Fiji Drinkers, Smokers To Pay More
p. 20 · Read in the full issue
From a Correspondent
To balance the 1962 Fiji Budget of a record £11,476,554 the Actim Financial Secretary (Mr. H. P. Ritchie) has followed overseas tradition, and has hit the smoker, the drinker and the motorist. Mercifully he ley income tax alone.
NO loud howl followed, for it was generally realised that with a growing population more money was needed to provide for social services the chief of which are education and health.
To balance his Budget Mr. Ritchie proposes to raise additional sums of: O £53,000 by increasing the im port duty on petrol by 2d a gallon; 9 £25,000 by increasing the im port duty on spirits by 10/- a gallon; • £52,200 by increasing excise on local beer by 1/6 a gallon and duty on imported beer by 2/- a gallon; and • £lBO,OOO by increasing excise and import duty on cigarettes.
Briefly the new proposals mean that petrol will now cost 3/9 a gallon; local cigarettes lid a packet of 10; local beer will be increased by 3d a bottle; imported beer by 4d a bottle; and spirits by 1/8 a bottle.
These increases refer mainly to Suva and Lautoka and the increases for some items will be higher in some of the more remote areas.
All the increases became effective from the morning of November 24, a few hours before Mr. Ritchie an nounced his proposals. Secret instruc tions had gone out earlier to the Cus toms Department, and appropriate motions in the Legislative Council made them legal.
Hospital Fees
Mr. Ritchie asked the Legislative Council when deliberating on the Budget to consider a charge of 1/for each out-patient attendance (at present free) at Government hospi tals, and an increase of £3 a year in tuition fees at Government boarding schools.
Mr. Ritchie’s Budget provides for £8,051,269 in ordinary recurrent ex penditure and £3,425,285 in capital expenditure. The 1961 Budget pro vided for £7,292,391 for recurrent spending and £2,550,862 for capital works, making a total of £9,843,253.
For 1962 the Budget will be more than £10,000,000 for the first time, which recalls a complaint made by an unofficial member of the Legis lative Council 15 or 20 years ago when he said, “1 fear we are spend ing too much—here we have a Budget of £1,000,000”.
Fortunately for the taxpayer Fiji his British counterpart will t part of the brunt of the cap Budget, for estimated Colonial velopment and Welfare Fund as tance is estimated at £1,861,(1 Loans to be raised next year t £3,590,000 made up of a propc £stg2,ooo,ooo loan, £BO,OOO alre: promised for telecommunicate and a further development loani £1,320,000.
Mr. Ritchie is not over-hopeful raising the development loan in south-west Pacific (even though managed a £1,750,000 loan ear this year), and expects that the fc of it will have to come through Exchequer or market loan in L don.
Mr. Ritchie, in asserting that tt must be a balanced Budget, has left himself much of a margin., everything goes according to plan will finish up a mere £4,000 on right side of the ledger.
Fijian Holiday
Headed for Fiji in January for as[?] fortnight's holiday is pretty 19-year-[?] old Sydney girl Robyn Bellamy (left),[?] who won the holiday for topping thes[?] poll in an Australia-wide Remington[?] "Princess Lovely Legs" competition,[?] With her here is blonde runner-up[?] Diana Granquist.