British Politics.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7796, 12 April 1905, Page 2

British Politics.

LONDON, April 10. Mr Crooks (Wodhvich) asked whether Mr Balfour submits to the Colonial Conference a request to join iu a scheme for emigration. Air Balfour replied the tiino had hardly arrived to propose topics for the | conference. ■The Budget .announces a realised •surplus of £1,414,000. The tea duty will be reducid to 2d,. The income tax\ is unchanged. THE BUDGET. A LARGE SURPLUS. XReceived April 11„ 10.38 p.m.) LONDON, April 11. The Budget states that the past year was neither commercially nor .industrially satisfactory, yet there was a steady recovery during tho last few months. Revenue amounted to £143,270,000, and expenditure to £141,936,000. A remarkable decline in the consumption of alcohol, attributed to increasing temperance, is likely to leave a gap in the financial system, which must otherwise be filled. Tho income tax yielded one million and a quarter over the estimate. The Chancellor of th* Exchequer regretted that the surplus was insufficient to justify a penny reduction in taxation. The estimated revenue for the year, after allowing for a reduction of the tea duty, is £142,454,000, and tho expendiiture, after adding a million for the fixed debt charge is £142,032,000,, leaving an estimated surplus of £120,000.

AN IMPRACTICAL IDEA. (Received A[iril 11, 10.47 p.m.) LONDON, April 11. The Budget is considered humdrum, safe, non-contentious, and not portending an eurly dissolution. Lord Monk Brctlon, in the House of Lords, suggested that it would be very advantageous if the Governors of autonomous colonies appointed Colonial Office officials on their stafT, and thua cnablo Downing Street to learn the aspirations of the colonics. He instanced tho intensity of feeling over the introduction of Chinese into Oie Transvaad. The Duko of Marlborough said tho idea was impractical and unnecessary. It was impossible for it to bi entertained. Lords Aberdeen, Bipon, and Lansdowne concurred. The latter stated that the proposal was sure to be regarded with grave misgivings in tho colonics.