THE BUDGET.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 263, 27 April 1860, Page 3

THE BUDGET.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Feb. 10, made his financial'statement. After some preliminary remarks upon the circumstances which attracted public attention, especially to the statement of the present year, as an important epoch in our finances, he proceeded to show the results of the finance of the last year, observing that circumstances had occurred during the latter portion which would materially affect these results —namely the expedition to China, and the arrangements incident to our commercial treaty with France. He should first, he said, state the account apart from those disturbing causes, and how, when these causes came into action, the account was likely to staud. The total amount of the revenue for the year had been estimated at £69,460,000, and would give ;£7q>s7ftOQO.; The total charge ot the year, estimate<^t~£6J^7koQo, was only which surplus income.at the end of theyeaT^of ,£13025^000. But we had now to provide for the disturbing causes to which he had referred—namely, for the army, £900,000, for the navy, £270,000, and for the treaty with France about £640,000; making a total of £1,810,000, which would place a small sum on the wrong side of the account. But unexpected relief had come. An allied and friendly kingdom had paid a debt. Spain had remitted a sum of £500,000, of which half would come to the credit of the revenue before the 31st of March. There would therefore be a balance of revenue of £1, 875,900 against a charge of £1,810,000, leaving to the Chancellor of the Exchequer a narrow surplus. He now approached the more difficult part of the subject—thejcharge and expenditure for 1860-61. The estimated charges were as follows :—..•' Funded and unfunded debt £26,200,000 Charges on the consolidated fund. 2,000,000 Army and. militia (including the China expedition) ~ 15,800,000 Navy and packet service 13,900,000 Miscellaneous civil service , 7,500,000 Revenue departments 4,700,000 £70,100,000 The estimated income of the coming year, as the law stood, would be as follows :— Customs £22,700,000 Excise 19,170,000 Stamp 8,000,000 Taxes 0 . i9 .... 3,250,000 Income-tax 2,400,000 Post-Office 3,400,000 Crown Lands 280,000 Miscellaneous 1,500,000

Total £60,700,000 The total charge being £70,100,000, there would be an apparent deficit of £9,400,000, and he did not mean to make provision for the payment of Exchequer Bonds in November next. Here, he observed, he might close by a short and simple process for supplying this deficiency, which might be filled up in two modes. The continuance of the duties on tea and sugar at the present rate would yield £3,400,000, and the income tax, at 9d. in the pound, £7,672,000, or supposing the war duties on tea and sugar were abandoned, to fill up the deficit of £9,400,000 an income-tax of Is. in the pound would be required. Then, it might be asked, what became of .his calculations and predictions of 1853 ? But in that year he had reckoned that we should gain by the new taxes, and particularly the succession duty, which with other expected accessions of revenue, entitled him to count upon a sum of £5,959,000 as nearly as possible the amount of the income-tax at five-pence in the pound. These estimates had suffered considerable damage by what had since occurred, but this was not the sole and real cause. The succession duty had failed to produce what he had expected by £1,000,000. Besides this, the stoppage of the application of a surplus of revenue to the reduction of the debt caused an increase of charge, and additional debt had been contracted on account of the Russian war, these items, amounting to £2,722,000, though the revenue had permanently increased. The actual charge in 1853 was £58,283,000, which would have left a surplus of revenue in 1860-61 of £2,317,000 had the expenditure remained as it was. In 1853, the whole amount voted for supplies was £24,279,000; in 1860-61, it would be £39,200,000; an increase of £14,921,000 while the income-tax returns under Schedule A, B, and D, showed the increase in the wealth of the country beyond the ratio of expenditure. He then called upon the committee to consider the best means of filling up the deficiency of £9,400,000, and the principles and policy which ought to be adopted. He trusted, he said, that the expenditure might be reduced by degrees, for this was a process which was necessarily gradual or the evil would be aggravated. At this epoch it was the view of the Government that it was the duty of Parliament to make some step forward in the career of public improvement, and he could not place this duty on narrow ground. The House must take it for granted that we were likely to remain on a high level of public expenditure; but this was no reason for stopping in the process of commercial reforms. He pointed out the essential connection between taxes on trade and industiy, and the power to pay taxes, and showed the effect of a remission of taxation in the increase in the amount of taxes; that the Customs and Excise grew faster under the remission of taxes than when nothing at all was remitted. Then, upon what principle ought remission of taxes to be based ? He thought the bulk of the burden should fall upon the rich, but that other classes ought to bear their proper share; It was a mistake to suppose that the best way to give to the laboring classes the maximum of benefit was to reduce the duties on such articles as tea and sugar; the most effectual relief was by remissions that operated upon the trades which gave them employment. He should therefore ask the House to renew the duties on those articles »as stood for another year. Mr. Gladstone then addressed himself to the Commercial Treaty with France, the stipulations of which, the principles upon which it was based, and its results as they affected the trade and commerce of England, He expounded at great length. He repelled with much energy the charge of subserviency to France, asserting that, with an insignificant exception, we had given by the treaty nothing to France. He knew, he said, that a treaty with that country must bear a political character ;-—every commercial treaty with France bore such a character. The reduction of duties under the treaty would afford a total relief to the consumer in this country of £1,737,000 and a loss to the revenue of £1,190,000. it had been objected to the treaty, he said, that the duties we repealed were revenue duties, laid upon luxuries, which did not affect the poor man; but he showed that not one of the duties served that character. He.contended that what we had done by the treaty was good for ourselves, if France handone^ nothing at all. Although wine was a rich man's luxury, so was tea in 1760, and both tea and sugar might now ba made luxuries- of the rich if duties enough were imposed upoa them. The wine duties were duties of protection, t differential, not revenue duties. Mr. Gladstone thenproceed©! to develop a suppleiaeatary measure ot

