BRITISH BUDGET.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1130, 18 May 1911, Page 5

BRITISH BUDGET.

NO NEW TAXATION.

BIG INCREASE IN EXPENDITURE ON THE NAVY.

REDUCTIONS FORESHADOWED

By Telegraph—Press Association-Copyrieht (Ecc. May 17, 10.30 p.m.) London, May 17. Mr. Lloyd-George, Chancellor of the Exchequer, delivered liis Financial Statement in the House of Commons. The Chancellor announced that in tho la=t two years the realised surplus amounted to .£5,607,000. All branches of revenue, except sugar and tea, hart exceeded tho estimate. It was proposed that members of the House of Commons should each receive .£4OO a year, entailing a total cost of a quarter of a million. No travelling expenses would bo allowed. Tho cost of the Coronation would be Old-age pensions would absorb twelve and a half millions, being an increase of two and a quarter millions. The whole cost of pensions would be boruo by the State, thus relieving poor-law guardians.

Reduction of Duties, The revenue and expenditure for the financial year ending on March 31 next were estimated by the Chancellor as under: — Income .€181,716,000 Expenditure .£161.381,000 Surplus «2,000 The only alterations proposed in the way of relief of taxation were that the cocoa duties should bo reduced by graduating the chocolate duty and aboli«hin',' tho drawback on it, at a cost o. iMo.OOO, and tho liquor duties woulc bo reduced to the extent of .£50,000. This would lenvo a final surplus of .£337,000, aflc-r devoting .£2,300,000 to tho old sinking fund, .£1,500,000 to the Development Act, and ,£1,500,000 to sanatoria. Cost of the Navy. The naval expenditure during the past war had been four millions in excess of the estimate, of .£10,601,000, and stood at .£11,000.000. This increase had been unexpected, but Iho Chancellor anticiiir.tsd fi substantial reduction in 1912, and a still further rcduc'icn in 1013. If half the rhetoric spent on the peace campaign was as go:uiin3 as lie believed 'it to be, there would be an enormous reduction in armaments in tho future, and as an immediate effect, Great Britain would bo able to spwiil more oii education, housing, tho reduction of tho rate?, and the organising of rural life and industry. Future Reductions. The contingent Dreadnoughts would, not be a charge on the next Budget, and there would also bo a fall in tho •tatutory provision for German shipbuilding. This would involve a necessary reduction in tho British naval armaments, unless a now menace were interposed. Tho Army expenditure for the year had been .£28,500,000, us against the estimate of .C 27,760,000. The Civil Service expenditure, including that on education, was .£3i,500,000 (? JB»,500,000), tho estimate for-the year having been . .£13,136,000. Thero had also been a further Uganda loan of

National Debt Reduced. It was intended to reduce tho National Debt by .£12,500,000. During Mr. Asquith's Chancellorship the debt had been reduced by 42} millions sterling, and during his own Chancellorship—notwithstanding a naval increaso of 3"i per cent, and an old ago pensions payment of 13 millions—the national indebtedness had been reduced by ' J523,700,606. The- position since tho accession to office of the Liberal party was therefore as follows:— Reduction, by Mr. Asn.ui.th 42,250,000 Reduction by Mr. Lloyd-Georgo 28,700,000 Total reduction 70,950,000 These reductions represented a saving of .62,000,000 in interest annually. Trade was increasing by leaps and bounds, and foreign trade- had increased in three years by 213 millions. Tho unemployment percentage in April, 1909, was 8.2, while to-day it had fallen to 2.5. Mr. Austen Chamberlain, who was Chancellor of tho Exchequer in tho last Unionist Ministry, opposed the proposed payment of members, and said that Parliament's unpaid service to tho people had been tho milking of the country. Why, he asked, were- not county councillors and other local representatives paid.

