132
.$1,183,600
$150,000 177,180
50,000
377,180
$1,560,780
The actual expenditure as shewn by the accounts now made
Ordinary,
has been :-- up
6. The increases shewn for Rents of Lands and Municipal Rates, (No. 6) and (No. 7), are due t sales of land and the construction of more houses. The large increase of Postage (No. 8) is derived almost entirely from Chinese letters to California which were formerly sent irregularly by the band of passengers instead of through the Post Office. The Authorities at San Francisco having seize some thousands of these letters, it is believed that the irregularity has now been effectually put a stop to. Fines and Fees of Courts, (No. 9) and (No. 11), are items which never can be estimated beforehand with any accuracy,
EXPENDITURE.
7. The Expenditure of the year 1884 was originally estimated :-
the ordinary expenditure at,
and the extraordinary expenditure at,
.$1,193,491 272,000
$1,465,491
A revised estimate, made in November last, shewed that, as far as could then be ascertained, i would probably be:--
Ordinary Expenditure,
Extra ordinary, Taitam,
Sanitary Works, Fortifications,
The total expenditure on these works, to the 31st December last, has been $297,693. The total expenditure on extraordinary Sanitary Works, to the same date, has been $214,143.
9. Under the head Miscellaneous (b.) the excess is composed, Ist of the payment of $20,700 to the ontractor for scavenging the Town for which no provision had been made in the Estimates. As this sum is nearly counterbalanced by receipts from the Contractor for the removal of excretal matters, hich were also not provided in the Estimates of Revenue, this excess is more a matter of account than a substantial increase of expenditure. The remainder of the excess is made up of the grants to the City Hall, and to the Po Leung Kuk, extra printing, and other work.
10. The large excess under the head of Police (c.) has been caused by the supply of new Carbines and Ammunition to the Force; extra outlay in clothing and accoutrements; and the expenses entailed by the destruction by Fire of the floating Water Police Station.
11. Supplementary votes taken for the Observatory, the new Water Police Station; the Sea Wall at Lápsápwán; Pumps, &c., &c., account for the increase under Public Works (d.); and similar votes for works at Causeway Bay; for improvements at Shaukiwán; for Roads near the Mahomedan Ceme- tery to open out new building sites which will be offered for sale; have caused the excess on Roads, Streets, and Bridges (e.).
12. Under the head of Pensions (f.) the excess over Estimates is owing to arrears for 1883 having been paid at home in 1884. Lands and Houses purchased (g.) were not estimated as the necessity for their resumption could not be foreseen.
13. The annexed statement shows that the balance of Assets on 31st December last, riginally estimated at $659,250, was actually
A
There is no reason, I think, to anticipate any falling off in the revised estimates of Revenue which were sent home in January last, and which amounted to
..$ 729,562
1,137,558
$1,254,634
Extra ordinary, Taitum,
Sanitary, Fortifications,
$173,424 163,874 3,465
Further may be added for balances which have remained for a long time unclaimed and which will be transferred to the credit of the Colony under authority of Ordinance 7 of 1885, about
20,000
Total,..
.$1,887,120
340,763
$1,595,897
The items in which the original Estimates have been most considerably exceeded are the follo·
Deducting from this amount the estimated expenditure of 1885, viz. :-
Ordinary Expenditure, Extraordinary Expenditure,
.$1,092,981
594,700
ing:-
a. Extraordinary Public Works,
Total,............
.$1,687,681
6. Miscellaneous Services,
c. Police,
.excess $65,298
"
30,424
19
24,714
"
19,973
>
12,800
"J
7,932
}:
2,599
d. Works and Buildings,
e. Roads, Streets, and Bridges,
f. Pensions,
g. Lands and Houses purchased,
8. The original Estimates of Extraordinary Works comprised Taitam Water Works $100,000 and Sanitary Works $172,000.
The sums expended on these items have been: Taitam Water Works $173,424, and Sanitar Works $163,874, total $337,298. The large excess over the estimates for Taitam Water Works due mainly to the greater depth to which the foundations of the dam have been carried dow entailing the use of more cement than was originally calculated, and to the purchase of addition boring machinery for the tunnel.
There will remain on the 31st December next, as far as it now possible to foresce, a balance of Assets of
The accounts now submitted do not correspond with those published in the Blue Book for 1884 which were incomplete as they included the Crown Agents accounts up to 30th September only. Their accounts for the last quarter of the year could not then be included as they had not been
classified.
Audit Office, Hongkong, 28th April, 1885.
W. H. MARSH, Colonial Secretary and Auditor General.
.$ 199,139
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