Customs' reform, which would effect a relief to th consumer to'tlie amount of i£1,040,000 and a los to the revenue of £910,000, and he proposed .to meet this loss by certain impositions on trade. This second portion of Customs', reforms consisted in the abolition and reduction of duties on various articles, a list of which he read, and the changes were to be met by an extension of a very small penny taxation, in,the shape of registration dues upon goods imported and exported; a moderate charge.on .certain operations performed in warehouses, bottling, vatting, mixing, &c, which had grown up as <vi excresence upon the warehousing system; and this would afford the means of solving a very difficult question that of inland bonding. He. proposed to levy a duty of 6s. per cwt. upon chicory for other vegetable matter mixed with coffee, which would entail an Excise charge upon home-made chicory. These charges would bring ,£510,000. Other minor charges upon dock warrants, licenses to eating houses to sell wine and beer, an alteration of the duty on game certificates, the removal of the exemption from stamp duty on certain checks, and other small items, would yield £386,000, making, together with .£510,000, arevenue of .£896,000. There would be a saving in the Customs' establishment of £50,000, and in the inland department of £36,000, making an aggregate amount of £982,000, which would more than replace the revenue withdrawn by reforms. Still about ,£1,000,000 of remission was due to the trade of the country; and as the Government did not think a return to the minimum duties upon tea and sugar was the direction which relief ought to take, he proposed to abolish the excise duty upon paper, one reason for which was that this duty had been condemned by the House ot Commons with the full concurrence of the Executive of the day. The repeal of this duty would simplify the labors of the revenue officers, and it would be accompanied by the abolition of the impressed stamp on newspaper's, and the introduction of'an intermediate thiee'halfjisrttiy stamp*, He'proposed toalter-the^stem-W^ hop .credits, and to reduce the duty on hop 9 and malt. Mr. Gladstone then brought into one view the results of these changes, supplemenlary and under the treaty, which left a total loss of £2,108,000, with a total relief to the consumer of ,£3,931,000. The total charge for 1860-61 being £70,100,000, and the revenue £60,692,000, there was still a deficiency of ,£9,408,000. To meet this he proposed to continue the income-tax at a higher rate by Id. than if there was no remission—namely, 10d. in the pound on incomes above £150, and 7d. on incomes below that sum; the tax to continue, with the tea and sugar duties for one year. This would supply .£8,472,000, making with the malt and hop credits, ,£9,872,000, increasing the aggregate revenue to £70,564,000, leaving an estimated apparent surplus revenue of ,£43,000. Mr. Gladstone concluded an eloquent preroration by placing a resolution in the hands of the chairman, and proposing that the consideration of the subject should be resumed on the 16th February. Mr. Disraeli thought this proposition unreasonable, and suggested that day fortnight. A discussion ensued, which terminated in an arrangement by which the 20th was substituted for the 16th of February.