BRITISH BUDGET.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1732, 24 April 1913, Page 7

BRITISH BUDGET.

ESTIMATES EXCEEDED BY £4,671,000

UNFORESEEN NAVAL INCREASES.

NATIONAL DEBT DECREASING BY £12,000,000 YEARLY. NO NEW TAXES. By Telegraph—Proas AflßOciation-Oopyrlght (Rcc. April 23, f1.5 p.m.) London, April 22. Tho House of Commons wa9 crowded when tlio Cliancellor of tho Exchequer, Mr. Lloyd-George, rose to deliver his Budget statement. The Cliancellor said that during tlio year every domicile industry had done humming business, despite the poor harvest, war, and strikes. In consequence of tho increase in tho Navy and the insurance scheme, ho -wanted an extra seven and a half million pounds, but now taxes would not bo necessary. Ho was basing his forecast on the assumption that tho coming year would bo tho most glowing for British trado ever seen. He expected that tho yields from taxes, Customs, and excise, with a million from tho Exchequer balances, would give a balance of ,£185,000. The now Budget revenue wag estimated at .£195,825,000, and tho expenditure at .£195,640,000.

Altogether tho Budget speech was uneventful rmd brief. It stated that tho overseas trado had reached its highest point during the past year, and tho Homo trade had been thp heaviest on record. Tho coal strike, it was stated, had caused a loss of revonuo of <£550,000, while tho withholding of stocks of • tea, sugar, and tobacco in anticipation of-a reduction in duty had deprived tho revenue of ,£450,000. Although eight million gallons less spirits had been consuincd than in any similar period during the last four years, tho higher duties had produced an increase of 43,000,000. Last year tho expenditure had exceeded tho estimate by .£4,671,000,, which was duo chiefly to the. unforeseen Naval increases, and tho additional medical remuneration under tho Insurance Bill. Tho expenditure in nearly every country, however, had rushed up alarmingly through the growth of armaments, and there was, it seemed, but small prospects of retarding tho increases. . Mr. Lloyd-Georgo said ho confidently relied on tho normal growth in the revenue to meet tho increased expenditure in 1913, with tho exception of JCSiri.OOO, which would bo met by taking a million from tho unspent Admiralty rate in 1912. The Chancellor of tho Exchequer anticipated that in tho ensuing financial year tho increases from spirits aud beer would amount to .£922,000; from tea and sugar tho estimated increase was JCGID,OOO; and from tobacco ,£905,000. Tho National Debt was being decreased .£12,000,000 annually. . It was proposed to rciiistitutc tho practice of introduoing two Einanca Bills, one dealing with leases, and the other with amendments of tho law. A CANDID CRITIC. j' Ml!. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN'S 1 SPEECH. (Rec. April 23, 30.35 p.m.) 1 London, April 23. Mr. Austen Chamberlain, last Unionist Chancollor of tho Exchequer, said ho viewed with anxiety tho fact that tho Government was not profiting by the good times, but was spending every penny, and also mortgaging every penny, of its further income. It was not increasing tho reservo fund in order to meet bad times.

Mr. Chamberlain criticised the disappointing land value duty, which had resulted in a return .£90,000 below tho estimate. In two years tho old Sinhing Fund had been robbed of threo millions to provide for commitments.

Tho speaker continued that ho agreed that tho expenditure on armaments was beyond tho Government's control, but it was different in regard to the civil expenditure. The old ago pensions had called for an outlay donblo tho amount of tho estimated expenditure, and something similar had occurred in connection with tho Insuranco Bill. He hoped that tho Government would consider the question of tho severance of the insuranco administration from tho Treasury. In conclusion, Mr. Chamberlain said that the Chancellor was over-sanguine regarding tho Estimates for 1913.