CO129-124 - Sir MacDonnell - 1867 [8-9] — Page 266

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without making any

allowance for

wear

and tear of Machinery or interest of capital sunk. It

I think, that

may therefore, be conceded,

unless there

be

some

marked and reliable increase to the

Revenue from other

means

I respectfully call in question those figures

which I

question the

accuracy

of the figures in the case instituted.

to be, that the Colony

had a larger amount of ordinary annual Revenue at its disposal by £43,000 in

1866 than in 1863.

sources the

ordinary

of the Colony

15.

It

could not meet

another similar burthen.

14.

Hence it becomes important to consider how far the calculation is

correct from which Your Grace has been

induced to infer

increased Colonial

means.

I observe that, in proof of

this, Your Grace contrasts the 1863

year with 1866, and states that the Revenue had increased from £120,000 in the

former to £165,000 in the latter. It is, nevertheless, easy

to show that

it would be unsafe for Her Majesty's

Government to shape their

policy towards

this Colony from reliance

on any

deduction

from the above figures. The latter are perfectly correct, but the inference drawn from them, however natural, will be found

on examination to be actually

the reverse

of reality. The Revenue

instead of affording larger available

means

of meeting increased liabilities

was