MR. DISRAELI'S FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IX, Issue 803, 13 April 1853, Page 4

MR. DISRAELI'S FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer made his financial statement on the 3rd of December. He prefaced his observations by remarking that his statement was made under peculiar circumstances, and would embrace topics not strictly of a financial character, besides that only two-thirds of the financial year had been completed. He begged the House not to decide precipitately on any part of his statement, but to consider it as a whole. He proposed first to enter upon an examination of the claims of such interests as laboured under burdens aud grievances which recent legislation had rendered unbearable by them — he alluded to the shipping, sugar, and agricultural interI ests. It was not wise to allow any interest in I the country to find what it believed to be well i founded complaints unrcdressed. As regarded the shipping interest, Government considered that since the repeal of the Navigation Laws, it had been subjected to burdens and grievances it ought not to be made to endure. That interest complained of the system of light dues, of passing tolls, of pilotage, of Admiralty grievances, of the mode of manning the navy with men from the mercantile marine, of Salvage, of the regulations for anchorage, of the restrution on man- j »ing vessels, and of the stamps on the marine insurances. To meet these grievances, so that the claims of the shipping interest might not disturb future legislation, Government proposed as follows : — They would confine the light dues to payment for benefit actually received by the ship, and abolish passing toll. This relief would cost the country £100,000 a year. As to the system of pilotage, winch was very anomalous, Govt.umetit would recommend the appointmpnf of a .ommuU'c to uput ou tie (jiiMtei). In'

regard to Admiralty grievances, he adverted to the j enlistment of our mercantile sailors at a foreign i port into our Royal Navy, and proposed that no man so enlisting should receive his wages till the rest of the merchant crew were paid off; and if by such enlistment any injury should be done to the merchant captain the country should remunerate him. As to salvage, which grievously affected the mercantile marine, Government would recommend that the present system should entirely cease. As regarded anchorage, it also proposed that no merchant vessel should henceforth be disturbed by the paramount claims of the navy. The restrictions on the manning mercantile vessels were indefensible in principle, and he beheved not beneficial in practice, and the time was at band when they must cease, but the question must be considered with reference to the manning of the Royal Navy. Government hoped shortly to submit measures on the latter subject that would satisfy the House. The present system in the navy was most absurd, but there was no reason why our navy should not be rendered the most efficient in the world. He hoped, therefore, the shipping interest would not press the question at this moment. The stamps on insurances was a financial question, and not one to be treated at this moment. Summarising the foregoing proposals, he proceeded to the claims of the sugar-producing colonies — claims j which, he hoped, would be considered without reference to question of party or of the past. He thought the West India colonies bad been un- ! wisely and unjustly treated, and they had been made unnecessarily to suffer. The claims of those colonies were that we should — Ist, arrest the de«cent of the duties on foreign sugar ; 2ndly, reduce the duties on British plantation sugar ; 3rdly, guarantee loans to the colonies for emigration and improvement : 4thly, permit the refinement of sugar in bond for home consumption, the duty to be taken on the refined, and not the coarse material : sthly, allow the use of molasses in breweries. On the first and second points he observed, that the question of possible competition between the colonial and the foreign producer was not one of sentiment but of figures, and he adduced statistics to show, from the great increase in our consumption of colonial sugar, considered by itself, and also considered in comparison with foreign sugar, that there was no necessity for reducing the duties on British plantation sugar, or imposing a differential duty to prop up the colonial interests. He might be called a traitor or. renegade for saying this ; but he would ask whether, with the facts before him, any gentleman in the bouse could agree to the tax demanded. On the third point, he stated that Government had sanctioned and assisted emigration fiom China to Trinidad, and that as the sums already allotted as loans to British Guiana, Trinidad, and St. Lucia, had not actually been taken up, therefore Government could not propose fresh loans. Ou the4th point the permission desired would be a great boon ; and though there were financial reasons against it, Government was prepared to concede it. The fifth point would come