A YEAR'S FINANCE. RVPIDLY INCREASING EXPENDITURE. In his Budget statement on June 30 last year Mr. Lloyd-George estimated that he would rec-aivc in ordinary revenue for the year ,£169,745,000, and in the shape of arrears from tho preceding year .£30,046, 000, making a total of .£199,791,000. On the other side of the account ho anticipated that the ordinary expenditure of the year would amount to .£172,326,000, while he had to meet arrears of expenditure from 1303-10 amounting to ,£303,00;), making in all .£173,234,000. ,The revenue return published ou April 1 of this y-sar shows that the income and expenditure have been as follow:— £ Year's income 203,550,558 Year's expenditure 171.995,667 Leaving a balance of ..;• £31,854,921 From this huge apparent surplus, however, there has to be deducted the deficit of £26,2<1?,155 shown in tho accounts of tho previous year, and due to the noncollection of certain taxes, chiefly the property and incomo taxes, as a result of the rejection of the Budget by the Hoiue of Lords. Deducting, therefore, this deficit from the apparent s-urplus of .£31,851,921, the actual surplus appeared to be .£5,600,766. This surplus was due in part to the estimates of revenue being exceeded, and in part to the expenditure being less than the estimates. The year began with balances in tho Bank o"f England and tho Bank of Ireland amounting to £2,831,248.- It_ ends with balances amounting to .£13,546,171, an exceptionally large sum for the close of a financial year.

Tho Yield of Taxes. The yield of the various taxes, as compared with Mr. Lloyd-George's estimates, is interesting. Customs yielded nearly a million more than had been aiiticpated, but the largest increase was in the Excise, which is responsible for over three millions more than was estimated. •From stamps, land tax, and house duty the amounts received have Incn much- about what had been anticipated, while the mcomo tax, after deducting the arrears from the previous year, produced almost' ii million more than tho Chancellor anticipated. The land value duties, however, fell considerably much below Hie Lsdmates. The Prospect for This Year. In spite of the splondid yield of the taxes in the past year, the "Manchester Guardian," in ■ reviewing the figures, says it must not be supposed that Mr. Lloyd-George will have a corresponding surplus from the same sources in the

coming year. Tlie expenditure In which he is already com mil tod i* as follows:— J! Civil Services ■11i,757,57.1 Cublcm.% Kxcisc, and lnliiml Ki'vcmic 3.f1f1.i,-l(lfl Consolidated Fund Service? 3li,!HU,oili) .Army :>r,fiftn,noo Navy Jl,-"!)2,.">ni) I'o.-A-officc Services 21,(182,115 jei50,012,218 As his actual revenue for thn pnst. year was just a little short of .£17(,0(l!),0IHI, it. would seem lli.it ho will be fiicPil by a prospective deficit of about .£7,000,000. and that coi)scr|iii'i]lly new taxation would have to bo imposed to make good the sliortagi'. Jf Iho invalidity insurance scheme is passed thif year and comes into force on January 1, 1012, Mr. LloydGeorge would have to provide in his Budget for one quarter's oxpendihiro under that head, which would mean an addition of somewhere about (mother mil- ' lion and a half to the total given above. Then the Primo Minister has announced that the Government intend to provide this year money for tho payment of members, and that will probably account I for another .£200,000. Tlieso Ivv sums together would raise the total expenditure for the year to about ,€182,600,000, or nearly ,£9,000,000 more than was received in the year that has just come to an end. It has to be remembered, however, tho "Guardian" points out, that the trade of the country is exceptionally good just now, and Mr. Lloyd-George will no doubt benefit by the usual normal increase in the revenue, a factor which will he responsible for an addition to the Exchequer receipts of between ,£3,000,000 and .£4,000,000. It is probable aho that a •considerable amount of additional revenue will bo derived through the coming into fuller operation of tho taxes imposed by tho Budget which the Lords rejected a year last November. It is practically certain, therefore, that the Chancellor will be able to balance his accounts without adding to the already heavy burden of tho taxpayer. With reference to the transfer of the whole cost of old age pensions to the State, it will be remembered that last year Mr. Lloyd-George stated that he had effected an arrangement which would enable the Government, with a contribution from the rates, to wipe out the pauper disqualification which kept froln pensions 270,000 old people in the worknouses. The local auhorities would only be asked to provide the sum by which the rates were relieved by the transfer of paupers to tho pension list.