PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 882
1
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
8
patch proceeds to explain that of the surplus of 1843, 37,9631.
A sum was set apart equivalent to the
deficit of 1841-2..
A further sum to defray the supplemen
tary charges of 1844
And the balance for the execution of
certain public works
£21,395 10 11
2,975 0 0
31,344 0 0
£62,914 10 11
This appropriation, therefore, not only ab- sorbed the entire surplus of 1843, but 5000). beyond it.
In like manner the excess of receipts over ex- penditure within the following year, 1844, amounted to 69,4421. And again, the major part of this was appropriated to public works by a Special Ordinance passed in 1845.
So that, although it is quite true, as stated by Mr. Anstruther, that he left in the cash-chest a considerable sum, chiefly consisting of the accu- mulated savings of those two years, which had not been expended when Mr. Anstruther left the Colony, he should have stated that arrange- ments had been made for its appropriation, and
a law passed for its expenditure by Mr. Anstru-
ther himself, under the authority of which it was
eventually expended by his successors.
On both these points, therefore, Mr. Anstru- ther seems to have been, to some extent, astray, as to the condition in which he left the Colonial Revenue on his retirement in 1845.
The surplus of 1843-44, instead of being a yearly recurring excess of revenue above liabi- lities to the extent of 50,0001. or 70,0001., was not only temporary and accidental, but would not have sufficed to retire the amount of Govern- ment notes in circulation in either the one year or the other.
And the balances of actual cash in the several treasuries, though they amounted osten- sibly to 221,0001., included 44,8811. of Govern- ment notes, (nearly 48,000 more being in cireu- lation at the moment) and were chargeable with all the liabilities of the Government in account with the agent in London and the various governments in India.
So that after deducting from the gross
sum of cash then in band.. "The amount appropriated by Mr. Ana- truther's two Ordinances 9,9781, and 31,3442
And making provision for the amount
of Government notes
The ostensible balance would be
£221,573 0 0
41,319 0 0
£180,254 0 0
87,500 0 0
£92,754 0 9
instead of a quarter of a million, and even this reduced sum was chargeable with our liabilities
in India and elsewhere.
VII.—Mr. Anstruther's complaints of Expenditure in 1845-6-7.
Mr. Anstruther's statements of his successor's expenditure present similar misconceptions.
He says (7793) that the expenditure of 1845-6-7, has been characterized by "gross ex- travagance," and that if the Government had been carried on as economically under his suc- cessors as under himself, there would have been a surplus in each year instead of a deficiency. (7724)*
In illustration of this, he has handed in s atatement that in the three last years in which
he administered the finances, there was an excess
of revenue over expenditure amounting to 122,6711. (7725). But that in the three follow- ing years there was an excess of expenditure over revenue amounting in the aggregate to 204,2581.
Mr. Anstruther takes credit for an assumed surplus in 1842-43 and 1844; but there was a deficit in 1842,
and the surplus of 1848 and 1844
657,963
69,442
£127,406
4,731
being reduced by the deficit on 1842
gives the assumed surplus £122,674
Mr. Anstruther takes credit for this surplus as the result of great economy on his part in con- trolling the colonial expenditure; but it has been shown to have been the result of a casual spori
* Mr. Anstrather was Colonia! Besartuzy ke Sfrom years i and daring six out of the last eight of his nepaishavation there ware defcancion in every compaétive she from 1887 to 1948. D