in as a financial consideration. He then proceeded to the question of agricultural burdens, observing that the subject of local taxation had then to be considered. The principal local burdens were the highway, county and poor rate 3. As regarded the first, a bill had been prepared. As to the second, there was no objection to the introduction of the representative principle as regards the ratepayer, though the gaol and the lunatic asylcm question somewhat complicated it. The time, however, might speedily come when Parliament would have to con ider the whole subject of punishment. But Government was not prepared to advocate ouy change in regard to the county rate, which amounted annually to £600,000 only. On the third and great late — the poor rate— he adverted to the important reduction (25 per cent.) which had taken place in that rate since be addressed the House on the subject in 1849, and in reply to an " illogical cheer " which broke out, be intimated that "recent legislation might have nothing to do with the matter." But the rate of diminution, he was sorry to say had ceased, and he read a return to show this ; but he expressed his belief that this couutry was in a prosperous state, and that pauperism would materially diminish. Lookiug to these arguments, and to the fact that the measure he should propose that uight would materially relieve the suffering interest, be was not prepared to recommend any change in the local taxation of the country. Having tbus gone into the cases of the three complaining classes, he approached the question of the taxation of the country under the system to which all parties had given their adhesion. Unrestricted competition, he said, was not consistent with restricted industry, and after the general election it bad become his duty to consider the application of the principle of that competition to the taxation of the nation. On the principle on which they were all agreed — namely, (o enable the people to make head against such competition, we should cheapen the prime necessaries a/ life. Government was prepared to deal with the malt tax. Beer was a prime neccessary of life, highly taxed, under circumstances restrictive of industry. To deal properly, and not in a small manner, with this tax, would be to benefit the consumer, and, in an eminent degree, the agriculturist. The present duty on malt was 2s. 7£d. per bushel, producing five rnilliqns of money ; and the consumption though increasing was not increasing in anything like due proportion. It was proposed to remit one-half of this duty from the lOtb of October next, when stock is to be taken, and to have a uniform duty of Is. 3£d. on malt, from barley, beer, or bigg. They would also do away with the drawback in Scotland, as had been already satisfactorily done in the case of Ireland. He next announced that Government recommended the reduction of the tea duties, not believing that such a step would interfere with the adequate supply of this country. He would make no distinction between black aod green, or any other kind of tea. The present duty was 2s. 2^d. per lb., which he proposed to reduce to a uniiorm duty of is. — (applause) — this reduction to be spread, as in the case of the sugar duties, over six years (murmurs) — 4§d. to come off iv the first year (which be calculated would increase the consumption by 3,000,000 lbs.), and then to reduce the duty by 2d. a year until it was down to Is. Expatiating on the social and commercial benetits he expected from this step, he went ou to deal with the hop duty. There were two duties on hops, the Queen Anne's and the war duty, of nearly equal amount. It was proposed to take off the latter. He next stand that he did not believe thai the consuming pow^r

j of the people was, as had been asserted, diminishing, despite the results of emigration, which he could not regard as a weakening of the mother country. Such powers depended not upon numbers but upon condition. Nor could be agree that there had been any other rise in | the rate of wages than one by which the public would be benefited. The employer of capital, moreoTer, was obtaining it at a rate of interest at which it could never have been before obtained by him. The recent discovery of gold had increased and confirmed credit in this country, and he believed that the present rate of interest would continue, depending, as it did, on permanent conditions. He had thus, the Chancellor of the Exchequer said, having then spoken for three hours, indicated reductions of revenue to the amount of between three and four millions sterling; in a few months another great source of income was about to cease — the income-tax. On this subject a decision must now be made. Referring to his own financial statement of last year and avowing his adherence to the principle therein laid down — namely, that the property tax ought to be made ai direct as possible, be began with the case in Ireland. Reviewing the short coming of Ireland, as a contributor to the national purse, he proposed to extend the property and iucome tax