1890 to 1895 it amounted, on an average to kr. 4,613,946, of
which an average of kr. 549,638 represents the instalments. During
the three following years these items of expenditure have been
increased to kr. 5,500,207, kr. 6,882,326 and kr. 7,194,647 respectively,
the instalments being represented by kr. 532,407, kr. 976,782
and kr. 1,203,824 respectively.. The expenditure caused by the
national debt in the year 1897—1898 amounted to about 16% %
of the net budget, an amount equal to kr. 3.32 per head of the
population. After the expiration of the financial year 1897—1898,
in the autumn of 1898, a new public loan was raised amounting
to kr. 20,880,000, for the purpose of covering extraordinary grants
for defensive purposes made in 1896—1898. This loan was issued
at the price of 96s/s %, bearing interest at 3% % (making the
effective interest 3.895 %) and redeemable' in the course of
twenty years.
The Norwegian Treasury has no floating debt.
MUNICIPAL FINANCES.
Concurrently with the state, the municipalities play an important
part in the finances of the country, in as much as,- in
connection with • the state, they defray, the expenses of certain
public institutions and agencies, as for instance education, the
police and sanitation, in the towns the harbours, and in the rural
districts the highways ; while they take entire charge of some
branches of public activity, as for instance the relief of the poor
and, especially in the towns, the streets, waterworks, fire department,
etc.
From 1884 to 1892 (the first and the last years for which
complete statistics exist) the expenditure of the aggregate municipalities
has gone up from kr. 22,826,402 (whereof kr. 11,537,233
were expended by the towns and kr. 1,289,169 by the rural districts)
to kr. 32,079,169 which are distributed in the following
manner:
Rural Whole
Towns. districts. country.
Judicial and Police system . 980,290 252,385 1,232,675
Ecclesiastical matters . - 761,494 641,881 1,403,375
Public instruction . . . . . 3,819,229 4,584,087 8,403,316
Belief of the poor. ' . 2,855,875 4,458,571 7,314,446
FINANCES. 247
Towns Rural districts Whole country
Sanitation and public health 416,634 593,806 1,010,440
Means of transit and public
works . . . . . . -. 3,409,097 2,034,132 5,443,229
Sundry measures for the
public benefit . . . . 1,024,890 485,933 1,510,823
Interest On loans . . . . 1,718,210 450,025 2,168,235
Contribution to railways . 248,760 428,860 677,620
Administration. . . ~r . 464,391 328,292 792,683
Other expenses . . 1,452,614 669,713 2,122,327
17,151,484 14,927,685 32,079,169
The largest item of expenditure for the municipalities, as it
appears from the table, is education, to which 22.27 %Swas devoted
in 1892, in the towns, and in the rural districts as much as
30.71. %, and for the whole country 26.20% of the total expenditure.
While the expenditure on education in the rural districts
is almost exclusively for the benefit of the primary schools, in the
towns about one fourth of the expenditure is for the benefit of
other schools. The two other largest items of expenditure, the
relief of the' poor and the means of transit together with the
public works, represent at the "same time in the towns 16.65 %
and 19.88 %, in the rural districts 29.87 % and 13.63 %, and for
the whole country 22.80 °|jjl and 16.97% respectively of the total
expenditure of the municipalities.
In 1884, the receipts of the municipalities were kr. 23,103,491, of
which kr. 11,847,191 was for the towns, and for the rural districts
kr. 11,256,300. In 1892 they had increased to kr. 28,046,365,
which were distributed in the following manner:
Towns Rural districts Whole countrykr.
kr. kr.
Taxes and rates . . . . 10,825,536 10,813,616 21,639,152
Income from real estate
and other assets , . . 2,157,116 833,436 2,990,552 ,
Grants from the state, of
public funds, donations,
etc................................... . 810,845 1,613,052 2,423,897
Sundry . . . . . . . 834,321 158,443" 992,764
Total 14,627,818 13,418,547 28,046,365