171
cost of such permanent public works as those referred to should not be defrayed entirely by the present generation. At present very few communities in the world are not only absolutely without a public debt, but which also possess an accumulated surplus equal to more than one year's revenue. That revenue is, moreover, increasing and elastic under favourable circumstances.
Under these circumstances, I concur with the recommendation made in the luminous report of the Auditor General, and adopted by the Finance Committee of the Legislature that the execution of the permanent Sanitary works should be defrayed by means of a moderate loan, which should not, in my opinion, exceed one year's revenue of the Colony, and part of which must be raised before the year 1885. The completion of the works proposed will require not less than three or four years, and it is calculated that there are assets in hand sufficient for at least the next two years. Arithmetically, it will be seen that it is proposed that these works should