HKG-CAR1844-1886 — Page 613

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Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841-1941

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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 24TH NOVEMBER, 1877.

revenue

HIS EXCELLENCY then says:--Gentlemen, it becomes my duty to lay upon the table the Estimate for the year 1878, and, in doing so, I have first to draw your attention to the financial statement which was placed in my hands immediately on my arrival in the Colony in April last. This is the return of the expenditure of the Colony for 1876, which is dated the 4th April, 1877, and was issued from the Colonial Secretary's Office on the 13th April. As you are aware, this return contains the last complete statement of any one year's financial transactions of the Colony, and on my arrival my attention was at once drawn to this important document by the Colonial Secretary, Mr. GARDINER AUSTIN. I found on examining it that the revenue of the year 1876 had amounted to $885,308, whereas the expenditure of the same year had amounted to $902,500. More than that, whilst the revenue of 1876 was less than the expenditure of that year, it was also less than the revenue of the preceding year, and whilst the expenditure of 1876 was in excess of the revenue, it was also in excess of the expenditure of the preceding year; or, in other words, the authentic figures placed in my hands, showed that the revenue of the Colony was declining, that the expenditure was increasing, and had passed beyond the revenue being something like $17,000 in excess of the revenue. Now, how was that $17,000 paid? The $17,000 came out of the balance in the Colonial chest. The balance in the Colonial chest when the estimates were framed, and at the end of 1876 amounted to $134,297. There is no doubt that was a very respectable balance to have in the chest, and when my predecessor framed estimates which enabled him to draw only so small a sum as $17,000 from it, every one must feel that his estimates were safe and prudent. However that may be, it was my duty, having to face a financial condition such as this, to look very carefully at both sides of the balance-sheet of the Colony, to endeavour on the one hand to stimulate the revenue, and on the other to carefully watch the expenditure. In a Colony such as this, a Crown Colony, the real responsibility devolves upon the representative of the Crown. The Governor is expected by his instructions to look most carefully into the expenditure of the Colony, to watch it month by month, and under the Treasury regulations which give him that authority and impose the duty upon him, it is laid down that as early in each month as the expenditure for the ensuing month can be seen with sufficient accuracy, the Heads of Departments are to draw up a requisition in accordance with the classified list of heads in the estimates, to be laid before the Governor for his sanction, and if the Governor sanction it, a letter is written to the Head of the Department to that effect. Such throughout the Colonial Empire is the manner in which the expenditure is watched by the Governor under the Treasury instructions. On the 25th May, I made a minute that I did not see that the Treasury instructions in this respect were complied with in this Colony. On the 25th May, I received