FINANCIAL DEPARTMENT. 215 



If we take the three periods, 1850, 1860, 1870, we have — 

 Revenue, £506,530 ; expenditure, £505,730 — nearly equal. The 

 nine years, from 1871 to 1880 exclusive, give the following 

 results:— Revenue, £2,888,836; expenditure, £2,820,650; leaving 

 a balance of £68,186 in favour of revenue. 



The colony has contracted a heavy debt for the construction 

 of railways— say £400,000— viz. : £150,000, 1874, at 5 per 

 cent., for the construction of the railway from Port-of- Spain to 

 Arima; £100,000, in 1878, at 5 per cent., for extending the 

 railway to Couva ; a further sum, in 1880, of £150,000, at 

 4 per cent., for further extension to San Fernando. Amount 

 repaid on the loan of 1874, £5,840. Total debt now due for 

 railways, £392,380. To this debt should be added the following 

 sums, for which the colony is responsible, viz. : £12,800, residue 

 of a sum of £86,510, borrowed at 6 per cent., 1856-65, for the 

 formation of tram-roads ; £1,600, also residue of a sum of £7,000 

 taken at 6 per cent., in 1860-61, for the repair of roads in South 

 Naparima ; £7,500, balance due on £15,000, borrowed for the 

 construction of a tram-road at San Fernando. Total amount 

 due, or guaranteed by the colony, £414,280. This debt is 

 repayable as follows : — 



Loan of 1874, by half-yearly appropriation out of the 

 general revenue equal to 3 per cent, on the total nominal value 

 of all debentures previously issued. 



Loan of 1878, by half-yearly appropriations out of general 

 revenue for payment of interest, and one-half per cent, on total 

 nominal value of all debentures issued on account of their re- 

 demption. 



Loan of 1880. Half-yearly appropriations out of general 

 revenue for payment of interest, and one-half per cent, on total 

 nominal value of all debentures issued on account of the re- 

 demption. 



Loan of 1856-65. Yearly payments by estates deriving 

 benefit from the undertakings, to meet interest and redemption. 



Loan of 1860-61. Yearly payments bytheestates in the locality. 



Loan of 1864-65. Annual payments by the Borough Council 

 for interest, and £600 for redemption. The balance of the loan 

 (£7,600) has been taken over by the Government, together with 

 the tram-road, in the expectation of being reimbursed from the 

 profits of the undertakings. 



