Wrra both the Financial State-mont for the past year and the Estimates for 1910 in their possession more than a fortnight before the Annual Meeting Ratepayers have opportunity to make themselves an fait with the details of Municipal finance before they are called upon to exorcise their vote on the subject. In the aggregate Inst year's working may be regarded as successful. Ordivary Revenue, exceeding the estimate by Tls. 51,900, amounted to Tis, while Ordinary Expenditure is returned at Tls. 2,101,010, or Tls. 144,300 less than the anticipated amount. With a surplus of sixteen per cent of its income the Settlement has no need to regard its financial position with misgivings; but 2 growing community has special demands upon its purse, and extraordinary expenditure figures largely in each succeeding, r. In 1904 it stood Tis. BAE,567, while subsequent years read 1905, Tls. 383,000 1906, Tls. 574,583; 1907, Tls. 823,906; 1908, Tls. 830,450 and for 1909 it stands at Tls. 688,789. This expenditure entails annual recourse to loans, and Municipal indebtedness at the end of 1909 stood at Tls. 1,920,500. In itself this is a small figure, but it is well to note that for this amount the community at the present rate of interest will have to pay for the redemption some Tls. 2,850,000. If, therefore, the policy of annual Joans is to be continued—and there has been no indication of any popular objection to it—there would seem to be some ground for taking stock of the municipal position with a view to discovering whether these loans cannot be secured, perhaps in other markets, on easier terms. The community would like to believe that its credit abroad is keeping pace with the growth of the Settlement and of its own confidence in itself.
When expenditure has fallen short of the estimates it may seem churlish to those who hold easygoing views on the subject of publio finance to call attention to discrepancies between estimated and actual expenditure. But Municipal
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.