SPARES TO LIBRARY,
0. a. G.
-434 -
23.9.32
Submits draft batimates 1933.
Delayed owing to pressure of other work
a at the beginning ofthis north.
in October &
2
The
The Hong Kong estimates are not usually
subjected to any considerable amendment during their passage through the Legislative Council.
draft estimates now submitted reveal a satisfactory
position. Comparative figures of revenue and ex-
penditure for the last few years are tabulated overleef.
Fluctuations in the exchange render them
misleading in some respects, but they show that, over
the period covered, the Colony has avoided any large
deficit, and has materially increased its surplus of
assets over liabilities. The 1932 estimates were
based on the $ = ls/-, and the rise in the Hong Kong
exchange which took place after the preparation of
the estimates (due in large measure to the departure
of sterling from the gold standard) enabled the
Government during the course of the year to embark upon Public Works expenditure amounting to $746,950
which for reasons of economy had had to be excluded
from the original estimates (see (18) on 82850/31).
The dependence of the revenue of the Colony upon the
exchange value of the dollar has now to some small
extent been mitigated by the fixing of the liquor and
tobacco duties in sterling, so that a fall in the
exchange, while increasing the sterling commitments,
including salaries paid in sterling, increases at the
same time, though to a less extent, the dollar receipts
from these duties; and vice versa. Since the liquor
and tobacco duties were placed on a sterling basis,
the exchange has in fact risen. In 1932, on the
basis of = ls/-, the liquor and tobacco duties
were estimated to yield $6,140,000. The 1933 esti-
mates