EXPENDITURE OF THE COLONIES.

THE direct Colonial Expenditure is for Government and Defence. The charge for Naval and Military purposes is, with some very trifling exceptions, entirely defrayed by Great Britain. The expense of the Civil Government is partly paid by Great Britain, partly by the Colo- nists, and sometimes by funds derived from both sources. The amount, or even the approximate amount of this expenditure, it is almost im- possible to ascertain ; but the following account will, we believe, be found as near the truth as it is possible to arrive at from the documents ac- cessible to the public.

SUMMARY OF THE COLONIAL CIVIL EXPENDITURE.

Paid by Colony. X Paid by Great Britain. X Total. X

North American Colonies 233,356 115,394 340340 West Indian Colonies 490,096 70,213 550,309

Australian Colonies

294,895 I0,103 294,993 Colonies in the Indian Seas 511,053

511,033 African Colonies 125,940 25,071 150,311 European Colonies 252,219

252,212 Miscellaneous Expenses

97,936 97,936 Colonial Departments

28,738 58338

4 1,886,852

347,415 2,234,297

The principal documents from which this account is framed, are the Finance Accounts and the Annual Estimates ; a Return for 1829 of all Salaries, &e. in the Coloniesabove 1,000/. a year; and a voluminous and elaborate set of Reports which were printed in 1828 to lay before the

last Finance Committee. The utility of the Estimates may be judged of; when we state, that from them, the Colonial Expenditure appears to be 168,367/. instead of 2,234,297/. The Return of 1829 contains am emoluments of or under 1,000/. a year : it is, moreover, not put for- ward by the Colonial Office as a correct, but as an approximate state- ment; for where the "accounts for the year 1829 have not been re- ceived, Oa last account received has been adopted in those cases ;" and an idea may be formed of the extent to which this qualification is car- ried, when we say that individuals who have been dead for years figure in the account as the holders of offices. The Reports are valuable, though somewhat bygone. They present a statement of the revenue, expenditure, and population of each colony, with an account of its "Establishment" (i. e. the officers, their salaries, allowances, &c.) ; of the nature of its taxation, and by what authority it is levied ; together with a variety of other statistical information. Those persons, however, who are best acquainted with the Colonies, assert that even these documents cannot be altogether relied on. The returns of the emoluments, they state, are very insufficient, being made by the patties who are interested in sup- pressing the truth, not even under the sanction of an oath, and without any penalty being attached to concealment or falsification. And if the pecuniary emoluments were correctly given, the real emoluments would still be considerably above what they appear; the Colonial officers, in addition to allowances of various kinds, being provided with houses, gardens, horses, and servants, and possessing other means of augmenting their incomes either ,in meal or in malt. The difference in the value of money and in the scale of living-, should also be taken into account. Our Canadian correspondent, than whom few men possess more practical knowledge upon the subject; rates 100/. a year in most parts of the Canadas as equivalent to 1,000/. in England. In the tropical Colonies this ratio is perhaps a good deal less, from the higher price of what we deem necessaries, and from the more luxurious style of living. We should, however, remember that what is the ne plus ultra of luxury to an Englishman, is a commonplace • entertainment to a West Indian. Pines and preserves and delicacies, which in our Northern climes are reserved for the tables of the divites, are, in those countries, almost "as plenty as blackberries ;" the wines, the brandies of the more favoured European climates, are subjected to much lower rates of duty; and to the products of China and Indostan the same remark may be extended. Sugar, coffee, cocoa, chocolate, and many spices are the product of the colony. In short, it is only in the merest necessaries-upon which a very inconsiderable portion of all large incomes is expended-that any comparison with English prices can be instituted. It is, moreover, always necessary to inquire, when the .subject is started, in what currency the calculation is made ; for 1,000/. a year sterling rises frequently to 2,000/. or 2,250/. Colonial currency.

