The Ontario Scrapbook Hansard

Ontario Scrapbook Hansard, 9 Feb 1899, p. 10

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34 $140,000 of that sum is not interest, but is a. portion.of the Dominion subsidy under the award of 1884, and in support of this position quoted from the act, and also from the award of the hrbitrat-' ore, directing that the amount. shall be credited as additional subsidy. F In the course of some cross-firing which followed Hon. Mr. Hardy asked whether the amount referred to was not the exact amount of the inivrvsi :1! ' per cent. upon the amount of capital adjudged due to the Province. Mr. Matheson replied in the atrwma- tive hut added that it was to he paid adjudged" due to the Province. I Mr. Mathemn replied in the amrma-ii tive, but added that it was to he pawl as subsidy. Turning the question of revenue from Crown lands, Mr. Mathe- son complained that the information given was not in sumclent detail. He regretted to be compelled to say it, hut there is, he asserted, a feeling of dis-'., trust in the Province that the depart- ment was not getting full returns. If the ground rents were given separate from the dues of $1 25 per thousa.nd,then a. comparison one year with another' would give some check at least on the returns of the Crown Lands Depart- ment from the woods and for- ests branch. The feeling, he reiterated. and he felt the re- sponsibility of it, is very pre- valent throughout the Province that the Province does not get all the dues to Which it is entitled. Ot certain districts he never heard a word. but there are idistricts "which he frequently heard (about, and he therefore trusted that an effort will be made to divide these Items of receipts. There was another detail which ought to be given : At the last timber sale the Province received a bonus of $190,000 on the timber sold. This bonus was payable in instalments. and last year the balance due upon this account was paid. It was not an or- dinary but a specific receipt from a srecinl source. yet it was lumped in with the ordinary i'cceipts. (Opposi- tion minimise.) He did not intend gm in: into'detnil. That would be impOS< last timber sale the Province received a bonus pt $190,000 on the timbnr sold. This bonus was payable in instalments. and last year the bplum-o duo upon this account was paid. It was not an or- dinary but a Specific receipt from a special source. yet it was lumped in with the ordinary I't ceipts. (Opposi- tion applause.) Ho did pot intend go- ing into'detail. That would bo import- sible. in view of the fact that the pub. lic accounts and estimates were only brought down at a late hour yesterday. No opportunity was given the Opposi- tion, and never had been. to make n proper examination of them boron" be- m: called upon to reply to tho budget speech. 'Appurentiy tho Government were afraid to give them time to do so. A casual examinatiun showed that the Treasurer had included $60,000 under the head of interest,. when it nught not, to bd; $75,000 hm: bet-n I'Mvivvd as: Bonus pnd put in as unlinary retvipts. Last year the total oxpendlturi'. mn- cordlng to the public amounts. amount- ed tri $155,000 more than the rem-nun. but there had been included as expetuli- ture, $9.762 tor drainage debentures, which.. not being ordinary expenditure, ought to be deducted. leaving an ox- penaitisrt of $8,793,i'A8, every dollar of ithtctt,ystioilld he paid out ot. revenue with'Out Increasing tho debt. Then the The Det1elt Figured Out receipts were placed at_,§3,743.368, but from 'that must be taken 800,090 bor-' rowed from the 'Domigiiort, against which interest wm be charged at 5 per cent. ; the receipts tor common school lands, $9,305. which have to be paid over to the Dominion ; $40,381 26 receiv- ed, from capital on account of drainage debentures: $123,417 borrowed on an- nuities. Not one of these items is available for payment of the ordinary! expenditure of $3,793,000. Deduct these and we have net receipts for 1898 of $3,400,898, leaving a deticit of $300,000--i, (Opposition applttuse)--and in arriving' at that deficit I have not deducted from l the rot'eipts the $75,000 received as bonus' on timber lands nor the $42,602 received from the sale of asylum lands. If these ittms {are taken out of the ordinary re- cripts the deficit for last year would be over half a, million dollars. This def f'tcit of $329,000 has been met by taking $38,739 trom capital invested in drain- age debentures, $60,000 borrowed from the Dominion, $128,700 from sale of an-! nuities, $9,354 from the common' school land fund, and $155,000 of thel cash in the bank. (Opposition cheers.) l Reventie and Expenditure. Col. Matheson went on to analyze the] estimates for the coming year, add- ing to the estimates already brought down the supplementary estimate, which he placed at $100,000 In a year like this, when there is no general elec- tion. To these he added the instal- ment of $115,000 due on railway aid cer- tificates and $102,000 on annuity certi- flcates, making a total deficit of. $526,- 000 on Mr. Harcourt's own showing. In reply to the Govevunumt's contention that diminished Crown lands receipts were the cause of the deficit, he said it was not fair to compare the Crown land receipts of last year with those of 1807. Last year the receipts from this source were $200,000 more than in 1896 and $150,000 more than in 1895. Thus it was not diminishing Crown land receipts that caused the deiireit, but it was the tact, as the hon. gentle- man knew, that for years the growth;' ot the expenditure had been much in excess of the growth of the revenue. that the Government had been running behind at the rate of four or five hun- dred thousand dollars a year. It was therefore, It the Province was not to be run into a very large debt, neces- sary that increased taxation should he resorted to. The speaker next ob- ieeted to the comparison of the cupi- tal expenditure of last year with years when they were building the Parlia- ment buildings or large asylums. The proper comparison to make was ordinary expenditure. Receipts from Crown lands' and from the timber were surely the capi- tal of the Province, and ought to be devoted to capital purposes, such as the building of colonization roads, pub- lic buildings, etc. He claimed that in 1878 the ordinary revenue was $231,000 in excess of the ordinary expenditure. Ten years ago it was $400,000 behind, last year it was $858,000 behind, and he drew the attention. of the House to the fact that in the last ten years the ordinary expenditure ot the Province had increased-other than colonization' roads or Crown lands expenditure-- $700,000, and in the same time the rev- enue. other than the Crown lands, hatE

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