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Expenditure, on the other hand, is put at $2,590,870, giving an estimated excess of Expend- iture over Revenue of $144,805. Since the revised Estimate of Revenue was prepared, the financial barometer has risen considerably and the depression, which was likely to affect the items "Land Sales" and "Subsidiary Coins," has disappeared. I have now good reason for stating that the revenue from Land Sales is almost certain to double the amount estimated, i.c., $200,000 instead of $100,000; whilst if exchange maintains its present higher rate, it is not too much to expect a profit of 42 per cent. from subsidiary coins which, on the total consignments ordered for the year, should bring in some $100,000 instead of $65,000 as previously estimated. This disposes of $135,000 of the anticipated excess, and the remaining $9,800 is more than covered by the balance in hand at the end of 1896 (exclusive of Loan monies) amounting to $13,486. An estimated deficit of over $144,000 will thus be converted into a surplus of $3,686. I am hopeful of even a more favourable result. The prospect may, I think, be considered satisfactory especially when it is borne in mind that over $98,000 will have been contributed from current revenue to the Jubilee Fund, and that Public Works have by no means been neglected.
And here, Gentlemen, I will briefly review the position of the Colonial Finances. At the time of my arrival the Colony was reaping the inevitable results of over-speculation and labouring under the weight of severe financial depression. The outlook was anything but bright; business was dull, and the revenue suffered accordingly. On the other hand, there were Public Works of pressing importance to be carried on, e.g., the Praya Reclamation, the Central Market, the Extension of the Gaol, and the Water, Drainage, and Sewerage Works. It was evident that the revenue was insufficient to meet the demands made upon it.
However, I awaited the financial results of my first year of administration; and those results, Gentlemen, convinced me of the necessity of raising a loan, and if you will refer to my speech to this Council on the 25th January, 1892, you will recollect that I then approached you on the subject with an expression of regret that it should have fallen to my lot to make such a proposal to you in my first address. Further experience of the situation and a study of the financial prospects for 1893 confirmed me in my opinion, and, in laying the Estimates on the 16th November, 1892, I definitely announced to you that a loan had become a necessity. You admitted that necessity, and in 1893 an Inscribed Stock Loan of £200,000 at 3 per cent. was negotiated by the Crown Agents. In the following year, the unredeemed balance of the 1887 Loan, amounting to £140,000, was converted from 4% Debentures into 34 % Inscribed Stock, and thus brought into conformity with the 1893 Loan.
The Public Debt of the Colony now stands at £341,799, the figures over and above the sum of £340,000 representing extra stock issued in connection with the expenses of con- version. Against this debt must be set the sun of £1,594, already contributed to the new Sinking Fund, and the unexpended balance of the Loan which, on the 31st August last, stood at £43,139.
The relief afforded by the Loan soon produced visible results. At the end of 1894, our balances in hand amounted to no less than $450,000, and my early-expressed hopes seemed destined to be fulfilled. It was not, however, within the power of human foresight to contemplate the exceptional circumstances which intervened at this juncture, and which absorbed the entire amount of our credit balances. The Plague of 1894 and its recrudescence in 1896 has cost this Colony-directly and indirectly-nearly $1,200,000, not to mention the large increase in the cost of the Sanitary Department, and the expenditure on various sanitary improvements. Then again, the dollar has depreciated in value nearly 100 per cent., and our sterling payments have increased proportionately. It was not therefore a matter for surprise that at the end of 1895 our balances of $450,000, in addition to the ordinary surplus for the year, had been wholly expended, and that a debit balance of $171,908 was carried forward to the 1896 account. It is, however, a matter for congratulation that that debit balance was wiped out during the year, and that at the beginning of 1897 a balance of $13,400 stood to our credit, and that, notwithstanding the Government contribution to the Jubilee Fund, there is every reasonable prospect of the accounts for the year 1898 opening with a balance on the right side.
And now, Gentlemen, my statement in regard to the financial position has been neces- sarily somewhat long, but it will, I venture to hope, be regarded as most satisfactory taking