THE COLONY’S FINANCIAL POSITION. 
By J. Van Serta. 
Sir Walter Egerton will assume the administration of the colony under most 
favourable financial auspices. Never during the life of the present genera- 
tion has the Exchequer been in such good case. It is experiencing a rare 
fulness : a surplus balance of $418,322 at 28th February, 1912, against a debit 
balance of $73,045 at the end of 1905-1906 is a pretty picture to 
look at and gratifying to reflect upon.* During that quinquennium a 
wave of prosperity has passed over the West Indies, and it would 
have been strange indeed if it had left the shores of British Guiana 
unlaved. For the government of one colony, I conceive, is not much 
better nor worse than that of another; trade is interdependent and 
catholic, especially in a given small area producing much the same 
commodities for export, and requiring much the same articles for use, 
consumption and enjoyment ; within that domain adversity or prosperity 
can hardly have any striking preferences except where (as in Trinidad) Nature 
conspires ; and, above all, there is the constant desire of every colonist to 
better his position—a force-power which has often been sufficient to offset the 
effects of imprudent State management. Every encouragement, therefore, 
should be given by the State for the play of this dynamics in the social 
economy, for State finances depend ultimately upon the production of wealth 
by individuals. 
The surplus balance to which reference has been made is handsome enough, 
but from the point of view of State economy it seems to illustrate the truth 
of the saying that there can be too much of a good thing. In the case of a 
commercial company when the accounts of the year are cast up and ends are 
seen just to meet, the enterprise is not thought to be in a prosperous condition. 
The larger the excess of revenue over expenditure the more successful is the 
result deemed to be. In the case of a State, however, too large a surplus is a 
sure sign of mismanagement. For one thing, it predicates an undue call upon 
the taxable capacity of the people, which is a sin, although it does not 
appear to have been specifically mentioned in the decalogue. How, in 
this respect, a State should manage its finances, was long ago laid down by one 
*The following figures show the annual fluctuations and the gradual ‘extinction 
of the Floating Debt from 1886 to 1906-07: — 
Debit Balance. Debit Balance. 
1 Jan; 1. 1887 sae $ 290,209 58 1897 “ce $ 442,931 18 
w =—1888 a 390,550 68 1898 eae 787,000 74 
1 Apl ... 1889 eer 510,641 77 1899 ae 819,370 28 
..» 1890 m1, 580,364 04 1900 ae 797,532 09 
1891 oa 404,234 45 1901 ae 749,134 47 
1892. 376,591 47 1902" =n. 572,528 05 
1893 ate 283,260 39 1903 a 305,424 21 
1894 ae 110,789 56 1904 a 182,408 06 
1895 iM 144,087 59 1905 Xe 151,380 60 
1896 Poy. 275,811 76 1906 ie 73,045 91 
