The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-04-09 00:00:00

The House having resolved itself into Committee of Ways
and Means,
- -

Mr. Gladstone rose, amid loud cheers, to make the annual
financial statement. The right hon. gentleman said: Mr.
Blayfair, in addressing you at a period when the revenue
15 just beginning to recover from serious depression, an d
IFleen important fiscal changes have recently been introduced,
I have, I am afraid, a good deal to say, and I will,
therefore, not waste any of the time of the Committee
by prefatory remarks, but I will at once proceed to the
substantial facts of the case. The gross revenue of the year
Plat expired was £84,041,288, while the estimated revenue
tor that year was £82,696,000. At first sight these-figures
appear to show a very considerable increase in the actual
over the estimated revenue, but it is necessary to analyse
the estimate, and that I am afraid will give a somewhat less
favourable result than the figures at first appear to afford.
The Customs were estimated to produce £19,300,000, they
actually produced £19,184,000. The Excise was estimated
to produce £25,151,000, it actually produced 4,25,300,000.
The Stamps were estimated to produce £11,800,000, they
actually produced £11,940,000. The Land Tax and House
Duty were estimated to produce £2,760,000, they actually
Produced £2,740,900. 1 he Property and Income Tax was
estimated to produce £10,425,000, it actually produced
£10,660,000. lhe whole revenue from taxes, which I have
now stated, as estimated by the late Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, and as estimated by myself in June last, amounted
to £69,436,000, whereas it actually amounted to £69,814,080.
The revenue which is not derived from taxes stands as fol.
lows :—The post Office, always faithful to its principle of
r_4pl4 growth, estimated to produce £6,400,000, actually
liffli4llce4_ 0,700,000. (Cheers.) 'rhe Telegraph Service,
tet • e ted to produce £1,420,000, actually produced
1, ; '1,090. The Crown Lands, estimated to produce
. 900, actually produced that sum. The Interest on
cllitnpece estimated to produce £1,250,000 actually pro-
'aced £1,247,f12. The Miscellaneous receipts, estimated to
Produce £,3g0,000, s.etoally produced as= largely in excess
IA the estimate—paneely, 4:4,289,576. The total of these
flares show that whereat the tete; estimated revenue from
i 4 sources was £82,696,060, the to:4l.reyenue actually
Fece i
iyed was £84,041,288, showing au neeeeee of actual
feeecelPte ever estimated revenue of £1,315,288. (Cheer.)
Of that aura, however, nearly one million is due to those
efteeade of revenge which do not represent the taxation of
Idle country, the tqtal iacrease from taxation being only
£378,000. The Committee will, doubtless, be desirous of
knowing what has been the produce of theca particular
heads of charges which were made the subject of special
reference last year. The Probate Duty, which was estimated
to Produce £700,000, actually produced £610,000. That
estimate of £700,000 was by no means an excess—it was
rather an under estimate, and the reason of the compara-
tive yield not being greater is that there was a considerble swelling after the estimate was formed of the Probate
Duty of 1879-80 during the remainder of the year. The
Beer Duty, estimated to produce £8,690,000, a.ctoally
nroduced £3,485,000 showing a deficiency of £2.05,090.
On the other hand, the drawback on malt, which was
.!mated at £950,000, has cost us no less than 41,312.000.
I.4L.se eeninarisons, I think, show upon the whole that the
rimate ortha roit,pue was just and reasonable. But the
ooze will derive mow ireformetion from comparing the
tneeunt derived from taxes ;with the eeyenne pi preceding
years. And the case there is as follows—l will not give
ye 4 the fipitoi :—The different branches of revenue from
taxes produced in 1879 80 £67,826,000, and in 1880-81
09,814,000. That is e grows inerease of £1,988,000, or nearly
£2,000,00(). But of that sum ef nearly £2,000,000, £640,000
is due to an increase of probate duty, and £797,000 is due
to fiscal changes which were senCtumed by the lleuse at
the latter period of the year. The pew taxes, there-
fore, account for £1,019,000 out of the Whclie ; and so' the
increment in the revenue of last you compared with that
Of the three preceding years is £969,000. Now, that incre-
ment cannot be wholly estimated without reference to the
from which it came, and upon that 1., have only to
gay that wita* :elestantial accuracy it may be t . down to
-rade, put the year 1879-80, with which
the credit of the 4 yepry In which the Excise had
'we ke a comparison, wail
fallen short of its estimate by iee 1et5144VZ,040,000 and
upwards. The House will perceive, fretie
.01atemept o.e
figures that I have made, that the impression Current in
some quarters with regard to the degrpe to which the revenue
had recovered was more sanguine than the result justifies.
