CO129-114 - MacDonnell - 1866 [7-8] — Page 442

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with the Estimates for which this Appropriation Ordinance has been framed.

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I also transmit for Your Lordship's information a tabular statement showing the variations in the Estimates now submitted, as compared with those of the present year, and a return showing the approximate financial position of the Colony on the 31st January last.

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It will be seen that the estimated expenditure exceeds the estimated Revenue by about $19,000, and as no provision has yet been made for the establishment of the Stamp Office, this deficiency will probably be increased to about $20,000. The receipts from Stamps are estimated for only 9 months, as the machinery for working the Ordinance can hardly be completed till March 1867.

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The Revenue has been increased by the addition of a sum for Butchers' licenses, for the imposition of which an Ordinance will be laid before the Council, when I shall have received from the Chamber of Commerce a Report, which I expect shortly, as it was from that body the idea first emanated.

The Stamp Tax is estimated to produce for 9 months of the year $110,000, and although there has been considerable anticipated opposition to the Bill, the principle of the law has been affirmed in Council, and it remains only for us to arrange in Committee the schedule of the Act, which will no doubt be greatly modified so as to produce...