3.
32
in the last month of the year. The primary object of the
Adjustment of Exchange Account was to comply, so far as local
conditions allowed, with the instructions contained in Lord
Milner's circular despatch of November 22nd, 1919, and it
was purely a coincidence that the item "Profits on Exchange"
had simultaneously begun to assume much greater proportions
than hitherto. At the close of the next year, 1925, the
"Exchange Account" was abolished and all exchange transactions
were carried through the new "Adjustment of Exchange Account"
and the balance ultimately transferred to the "Revenue and
Expenditure" Account.
5.
I must explain that at this stage no
realization of sterling securities was contemplated. The
intention was to retain them and increase them in the hope
of providing a nucleus sterling fund to meet liabilities in respect of the Widows' and Orphans' Pensions, which were then
and remain, incorporated in the general budget. During the
war some savings were effected by starving development and postponing many public works; but the bulk of the resulting surplus balances, remitted to the Crown Agents for investment,
consisted of the proceeds of Crown Land Sales in the post-
war period. This item, it is pertinent to mention is specially exempt fran assessment, as it represents in effect
a realization of capital assets.
In 1925 and 1926, as a result of the anti-
British boycott and its repercussion on the Colony's
finances, investments had to be realized wholesale, in order
to supplement the depleted revenue. The dollar equivalent of
the sterling appreciation of the realized securities was regularly transferred to Revenue "Miscellaneous Receipts"
each year.
The amount I may state totalled $497,808.34 and
Military Contribution was paid thereon.
6.