The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1862-04-08 00:00:00

MR. GLADSTONE'S BUDGET.

Mr. Gladstone made his financial statement
on Thursday night, and with the exception of
those organs, which, as a matter of course, are
bound to find fault, the press of the country
generally may be said to regard it in a favourable
light. Last year, the "Old Lady of West High
Street" predicted that the repeal of the paper
duty and the operations of the commercial treaty
with France would land us in a ruinous and
terrible deficit, and would bring the national
finances into inextricable confusion ; but the
statement of the Chancellor of the Exchequer—
an epitome of which will be found in our parlia-
mentary intelligence—has proved her to be a
quack, and that her statements have been
signally falsified by events. If the repeal of the
paper duty has not yet been a positive good to
the revenue, in emancipating the industry of the
country from a grievous burden, it has
evidently been non-productive of evil; while the
treaty with France has gone far in making up
for the loss we have sustained by the annihilation
of our American trade. Notwithstanding our
having been cut off from our usual supply of
American cotton, so flourishing was our progress,
that four months ago it might have been thought
no less politic than possible to relieve the com-
munity by fresh reductions of imposts. Unfor-
tunately, however, a month later happened
events, which it was impossible for any Chan-
cellor of the Exchequor to foresee, involving an
outlay of a million sterling, and suggesting the
fear that we might have to meet new demilids
by new taxes. Such, happily, has not been the
case, and if the present is not a time for the re-
mission of taxation, additional burdens have not
to be imposed. We entered the last financial
year with an expenditure estimated at I
£69,875,000; but the real outlay has been
£70,838,000; and the revenue £69,674,000.
Independently, however, of implemental charges,
the receipts really exhibited a balance of
i'335,000 over the disbursements. On the
previous year, the expenditure was £72,504,000;
so that, the actual expenditure of the past finan-
cial year being .£70,838,000, there has been a
decrease of expenditure amounting to £1,666,000.
The expenditure for the current year is esti-
mated at not less than £70,040,000, and the
revenue cannot be taken at more than
£70,109,000, showing a merely nominal margin
of £150,000. Mr. Gladstone looks hopefully
to the future—to the time when the causes of
our present embarrassment shall have passed
away; but till these better days do arrive he
does not deem it advisable to make any very
extensive changes. The Income Tax, therefore,
is to remain as at present; the tea and sugar
duties are untouched ; the duty on Fire Insurance
is not interfered with. The duty on playing
cards is to be reduced from is. to 3d. a pack, to
put an end to the system of evasion which it is
impossible to stop so long as the duty continues
in its present form and present rate. The charge
on colonial and foreign bonds and loans is to be
per cent., and supplemental licenses are to be
issued for permitting publicans to sell spirits, &c.,
at fairs and other public gatherings. Wines are
to pay duties sccording to their alcoholic tests
—ls. up to 26, and 2s. 6d. up to 42 degrees, and3d.
for every additional degree, as a set-off against
the duties on undisguised spirits. The malt
credit is to be retained, and the hop duty is to be
commuted; threepence per barrel on beer brewed
being proposed to be levied on brewers instead,
a corresponding drawback being allowed on all
beers exported. Au alteration in the licenses to
brew will also at the same time be made, so as to I
mitigate the hardships of small brewers. With
the repeal of the hop duty, the last link in the
chain of taxation on the raw material has been
cut away, and with it the inducement to use
untaxed quassia chips instead of taxed hops.
Mr. Gladstone informed his hearers that
every " interest " felt its own grievance the
greatest, and calling loudest for redress; but
it was evident upon the figures he bad laid
before them, that there could be no remission
of taxes, and that all that he could do was simply
to alter the existing state of things in a few
minor details. During the last three years we
have had to meet extraordinary charges, and
thus far we have met our heavy liabilities
without resorting to credit—without adding to
our permament burdens. On the whole, his
review of our financial position and prospects is
reassuring, as he considers that our present expen-
diture—our armed peace with its voracious
estimates—is exceptional and transitory. Our
readers will join us in hoping that his anticipa-
tions in this respect will be realised.