It should be observed, that however incorrect the accounts we are about to present to the reader may eventually be found when tested by such documents as a Reformed Parliament will doubtless require, they are now for the first time rendered accessible to the public as a whole, though founded upon public documents. The series of Reports, as we have already stated, were expressly prepared for the Finance Committee.. The dissolution of that body by the Duke of WELLING- TON prevented the public from deriving any immediate advantage from the labour and expense which had been bestowed upon these Re- ports ; and from causes, which the reader will readily divine, they were never made what is termed Parliamentary Papers, and distri- buted amongst the members. After an expense of probably 3,000/. or 4,000/. for composing, &c., a few impressions only were struck off. One copy was placed in the Library of the House of Commons, and a few others were probably distributed amongst some of the public departments; so that, though not in strictness suppressed works, they were nearlyinaccessible to the public, by whose servants they were com- piled, with whose money they were printed, and for whose advantage they were designed.

In presenting an attempt at the exhibition of our Colonial Expendi- ture (and we believe for the first time in a connected and classified shape), these explanations seemed necessary, if not indispensable. We now proceed to present the reader with a Table, showing the total ex- penditure of each colony, and the funds from which that expenditure is discharged; and we shall then exhibit the details of those heads of ex- penditure.

DETAILED SUMMARY OF COLONIAL CIVIL EXPENDITURR,

NORTII AMERICAN COLONIES.

Pali

by CL:lony.

Paid by Gt. Britain.

TotaL

THE CANADA& # X

Civil Government of Upper Canada 53.501 0,773

60 ...:74 .. Lower Canada

53,924 11,429 70.413 Indian Presents .. 15.575 15.57.- Water Communication

50,000 50,009- Total oldie Canadas - 86.777 £109,105 196.952 Nova Scotia 50,400 800 51,209 New Brunswick 60,884 .. 60.994 Newfoundland 9.464 23.997 33,451 Prince Edward's Island 3.123 3,920 6,943 Total of the North American Colonies - - £923,356 115,341 348,749 - WEST INDIAN COLONIES.

Bahamas £14,383 8,941 18,399 • Bermudas 2.769 7.199 9,967, Antigua and Montserrat 13,133 2,000 15,155 Barbadoes 12,152 1,200 13,602 Dominica 5,997 4,268 10,165.

St. Christopher and St. Nevis 9,121 1,910 10,942 Tortola and the Virgin Islands 1.001 33054 4,035 - St. Vincent's 15,623 1,300 16,923 Tobago 4.171 3.330 7,321 Grenzala 20,201 5.353 25,640 Jamaica 192.340 29,093 221.475 Honduras 16 061 500 16.561.

Berbiee 19.891 1,500 20.591 Demerara and Essequibo 7S,594 .. 78.504 , Saint Lucia 15.;.:30 2.100 17,730 Trinidad 59.410 3,330 62,970

--- -- £490,06 Total of the West Indian Colonies 70 213 550,300 AUSTRALIAN COLONIES.

New South Wales X234.101

934,153 Van Diemen's Land 511342 3 866 51.103- Swan River

033; 6337 _ Total of the Anstralian Colonies £234,893 10.103 294.990 COLONIES IN TI1E INDIAN SEAS.

Ceylon £338.049

113.049 Mauritius 17S,001

179,004 Total of Colonies in the Indian Seas... .511,053

511,053 AFRICAN COLO:CIF:S.

Cape of Good Hope

£125,210

195,240 Sierra Leone and Gambia

0019 9,902 Cape Coast Castle and Accra

3.320 3.520 Fernando Po

11,619 11.649

- Total of the African Colonies £125.240 25,071 150,311 EUROPE AN COLONIES.

Gibraltar £30,767 .. 30.767

Malta

91.:40 .. 91,040

Ionian Islands 129.503 ..

129,605

- -

--- •

£252,212 .. Total of the European Colonies 259,219 Miscellaneous Colonial Expenditure

97.936 97.936 Colonial Departments in Gre.tt Britain

23,738 29,73g