Guinea Fills Its

Inance In The Territory

Guinea Fills Its Loan —But It [?]'t Need The Cash

>m a Staff Correspondent in Port Moresby

ia-New Guinea’s first pub

i of £lOO,OOO it was

iscribed by £B,OOO a

before closing date lat the Americans call a

in”. The Territory doesn’t

le money this year; it is

garded as good practice

the time when loan might be a welcome ad

;o Treasury funds.

DHING like £273,000 of ua-New Guinea’s available Is will be unspent at the end financial year—and about of it will be the money iy the Territory loan. The ference, presumably, is that e other £173,000 will go back Australian Treasury, the y will be able to keep its tucked away somewhere for ise. [We presume this, but official confirmation of it. ritory loan was floated at ge mainly to get the in public used to the idea, [though the Territory can’t 11 its money this year, it ording to the Assistant Ad tor, who made a statement subject at the May meeting P-NG Legislative Council— to dispose of something like 00. onwealth grants in this ;i a 1 year were around [)0 and internal P-NG would amount to approxi £6,s29,ooo.

Revenue Buoyant

Dry internal revenue was said Dr. John Gunther, ue to a calculated £1,800,000 come taxation. This was lillion more than first ex and was entirely due to mal tax”, returns for which n completed in January, sional taxation is a peculiar m invention which was n to New Guinea with some nore vicious clauses of the m regulations when income was introduced into the 7 last year. Under the pro f both Australian and P-NG >ns, people who are in busi

ness on their own account, or who earn money other than as straight out salary, are forced to pay tax a year in advance on those earnings.

Because this was the first year that taxation operated in the Territory, taxpayers who come into the “pro vision-tax” category, were forced to calculate what they thought they would earn in 1959-60, and put in a return to that effect by January, 1960. There were penalties for those who undercalculated their 1959-60 earnings to any marked degree.] Failure of Commonwealth Works Department to complete some of its projects was the reason why some funds would be returned to the

Australian Treasury, Dr. Gunther concluded —but explained at a later stage of the debate that this was not always this department’s fault.

In the current year one item out side their control was the slow de livery from the UK of some power house equipment which had been provided for in the original esti mates.

Non-official members had some different ideas on Territory finance —although in this department, the keen accountant’s brain of ex-MLC E. A. James was very noticeably missing. (He resigned in disgust last year).

Mr. R. Bunting said that every

ie Territory underspent the that was available to it, h vital development work iting to be done. If Comworks fault, surely something could i about it. his calculations, something 300,000 would go back to the nwealth Government and not d in the Territory at all. im was about equal to the . of income tax that would ected in the whole 1959-60 “Someone's Fault" ohn Hohnen said that while was lying in the Treasury large sections of Highlands /ere now impassable because collapse of bridges. The fact lis vital construction work ing neglected must be the : someone in Port Moresby, word on this subject was Dr. Gunther, who had not ipared by irate Highlands :s when he had visited for the annual Show the s week-end. He would, he lortly be going to the High dth the Director of Work to with residents their road is, especially as they related ?es.