A 2
(6) Emergency expenses:--
(a) Epidemics of disease
$327,877
(b) Relief of Refugees
804,802
(c) Other emergency expenditure
497,535 1,630,214
(7) Typhoon damage
417,550
(8) Purchase and building of new Government quarters, and resumptions
(9) Other new or additional expenditure
273,000
456,034
$5,430,507
It will be seen that a large proportion of these votes resulted from the emergency situation, directly or indirectly, including the epidemics of disease which led to a largely increased expenditure by the Medical Department. Much of the supplementary expenditure which cannot be definitely attributed to the emergency was indirectly affected by it and the supplementary votes included practically nothing in the way of definitely new services.
5
The expenditure charged during 1928 was also swollen by two special items. In the first place, in pursuance of a new system of accounting introduced by the direction of the Secretary of State, with the object of increasing legislative control of the disposal of public funds and showing more clearly the actual revenue balance available for appropriation, there was charged to expenditure at the end of the year the outstanding balance of building loans made by the Colonial Government and of the unallocated stores accounts, amounting in all to $1,203,616. In future receipts and payments on these accounts will be credited or debited as revenue and expenditure.
Secondly, an exceptional payment on account of Military Contribution was made. During the year it was agreed with His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom to abandon the old system by which the Colony paid, as a contribution towards the cost of its defence, 20% of its net revenue and to substitute, for an experimental period of five years, a fixed contribution of $6,000,000 per annum, subject to certain provisos. The amount due on the 20% basis for 1938 was considerably in excess of the estimate and in order to start the new system with as clean a sheet as possible a payment of $1,000,000 on account of this additional contribution was made at the end of December instead of waiting, according to the usual custom, until after the closing of the accounts of the year.
These two adjustments had the result of reducing the surplus of assets at 31st December, 1938, substantially below what it would have been if the accounts had been made up on the same basis as formerly, but they have left the position correspondingly more liquid and future liabilities reduced.
6. As already noted the surplus of assets over liabilities at the end of the year was $13,562,235. The greater part of this, i.e. $12,003,389, was advanced to loan funds pending reimbursement from the issue of loans (i.e. $10,926,056 against the 3¼% dollar loan, 1934, and $1,077,333 against a proposed new loan. The actual cash resources, after deducting deposits held against special funds, amounted to $3,568,221.