27th Feb.
We have received a copy of the Report of the Municipal Council for 1898 and their Budget for 1899. The former, extending to 384 pages, is a very valuable and interesting record of the work our Councillors have done in the past year, There is nothing sensational in it, but it is very well worth reading through, that all foreign residents here, ratepayers or not, may appreciate what it means to govern a city of nearly 350,000 inhabitants. It is interesting to note that while the death-rate among foreigners was 16.2 per thousand, the native death-rate is calculated at only
returns of the deaths among the 9.87, but it is propable that the Chinese are incomplete. They are ascertained, we learn, by four native death-reporters attached to the Sanitary Department, who, by house-to-house enquiry and watching the coffin-shops, become acquainted with the number and sometimes the cause of deaths. The balance-sheet, on pages 376/7, gives the total assets of the municipality as amounting to Tls. 1,439,366, against which there are loans outstanding amounting to Tls. 1,066,800. The total ordinary revenue in 1898 was Ts. 753,270, and the ordinary expenditure Tls. 753,099; the extraordinary revenue (chiefly from loans) was Tls. 244,564, and the extraordinary expenditure Tls. 247,140. The balance-sheet is followed by a very interesting series of schedules, showing the allocation of the municipal loans, and the division of the municipal assets, as follows Ts. Remunerstive and realizable works, stock and stores, et Unremunerative—but works, ete. Unremunerative ans works, ete More immediately interesting than the Report is the Budget for 1899. The ordinary income is estimated at Tls. 767,300 and the ordinary expenditure at Tls. 763,610: the extraordinary income at Ts. 145,000, of which the ratepayers are to be asked to authorise the raising of Tls. 110,000 by loan, and the capital expenditure, including the deficit from 1898, at Tls. 144,605. There are no great changes in the revenue, except that the new Wharfage Dues scheme is expected to give an increase, but on the other hand license fees and the native house tax are falling off, showing that the depression of local trade, the high cost of living, and the stringency of the money market are having their natural effect. In the expenditure there isa large increase in the appropriation for the police, the estimate being Tls. 211,870 against an expenditure of Tls. 182,382 in 1898. There is a considerable increase under the head of Secretariat. The new loan is, as we have already surmised, to be spent on indispens sable public works, which are estimated to cost Tls. 144,775, "a figure which represents the actual needs of the Settlement reduced to their lowest possible limits." We miss the comparative statement that used to be given of the actual expenditure in the past with the estimate for the coming year; but to show the rapid and inevitable growth of the expenditure, we may compare the estimates for 1899 with those for 1895, in a few instances 1895, Secretariat The public works item in 1895 was inclusive; but in 1899 there is also a sum of some Tls. 140,000 of extraordinary expenditure. The proposed increase of salaries in the Secretariat is very considerable. i For 1895 the estimate was Secretary Accountant Two Assistants For 1899 it is Secretary Assistant Sec
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.