THE BUDGET. [From the Spectator, March 16.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VI, Issue 523, 7 August 1850, Page 4

THE BUDGET. [From the Spectator, March 16.]

The chief business in the House of Com* mons last night was tl\e financial statement of the year, by Sir Charles Wood, in committee of way and means. Sir Charles reentered the house, after his recent illness, shortly before five o'clock, amidst emphatic cheers from members on every side. He appeared perfectly recovered ; but he bespoke indulgence for inaccuracies that might creep into his statement, on account of his indisposition. , His estimate of the income he should receive up the sth April had been £52,262,000; he now expected that his receipts up to that date would be £52,785,000 while his expenditure would be £50,583,351 [less than bis estimate by £1,625,000] ; giving a surplus of about £2,250,000. The whole income for next year — though the sugar duties fall short — would probably reach £52,285,000. The Merchant Seamen's Bill will impose an additional £30,000 on the Consolidated Fund ; the arctic expedition a further outlay ; and be proposed to increase the vote for the New Houses of Parliament: in all, probably £150,000 for these additional expenses. He took the total expenditure of next year at £53,763,582; leaving a surplus of £1,52 1,4 10 say £1,500,000. Much anxiety had been shown to assist him in disposing of his surplus. Deputations bad advocated a reduction on tea, which would involve a first loss of at least £3,000,000 of the £5,471,000 produced by the tea duty ; the duty on bricks, windows, and soap, £3,275,000 ; that on paper, £754,000, the advertisement-duty, £157,000, certificateduty, £170,000 ; besides reductions on shipbuilding timber and the malt-tax ; and also the transfer of items of local taxation amounting to about £2,500,000 to the Consolidated Fund. Looking to the interests of the great body of the working classes, many of these duties have not the first claim for reduction ; others cannot be replaced for revenue ; and the last proposal involves a reversal of the policy pursued during the last twenty years, of removing burdens from labour to accumulated property. Government desire much to make some reduction in the debt. Since the reduction of war taxation, £38,000,000 have been added to, and only £11,000,000 substracted from, that debt. The rule seems to be, that in times of difficulty we borrow, but in time of prosperity we do not reduce the debt. That object, with some remission of taxes, makes it obviously necessary to renew the Income-tax.

In the reduction of taxes, primary objects were to benefit small owners of land, improve the systems of cultivation, and augment cmi ployment for labourers. He therefore proposed a considerable reduction of stamp-du-ties, upon the transfer of landed property and mortgages under £1000 — the stamp-duty in these cases to be a uniform half per cent. ; and he proposed to repeal the duty on bricks. The loss to the revenue by these remissions would be £750,000, half the expected surplus. The other half he proposed to apply to a reduction of the debt. Concurrently with these measures, he proposed another to promote the outlay of capital on land, namely, to advance for drainage and land improvements in England and Scotland £2,000,000 ; in Ireland £1,000,000, £800,000 of this latter sum to be appropriated to arterial drainage. These advances could be made, in the present state of the Exchequer, without any addition to the public debt, and the repayments would be available for the reduction of the debt. He proposed to apply £250,000 immediately to the extinction of a part of the debt by discharging the Equivalent Fund in Scotland 5 and he hoped the bouse would suffer him to retain the surplus of £500,000 remaining. Sir Charles moved a vote of £9,200,000 towards supply, to be raised by exchequer bills. The statement was followed by critical remarks from a number of speakers.