There is, upon the whole, the beginning of a recovery,
but I do not think it would be Judicious to term it more
than a beginning. Mr. Gladstone then proceeded to give
the House various particulars illustrating the work-
ing of the conversion of a Malt Duty to a Beer
tax, and especially showing how trade had been libe-
rated by the employment of new material in brewing. He
mentioned also various small changes it is intended to make
Chiefly for the benefit of private brewers, including ha in-
erease on the duty on spruce and a reduction of the duty on
foreign beer to 6s. 66. Passing to the expenditure of the
Past year, he pointed out that, while the estimate was
483,1440,000, the actual receipts were £83,108,000 showing a
reduction of £732,000 compared with the estimate, of
£997,000 compared with the previous year, and, when
compared with the revenue, showing a surplus of
_4488,000. Next he touched on the operations or the
',debt during the year, showing that it had been
reduced by £5,325,000, and that the balances in
the Exchequer had increased in the same time by 0,65000.
But during the year about a million of local loans had been
repaid, so that, on the whole, the total reduction of debt
had amounted to about £7,000,000. Before passing from the
question of debt, Mr. Gladstone reminded the House that
In 11885 the short annuities would fall in and was met
with a very general cheer when he aided that he
should regard It as an illegitimate use of those funds to
apply them in reduction of taxation. He proposed, there-
fore, in a manner which he explained at I.ength, to con-
vert the short annuities into long annuities, terminating
In 1906, by which a reduction of debt would be effected to
the amount of 00,000,000, of which £20,000,000 would be
taken from the Savings Bank and £40,000,000 from the
Chancery stock.—Mr. Gladstone then went into a long
digression on what he descrileed as the movement of public
wealth compared with population and expenditure,
the course of which he said—"there are three elereenta lu
preleolation—population, revenue, and expenditure.
ginning with 1842, there are four different periods, and I
compare the first year of each period with the last.
T-Pe revenue referred to is that derived from customs,
Pex,cian, stamps, and taps. I wi3 say a word about
"sa ilICAMfetaX afterwards. The whole, you will see,
forms, I think, re fair measure of progress and the cp-arse
of progress. The expenditure, of pourse, is optional supply
--expenditure excluding that on the debt. The first period
la from 1842 to 1858, the first year of normal expenditeire
after the Crimean war. During that period the population
Increased only one-third per cent. per annum in consequence
of the famine in Ireland. The revenue increased at the
rate of a per cent, per annum, but the expenditure in-
creased 2i per cent. per annum—somewhat faster than the
revenue. The next period is from ll.'Se to 1873. The popu-
'lA gen increased 1 per cent. per annum ; the revenue in-
creased 4 Per cent. per annum ; and. the expenditeee in-
Greased li per vent. per annum. The next period is froui
1'374 to 1877, and repreeenta what may be celled the setting
sloe of ow prosperity, the last year of rather fading
lerilliancy as regards economical results. From 1874 to
OM the population still increasing at 1 per cent. per
411i1im, eoe 'venue increased li per cent, per annum, and
the expenillaue inpreased 3t per cent, per annum. Taking
the two lasl years. 1814 and 1879—that is, down to 1880—
theo Population still increasing et one per cent. per annum,
le revenue went back at the rato ot one:helf per cent., and
e"B Menditure increased a great deal faster than
itr reVpnue in the first of these periods. Be:ing
~.,_,, last two rprri:3 our revenue has actually gone
eWP
74'5, while our oa4itere has increased 2 1-6 per
Ill,%• and I am sorry 'ie 4aif that for IsBl-2 I
rail' be obliged to ask for a lurtn eegm
ee entation.
