $24,670 will be required, making the deficit $67,231. This deficit is nearly accounted for by the falling off in the Opium Revenue, which shows a decrease of $54,800. The farm will be let from the 1st March, 1895, at $286,000 a year instead of $340,800.
I propose to meet the deficit of $67,231 in the following way :-
(1) By an increase of stamp duties, which is expected to yield $40,000 a year; (2) By an increase in fees to be paid for spirit licences, estimated to yield $16,500 per annum; and (3) By an increase in pawnbrokers' fees, yielding $23,950 a year. These sums amount altogether to $80,450, so that the additional taxation will not only cover the deficit but leave a surplus of about $13,200. I have already submitted these proposals to you, gentlemen, the Unofficial Members of Council, and you have expressed your concurrence in them. I may remind you that at the same time you expressed yourselves not averse to still further taxation by way of an increase in rates, a small tax on European shipping, and one also on kerosine if it was necessary to impose them. I am very glad indeed to say that these additional imposts will not now be necessary. For the assistance that you rendered to the Government on the occasions of our meeting to discuss these matters I beg to return you my grateful thanks. When such happy relations exist between the Official and Unofficial Members as now obtain, the duties of a Governor are rendered far less laborious and irksome than they would otherwise be.
The chief liability which the Colony has been obliged to incur in connection with the plague has been that which will arise out of proceedings under the Taipingshan Resumption Ordinance. That Act is now in operation, and during the ensuing year arrangements will have to be made for covering the expenses thrown upon the Colony by its provisions.
The object of the Ordinance is, as you are aware, to permit the resumption by the Crown of a certain prescribed area of the City of Victoria which was one of the filthiest and most overcrowded spots in the Colony, and consequently the centre of the plague. The necessity of the resumption was apparent. According to the best advice available to the Government, the houses in the neighbourhood were infected. Many of the buildings were small, dark, badly drained and ventilated, and many quite unfit for human habitation. It is obvious that whether the wholesale or partial destruction of the buildings and realignment of the streets is eventually decided upon, the work must be under one controlling power, and that power must be the Government.
The resumption of the property, and the consequent provision for compensation for such resumption, was therefore obligatory.
The area comprises, roughly speaking, 400,000 square feet, or 10 acres of land, and the amount of compensation has been roughly estimated at between $700,000 and $800,000. This sum, together with the incidental expenses of the Arbitration Board and its officers, will have to be provided hereafter. It will probably be advisable to raise a loan for that purpose, and in that case I hope that the Colony will be able to meet the interest on it out of the excess of income over expenditure which will accrue from year to year. For the moment, no doubt, this expenditure seems very heavy, but if the steps taken in regard to the resumed area prevent, as it is confidently hoped they may, a recrudescence or recurrence of the disease, no expenditure of money and no sacrifice of time can be deemed too costly or too great.
On the other hand we may certainly look in the future if not for a complete reimbursement of the sums expended, at any rate for a considerable reimbursement by the readjustment of premia and Crown rent on the sale of the property resumed.
Until the survey of the area which is now proceeding is completed, and a definite line of action decided on, it is impossible to give any precise figures as to the amount the property will bring in on its resale.