The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1881-06-21 00:00:00

FIAT JurriTlA.

To iil4 Editor.

Siz,—Whllst nothing is sealer than to attribute to •
gentleman that he has been guilty of falsehood; it
certainly does not redound to the credit of anyone who
indulges in this sort of silencing prooest I attended with
several of my friends at the late soiree. ask having
perused very carefully the interesting article of J.O L I
era prepared to admit It. accuracy. We certainly did
think the meeting at tions received the remarks of the
speakers with Jeering. Although I am not a reporter.
still I think the chairman must be troubled with an
indifferent memory, for we distinctly heard him say that
the only response he had had to his appeal for funds was
• radish conveyed to him in an envelope. What he after-
wards received you bars heard. I suppose your correspon-
dent was not inquisitive, otherwise he should have called
on the chairman and asked him exactly what he had
received. According to the chairman's own showing there
could not have been much sympathy shown towards the
°tient@ of the society when the result proves only 30 per
cent amongst 100 people. Of course the people paid la,
the same way as they pay their money at the theatre
before knowing what is to be brought before their sysa
Probably Kr. Dominus views reel, success Irons a different
standpoint Kindly insert this as a matter of Justice to
your correspondent
June 14, IMO.

TILUTII AND FAIR PUT.

THE SECOND BUDGET.

Some persons pretend to diaaern that it was a mere
hankering after activity in his old financial sphere, in
which all parties that he han earned- renown,
that impelled Mr. Gladstone, in his second character
as Chancellor of the Exchequer, to bring in a new
Budget for this year, rather than simply to amend
that already proposed by Sir Stafford Northcote. To
us, however, it seems that the former right hon.
gentleman had something more than a pretext for
again trying his veteran hand at fiscal arrangements,
His predecessor had made an early and somewhat
hurried disposition of the national finances for the
year, which would certainly have bad to be modified
before the end of the session, even if the Conservatives
had remained in office. Sir Stafford had left himself
with the anticipated nominal surplus of £180,000; but
supplementary estimates, which could hardly have
been avoided by the other party in power, anynint to
some 000,000 against this surplus, leaving a small
anticipated deficit of £20,000. This would have been
a trivial matter if trade had been reviving faster, and
the revenue exhibiting elasticity. But the fact is that
the receipts, so far, show no sign of exceeding the
estimate, but rather the reverse. At the same time,
there are good reasons, among which is the disturbed
and almost critical state of Indian finance, why the
Government should have a substantial, if modest,
surplus to meet contingencies. Mr. Gladstone might
have obtained this by simply increasing an existing
tax or putting on a new one. But he had also other
considerath.ns to take into account. It is understood
that the conclusion of a favourable new commercial
treaty with France, in place of that which expires this
year, will require a reduction of duty on light French
wines. The right hon. gentleman, with this object in
view, therefore proposed a re-arrangement of the wine
duties, with the general effect of reducing them, and
especially upon the lower qualities of wine. To make
such reductions of impost on the article of wine,
without giving any corresponding relief as regards
beer, would have been manifestly unfair. But Mr.
Gladstone found that he could not well touch the malt
duty by way of partial reduction1 and, therefore, with
that thoroughness that cbaracterfaes him, he proposed
to do away with the malt duty altogether, and
substitute a beer duty at such a rate as would give
beer-consumers relief equivalent to that accorded to
wine-drinkers. For the double reduction he to some
extent recouped himself by putting an additional tax
upen drinking in its most objectionable form—that is
to say, he considerably raised the amounts payable
for public-house licences. Then, to make up the
remaining deficit, and to produce the required surplus,
he put a penny on the income-tax—an augmentation
which now yields about £l,soo,ooo—and left himself
with a margin of 2381,000 on the right idde. Itisnot
to be supposed that these financial arrangements will
please everybody. Withal! the shifting and adjusting
of burdens an increase of dead weight has finally to be
made in one quarter; and irritated income-tax payers,
some of whom still perhaps innocently looked to Mr.
Gladstone to abolish the tax altogether, even after the
late Ministry had left him a large deficit instead of a
surplus to deal with, will perhaps be inclined to resent
the extra penny in the pound just put upon them; and
this may be especially the case with that increasing
class who do not drink intoxicating beverages, and
will not obtain any set-off for their higher income-
tax.
11 R.B.