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is an illustration of automatic expenditure contemporary with periods of economic distress amongst the general population :

Year.

1898

1899

1900

1901

1902

1903

1904

1905

1906

1907

July

August

September

October (12 days)

Average daily look-up.

1,066:00

881.00

755.00

733.29

795:52

905-63

943.76

1,004-83

1,027.87

1,180-63

1908.

1,575.28.

1,408.15

1,407,91

1,45276

*

* Partly estimated.

The expenditure for the past quarter is therefore :-

Below the same period of 1906-7 by Rs. 100,008. Above the same period of 1907-8 by Rs. 116,380. Below one-fourth of the estimate by Rs. 72,878.

The following table compares revenue and expenditure for each of the three months of the past quarter. The figures for September are partly estimated :—

July

August

September

Revenue.

Rs. +197,022

Expenditure.

Defalt

Surplus or Dedalt.

Rs.

Ko.

Rs.

(Surplus on 1st July)

...

646,901

764,693

495,255

768,452

117,792 278,197

636,478

860,600

224,122

1,778,634

2,393,745

615,111

+ 79,230

-193,967

-418,089

The collections for the first sixteen days of October, 1908, exceed the amount collected in the first sixteen days of October, 1907, by Rs. 3,333, and it is estimated that the deficit on the 31st October will amount to Rs. 420,000 in round figures.

It is estimated that the sum due to the Crown Agents by the Colony will on the 31st October amount to £84,000.

A consideration of the foregoing figures shows that the revenue collected during the first three months of the year falls short of the estimates by Rs. 679,583. It is hoped that during the quarter ending 31st December, 1908, the proportional esti- mate of revenue for that quarter will be realised. That, in fact, during the last three months of the calendar year the Colony will pay its way without increasing its obligations.

The months of January, February, and March are, as a rule, unprofitable months, and it is not expected that during those months the collections will amount to the estimate or that they will be in excess of the expenditure. It is not possible to give any prediction in respect of the months of April, May, and June, 1909, but, so far as can be at present foreseen, it is not probable that they will be better than the three last months of the calendar year.

The Colony must, therefore, be prepared for a deficit on the 30th June, which will, in all probability, amount to at least a million rupees and may exceed that amount. In this connection it must be remembered that there are automatio increases of expenditure over which the Government has no control. The following table, which shows the average prison population for ten years and the average prison population for the months of the first quarter of the financial year 1908-9,

It is estimated that the increase of the prison population will cause an increase

on the prison estimate of at least Rs. 25,000.

The following are other items of unavoidable and unforeseen expenditure:-

Dredger "Cerné

Tug "Victoria'

Railway carriages and wagons

Small votes

Poor law

Hospitals

Moustiquiers, &c.

Purchase of Pitot-Labutte claims

Bacteriological Laboratory

ADD for the prisons

Total

Rs. 7,500

22,000

8,000

1,500 50,000

10,000

8,000

19,817

15,417

25,000

Rs. 167,234

making the estimate of unprovided expenditure for the current financial year at something between Rs. 167,000 and, say, Rs. 200,000.

There will, however, be some savings which will go against the estimated un- foreseen expenditure. But the estimates for the current year do not exhaust the demands on the Treasury.

The state of the railways is such as to call for an immediate remedy, and it is estimated that Rs. 4,350,000, or £290,000, will be required to secure their efficient working. This can only be met by a ban. The interest on such a loan at 4 per cent., plus sinking fund at 1 per cent., would amount to £14,500, or Rs. 217,500. It is impossible in the present financial position to devise means to provide for interest and sinking fund to this amount.

The malaria campaign recommended by Professor Ross, though perhaps not so urgent as the claims of the railway, is a matter affecting human health and human life. It is, therefore, a matter which cannot be ignored or put aside or deferred indefinitely.

The claims for the prevention of malaria are as follows:-

Capital expenditure

Recurrent expenditure

Upkeep of works

Interest and sinking fund on the capital expenditure

would be

Rs. 630,000

112,000

44,300

31,300

It is evident, therefore, that the Government and Council are in presence of two problems. First, how to balance revenue and expenditure during the current financial year. Secondly, how to provide in future years for the interest on loans which have become necessary if the lives of the people are not to be imperilled.

The Officer Administering the Government therefore suggests to the Council that a Special Committee of the whole Council, with the Acting Colonial Secretary

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :--

HEM CO. 882

| PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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