258
without making any
allowance for
wear
and tear of Machinery or interest of capital sunk. It
I think, that
may therefore, be conceded,
unless there
be
some
marked and reliable increase to the
Revenue from other
means
I respectfully call in question those figures
which I
question the
accuracy
of the figures in the case instituted.
to be, that the Colony
had a larger amount of ordinary annual Revenue at its disposal by £43,000 in
1866 than in 1863.
sources the
ordinary
of the Colony
15.
It
could not meet
another similar burthen.
14.
Hence it becomes important to consider how far the calculation is
correct from which Your Grace has been
induced to infer
increased Colonial
means.
I observe that, in proof of
this, Your Grace contrasts the 1863
year with 1866, and states that the Revenue had increased from £120,000 in the
former to £165,000 in the latter. It is, nevertheless, easy
to show that
it would be unsafe for Her Majesty's
Government to shape their
policy towards
this Colony from reliance
on any
deduction
from the above figures. The latter are perfectly correct, but the inference drawn from them, however natural, will be found
on examination to be actually
the reverse
of reality. The Revenue
instead of affording larger available
means
of meeting increased liabilities
was