§ I say so much for the general conditions of our trade, and now pass to a review of the finances of the State for the year which ended on 31st March last. The Budget of 1907 was based on the system under which a portion of the revenue raised by Imperial taxes was not paid into the Treasury, but handed over to the Local Taxation Account. That system was brought to an end by Section 17 of the Finance Act of last year, and according to its provisions the whole revenue of the year has been paid to the Exchequer and all the grants to the Local Taxation Account have been issued from the Exchequer. The result is that the Exchequer accounts for 1907–8 contain a complete record of the transactions both on the receipt and issue side. In comparing the Budget estimates of last year with the actual results, the following figures represent the totals. The total revenue for this year was estimated at £152,835,000, the total expenditure £152,502,000, leaving a margin of £333,000 for contingencies. In fact, it has turned out 448 that the revenue estimated at the figure I have just stated actually produced £156,538,000, showing an increase on the estimate of £3,703,000. And instead of an expenditure as estimated of £152,502,000, the actual issues from the Exchequer amounted to £151,812,000, showing a reduction on actual as compared with estimated expenditure of £690,000. If you add together these totals you obtain the figure of £4,726,000, which is the amount of the realised surplus for the year.