ent parts of the country, the road already made
up to the revenue by the damages recently
doneto public works, this fact of the cost of the
Lighthouses having been defrayed out of the
revenue, in 1841 of, as was intended, out of the
loan of £35,000 disallowed by the late Ministry,
and especially the probability that large funds
may be required for land purchases. I feel that it
is only fair and reasonable that the cost of
the Custom House Wharf should, equally
with the buildings just mentioned, be provided
for by loan; accordingly I intend laying a Bill
before you, authorising a loan of £25,000.

I feel any objection should be urged against in-
creasing the public debt, it is, perhaps, right to re-
mind you that at the same time that the perma-
nnual charges are increased fresh sources of
revenue are created. Assuming that the proposed
loan will entail an annual charge of £2,000, still,
estimating the wharfage dues at £1,500 a-year; the
road tolls also at £1,500, and the light dues (the
levying of which will it is expected be authorised
by the General Assembly in the ensuing year) at
£500, you have an addition of £3,500 a year to
your income, to meet an increased charge of
£2,000.

But while thus proposing to increase the debt of
the Province, I am anxious that steps should at
the same time be taken for providing a Sinking
Fund for the extinction, not only of the Loan
now proposed, but of the whole public debt. You
may remember, that in a previous session I threw
out a suggestion that a certain portion of the public
estate should be set apart for that purpose, but after
more maturely considering the subject, I readily
acknowledge the validity of the objections urged
to the suggestion then made; and I now propose
that each year, a sum (say) of £2,000 should be
paid over to Commissioners--to be termed Com-
missioners for the extinction of the Public Debt;
that these sums and the interest accruing thereon
should be invested in mortgages on Freehold
Land within the Province--that such payments
should be a first charge upon the Revenue of the
Province, after paying interest on Loans--and that
the monies and accruing interest so invested
should be applied by the Commissioners at stated
periods, or from time to time, to redeeming a portion
of the public debt.

The advantages of such a scheme are sufficiently
obvious--the annual charge would be trifling,
the province would receive a higher rate of
interest on the money it lent, than it paid on
money it borrowed; its sinking fund instead of
being sent out of the Province to be invested in
foreign securities, would be employed in developing
the resources of the Province--and in the
event of the Province requiring further loans, it
would go into the money market with much
higher credit, than it would do were no provision
made for the liquidation of its previous debt. To
show the operation of this scheme--if the public
debt was £100,000, it would be extinguished
within 19 years; but it is not proposed, that the
Sinking Fund should go on accumulating for 18 or
19 years when it would be equal to the amount
of the debt of £100,000, but that the Commis-
sioners should from time to time apply the whole
or a portion of it to redeeming a portion of the
Public Debt. Should this proposal of a Sinking
Fund meet with your approval, a Bill giving
effect to it will be laid before you.

The Audited accounts up to the 31st of last
month will at once be laid before you. From
them and also certain other Returns, you will find
that with three or four exceptions, all the works

for which you made Appropriations last year, have
either been completed or are in progress. With
reference to the proposed expenditure for the cur-
rent year, you will necessarily find many of the
Appropriations of last year on the present Esti-
mates.

Taking the expenses of the Ordinary Depart-
ments of the Government at £14,000; of the
Surveys and Roads Departments, at £5000; the
permanent charges (i.e., Interest on Loans) at
£9,500, you will find on the Estimates under the
head of Sundry Undertakings, the following items
proposed: for Education, £750; Council Library,
£150; Explorations and Geological Survey,
£1100; Subsidy to Local Steam Navigation Com-
pany, £1000; for Inter-Colonial Steam, £1,500:
for Repairs, Insurances, Furniture, International
Exhibition, &c., £950; making a total expense
under the head of Public Undertakings of £5450.

Under the head of Bridges, you will find: for the
Pakuratahi, £825; for the Silver Stream, £129;
for the Horokiwi, £85; for the Wangaehu, £1000;
for the Hutt, £300; the Taueru, £629; the Pa-
hautanui, £83; the Porirua, £203; the Tutai
Nui, £150; making a total expenditure on Bridges
of £3,400. Under the head of Roads, the follow-
ing votes are proposed: for repairs of the two
trunk lines, including Ngahauranga and the Hutt
Gorges, £4,700; for the Beach road, Welling-
ton, £100; for the Rangitikei-Wanganui trunk line,
£3,000; for No. 3 line, Wanganui, (inclusive of
the appropriation of last year) £1000; (and the
following votes all include balances of previous
appropriation, unexpended on the 1st of January
last): for Featherston to Masterton, £1000;
Featherston to Te Kopi, £250; Masterton to
Castle Point, £710; Belmont Road, £310; Wal-
nut-o-mata, £510; Remutaka, £650; bridle track
to Mungaroa, £300; Upper Rangitikei to Tura-
kina, £500; Karori diversion, £500; and grants
in aid, £4,500; giving a total proposed expendi-
ture on roads of £18,130. Under the head of
Buildings and Sundry Works, votes are proposed
for reclaiming land, £3000; Piling bank of
Wanganui river, £200; Meteorological Observa-
tory and Instruments, £230; for additions to Gaol
at Wellington, £750; to Gaol at Wanganui, £500;
to Lunatic Asylum, Karori, £400; for purchase of
three acres adjacent to Government Offices,
£1600; for toll bar at Kai-warua, £350; contin-
gencies for public works, £300; Deep Water
Wharf (including metal sheathing, cranes, and
plant), £18,000; Custom House and Post Office
(including sheds, warehouses, and furniture),
£3000; Supreme Court, £3000; Police Court
and Station, £2000; making (with a few other
items) a total expenditure on public buildings and
sundry works of £36,500.

The total expenditure proposed for the year
is £91,880, but it must be understood that
this expenditure on public works, &c., is intended
to extend over the period, commencing on the 1st of
last January and ending on the 31st of March,
1863. For in making the present statement I am
placed in this difficulty: in consequence of your
having decided upon April as the most conve-
ient month for holding your session, and sanctioned an
expenditure in your last Appropriation Act for the
first four months of the present year, at the
same rate as that of the year ended the 31st
December last, but without making any specific
appropriations for these four months, and without
changing your financial year, I am necessarily
obliged to make a financial statement for the
year ended on the 31st December, instead of
for the year ending the 31st of next March.