eek?re is another result which will be more simple seri ie-
tigiblo than that which I have just given. The readiest
V:,„silliniest of all methods of illustrating the growth of
^vaesh in this aotmtry is to be found in a reference to the
Proceeds of a penny iii the In-rime-tax. But it must be ob.
sttreel that a penny in the inceine,tar does not mean the
lia'ne thing in different years. In 1854 the arPa ef the in-
come-tax was extended ; in subsequent years it hes been
IrPry considerably diminiehed ; and it is necessary to make
424,ereful allowance for all those successive changes and
,•) lege, putting one against another, or else the compari-
) e
an of a perk inm
ily in the coe-tax one year with another
tali. I think; only to mislead. I will not go into the de-
4iiol o pe those chaee •, Way would be wearisome and, I
peenli nntlecessary.° Nut geeat care has been taken in pre-
the -- Tau remarkable state ent.l am now about to
-- 4 4ncl I can confidently say that it MaY on the whole
im safe.. relied on- A Pen" in the income-tax in 1841-2,
evillen it was frit laid en, preiinced £772,000. No change
took Place in the awe or gireuit within whioh the tax was
ried in the ant ten eare Of its existence. In 1852-3
a 4772,°00 had only grown to £BlO,OOO, a moderate
powth, but many of the great changes that have since
'lit...brought into operation Were subsequent to that
14..0a. Between 1852 and 4377.4
tea_ e-tax, after justly taking in aepornto t4e
)enny in the li-
t ell ehanges n
„.„
oeue, Way of allowances or remissions so al JO /null, tee
ees—Parnoti approximately peepiee, had grownne ifoPI
10,n
ewe to 41,990,000. That include:: Ireland, all additions,
tield all remissions. You will please to take tote aocount
tleat this tax for 1877-8, and for 1881-2, goes upon the eoppo-
altion that the basis of the tax remains and all changes
187 taken together. Well, having grown to £1,990,000 in
8,1-8, in 1881-2 the penny in the hecome-tex, which most
eel? tly represents not the general condition a e.he people,
eAltc of the wealthier classes of the country, has gode 444
for
_the first time since it was imposed. No such period can
2p f9und, as far as I am aware, clues, 1812. The penny in
Flo_ income-tax being, as I have said, £1,990,000 in 1877-8,
la £1,943,000 as it is now estimated on the basis ef last year
to c r 1881-8. (Hear.) I have tried to debit the penny and to
unf redit the penny with every change made since 1842, and
ortunately I have had to debit the penny with a larger
nun than I can credit it with, and therefore the penny for
la!) purposes of comparison shows a larger yield than the
actUal Penny of the income-tax." Passing then to the

finances of the present year, Mr. Gladstone thus stated the
estimated expenditure for 1881-2
Consolidated Fund Charges .. £81,270,000
Army .. 16,500,000
Home Charges for India .. .. 1,100,000
Navy .. .. 10,845,000
Grant in Aid to India .. • . .. 500,000
Civil Services .. • • .. .. 16,087,604
Customs and Inland Revenue .. .. 2,851,208
Post Office .. • • .. 8,539,525
Telegraph Service 1,294,081
Packet Service .. • • .. 707,767
Total Expenditure (in round numbers) .. £84,705,000
This shows an increase over the actual expenditure of the
preceding year of RO less than £1,597,000, and in explaining
this increase he dwelt on such items as the Census, the
Ordnance Survey, and the necessary augmentation of the
Irish Constabulary, and showed that the exceptional charge
for India and the Transvaal amounted to £1,800,000, and
during the past year to £3,331,000. Proceeding to the other
side of the account, he then stated the Revenue for the
year :
Customs £10,000,000
Excise .. .. 27,440,000
Stamps .. 11,900,000
Land-tax, 2,760,000
Income•tax .. 11,000,000
Post Office .. . .. 6,800,000
Telegraphs .. 1,600,000
Crown Lands .. . 390,000
Interest on advances .. .. 1,200,000
Miscellaneous Revenue .. .. 3,900,000

Total Revenue .. £85,990,000
This shows a surplus of revenue over expenditure of
£1,285;000, which, is 'however, reduced by a charge to
extinguish the loan for barracks to £1,185,000. Coming at