to Irish funded properly and salaries. The Consolidated Aunuities question would be considered on its merits, the Government not being bound to the recommendation of a Committee of the House of Lords. Government were prepared to recognise a distinction between permanent and precarious income. They would not recommend any increase of the income tax in any schedule. They proposed to ex?mpt all industrial incomes under £100 a year. Upon incomes arising from property the exemption point was to be £50. On schedules 6, D, and £, the rate was to be taken at 5;d., and the farmers' profits (B) were to taken at one- third, instead of one-half. A special revision relieving the clergyman with an income under £100 a-year would be ; introduced. After stating the figures at which he estimated each department, taking Ireland at the modest sum of £600,000, he said that the general result of the tax would be about the same as at present, and therefore the question would not affect the estimates for the year. He then said that he should soon have to lay before the House a supplementary estimate in regard to our national defences, Government was about to propose no inconsiderable increase of the estimates. The measures proposed had nothing to do with peace or war, and would have been brought forward under any circumstances. The nation had arrived at the conviction that the defences of the country ought to be completed, and though he believed that the predominant tendencies of the age were in favour of peace, he also believed that what the Government meant to recommend would have the same tendency. They had determined to do the thing completely, and to put the navy in the condition iv which every Englishman desired to see it, and which would place the question of national defence at rest for ever. The additional estimate would be about £600,000, He then entered upou the " vVays and Means," and said that the state of the revenue was extremely favourable. There bad been a slight and an expected decrease in the customs, but the excise bad greatly increased, and both the stamps and the property tax bad increased every week. He had last year announced an unexpected surplus of £700,000 at the ensuing April, but he thought that £500,000 from inland revenue might be added, and that they would be safe in expecting a surplus of £1,300,000 to £1,400,000. He then laid that government designed, if permitted, to make no incousiderable reducions in the national expenditure. But to effect this changes would be necessary in the system of administration ; and he dwelled upon (he difficulty of achieving any such changes. Prejudice and skill were both arrayed against reforms. Government was prepared to do what had been so often urged, namely, to bring the whole revenue of the country under the control of Parliament; and he should lay before the House measures of administrative reform. He should advocate the abolition of the Public Works Loan Fund Commission. He then stated, in round numbers, bis estimates for 1853-4, and calculated his snrplus at £160,000. He hoped he should never have to take another vote for tbeCaffre war. The Chancellor of the Exchequer (after allusion to the unbecoming mode in which tbose who bad been aggrieved by recent legislation had urged their claims) went on to say that he felt it hit duty to endeavour to increase the resources of the country. He wonld not meddle with the details of Customs, nor seek any increase of revenue from Excise. Nor would he propose a new tax, but would ask the House to consider an- existing tax. He was going to test whether they were sincere in wishing to relieve the iqdustry af the country. He would ask the committee to consider the details of the House Tax, and after strictures upon its vicious character, he said that ought to be extended on the principle applied in the case of the income tax. He proposed to extend the existing tax to houses of £10 per annum. At present private houses paid 9d. in the pound, and shops 6ti*., the exemption beginning at £20. He would increase the rate in consideration of the beneficial arrangements simultaneously offered, and suggested that private houses shall be rated at Is. 6d. and shops Is. The whole of this would amount to £1,723,000. The extra ways and means for 1853-4 wonld b» £2,500,000 against an extra expenditure of £2,100,000. For that year there would be a surplus of about £400,000, and for the then following year one of about £500,000, which be thought a promising prospect. He then announced that be had completed his statement. The Government had proposed nothing but what was practicable, but bad not sbronk from examining the whole question. It would have been injudicious to go a step farther, and to propose measures he was not prepared immediately to carry out. He hoped that they bad not met for war, and trusted for support to measures founded upon a principle calculated to ensure the greatest happiness to the greatest number. The Chancellor of the Excbeqner then sat down, after an address of five hours and ten minutes.