Hongkong, Apr. 11.
The satisfactory state of the Colony's finances, despite the Sino-Japanese hostilities and the European war, is revealed in official statistics which show a surplus balance of $3,528,935.76 against an estimated deficit of $2,499,602.
The estimated revenue for the year was $35,257,621, but the actual revenue was $6,220431.24 in excess of that figure, while expenditure only exceeded the estimate by $101,893,49, Revenue during 1939 was $4,742,- 197.58 in excess of the figure for 1938.
On the revenue side, every head, save the Kowloon-Canton Railway, showed increases over the 1938 figures. Duties yielded $11,156,449 as against $9,105,121; licences and other internal revenue brought in $16,454,- 986 compared with $15,098,620, and the Post Office revenue increased from $2,918,028 in 1938 to $3,120,758.
Biggest increase on the expenditure side for the year was for charitable services, which aggregated $1,183,542, compared with $460,329 in 1938. Outlay on Hongkong defences, excluding the Military Contribution of $6,051,926 to the Imperial Government, increased from $329,903 to $1,543,245.
This expenditure included $846,356 for A.R.P., against $104,501 in 1938—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.