The Colony’s Financial Position. 89 
amount the colony owed on its own account, that is, for its own benefit, a sum 
of only about $2,400,000. Inthe Auditor General’s report we note that the 
position of the colony as against the indebtedness on loan account was 
(a) Sinking Fund $ 1,344,895 92 
(b) Repayment of Loans by Corporations, 
Reserve Fund... ae ee 782,308 82 
(ce) Outstanding Loans to Corporations oe 581,942 62 
(d) Immigration Notes and Cash .. - 336,000 00 
$ 3, 45,147 36 
Less the capitalised value at 3 per cent. of 
the repayment in respect of Vlissen- 
gen lots .. ot ic me 33,249 00 
Making .. .. $3,011,898 36 
Regarding the loans to Corporations, Mr. Robson makes the following re- 
marks, at once interesting and instructive : 
“The amount of $581,942 shown as loans due by Corporations, includes 
the balances owing by estates taken over by the Government. 
“ Repayment by Corporations of Loans.—(reserve fund)— 
Ordinance 3 of 1886 if if ..$ 547,034 34 
sat 53 19 of 1896 ae ing .. 205,274 48 
« The amount at credit of the fund shows an increase of $14,283.26 dur- 
ing 1910-11. 
“ The loans raised by the colony under the Ordinances mentioned are for 
a term of 50 years repayable out of sinking funds ; many of the loans to Cor- 
porations are, however, for shorter terms, and in these cases the repayments 
will cease long before the colony loans are repayable. 
“ The theory was that all instalments received on account of loans made by 
the colony out of money raised under Loan Ordinances—No. 3 of 1886 and No. 
19 of 1896—should be credited to the reserve fund ; while on the other hand 
the equivalent (as nearly as possible) of the amount provided on the annual 
estimate for Public Debt charges should be taken from the fund and carried to 
revenue. 
“As regards that part of the reserve fund relating to loans made to Cor- 
porations from money raised under Ordinance 3 of 1886, it was the practice 
prior to 1899 to credit to the fund only an amount equivalent to the amount 
provided on the estimate for redemption of the loan, the whole of the 
remainder being carried to revenue. This practice tended to deplete the fund 
and it was consequenty no longer possible to take from the fund the full 
equivalent of the annual provision on the estimate; a sum ($32,500) was 
therefore calculated which was estimated to exhaust the fund simultaneously 
