CAB11-57-2 — Page 113

Page 113

Page 113

2

contribution and to barrack services, and of the W.O. estimate of requirements for defence works, would be as follows:-

1901

1902

1903

Per cent.

22.61

27.71

27.27

23.61

1904

6. If an arrangement be made similar to that which has been adopted for barrack services, and the sum of 90,000l. be paid by the Colony, in instalments of, say, 10,000l. per annum, the annual cost of the works, in excess of the contribution, being paid in the first instance from a Military Works Loan, and then from a suspense account, which would be gradually reduced as the colonial instalments were paid off, the proportion of revenue paid by the Colony to the Imperial Government, assuming this revenue to increase as before, would be--

1901

1902

1903

1904

Per cent.

22.00

21.79

21.60

•

21.43

and so on, the proportion constantly diminishing till in the year 1909 it will have fallen to 20-76 per cent.

On the assumption that by this time payments on account of the barrack services now in hand will be completed, and that no further barrack or fortification services, for which the Colony will be called upon to contribute, are started, the contribution in 1910 will fall to the 174 per cent. of the revenue which has been paid since 1896 as a general contribution to the Imperial Government for purposes of defence. Of course, it is not possible to say that no new services requiring con- siderable colonial expenditure will be required in ten years' time.

Judging from past experience, it seems probable that fresh demands will be made. In the seven years prior to 1891 a sum of 116,000l. was paid by the Colony for defence works. The Colony then had a respite till 1896, when it started making considerable contributions to barrack services, and in 1898 it was called upon to provide in that and the following two years a sum of 8,2301. for defence works. Now comes the fresh demands for 90,000/.

7. The present arrangements by which the Colony contributes towards the expendi- ture incurred for its defence by the Imperial Government cannot be considered satisfac- tory. The payments consist of-

(1.) A contribution of 17 per cent. of the revenue of the Colony towards up-keep of troops, &c., which is credited to the War Department as a general appropriation in aid of Army Votes;

(2.) A contribution of one-third the cost of new barrack works; and

(3.) The whole cost of new defence works, exclusive of that of the armament for them.

The inability of the Colony to provide large sums for (2) and (3) within the times required to expend them practically results in expenditure under these heads being spread over a series of years, in accordance with the powers of the revenue, and so makes them also a function of that revenue.

8. It would certainly seem better that the sum of the contributions should be a fixed proportion of the revenue. By such an arrangement the Imperial Government would get full advantage from a prosperous state of the Colony, while at times not prosperous it would no longer have the alternative of pressing on the Colony to an undue extent or of relaxing an arrangement which at another time the Colony would have no difficulty in carrying out. The Colony would be in a better position to appreciate its own financial condition, and would feel that a source of irritation had been removed, and the vast amount of correspondence which each new case now gives rise to would be obviated.

9. As a matter of accounts, it may be argued that if a fixed proportion of the revenue to cover all contributions is fixed upon it will no longer be possible to say what proportion of the cost of barracks and defences has been charged to the Colony

Page 113

Page 113

Page 113