once to the question how this surplus is to be disposed of, he
said he regarded the sixth penny on the income-tax granted
last year merely as a loan for a special purpose, and not an
addition to permanent taxation, and he proposed, therefore,
to remit it. This would at a stroke convert the surplus
into an actual deficit of £275,000. Before stating the
mode in which this is to be made up, he canvassed
various suggestions which have been made, concluding with
regard to the tobacco duty that it is too early to form any
judgment as to the success or failure of the change made by
his predecessor, and stating his intention to propose a
gradual redaction of the duty on silver plate at the rate of
3d. per oz. annually. The first proposal he had to make for
increased revenue was an adjustment of the sur-tax on foreign
spirits and rum. The process of distillation as practised
with wines would be applied to them, and a uniform sur-tax
of 4d. per gallon would be charged on the standard of
strength. The net effect of this would be a gain of £lBO,OOO.
The next subject he mentioned was the "Death Duties," and
at this there was a general cheer from the Ministerial
benches, but he went on to say that he was not about to
attempt any complete plan for dealing with them though he
hoped that the present Parliament would not expire without
some such attempt being made to deal with them. Touch-
ing on the anomalies of the present system, he spoke
strongly of the total exemption of property in mortmain,
warmly condemned the differential rates imposed on personal
property settled and unsettled, and said,with regard to the
duties on real property, that they were so bOund up with the
lawsregulating its devolution and inheritance that it was
impossible to deal with them practically without going into
the whole question. Canvassing the scale of consanguinity,
he said he was not prepared at once to accept a uniform
duty—one effect of which would be to increase the duty of
lineals from 1 to 2i- per cent., but he was prepared to make
some changes which would be in the nature of an instalment
and would clear the way by testing the disposition of the
public. By the first of these, where all parties con-
cerned—the residuary legatees, the executors, and the ,
Inland Revenue—are agreed, the whole payment to the
State may be made at once in the shape of an augmented 5
per cent, probate duty. Next he proposed to abolish the 1
per cent. legacy duty and to substitute a q per cent. pro-
bate duty, and this, he said, while it would be paid by
the same parties, would get rid of the present complication.
Among other chanzes, the duty will be chargeable on sums
between £lOO and £l,OOO at intervals of £5O, and over £l,OOO
at intervals of £100; the exemption from duty of legacies
under £2O is abolished, and where the parties can make
an affidavit that the estate does not exceed £3OO in
value, they may go before the nearest Revenue
Officer, and discharge all claims for probate and legacy duty
by the payment of £2 ss. The net financial gam of these
changes is £487,000, but as the change will only come into
operation on June 1 the gain this year is only £390,009.
Adding this to the £lBO,OOO from the spirit duties, there is
a total gain of £570,000, which converts the deficit of £275.000
into a surplus of £295,000.—Mr. Gladstone thus concluded
his speech—" I have to thank the House for the atten-
tion which has been given me. (Hear, hear.) This is the
eleventh time—and probably it will be the last time—
that it has been my duty to •place before the House the
annual financial arrangements. (Cheers.) I do not wish to
colour too highly the public prospects. I fully admit that
I have had no
.brilliant picture to present to the House. I
have no dazzling, no bewitching proposals to submit. I
have spoken on former
ioccasions, sometimes in worse cir-
cumstances, sometimes n better . at any rate, on the present
occasion I have done an act of restitution and gratefully
given back to the House that penny of income-tax which
they kindly and generously gave for a temporary purpose
and thereby, at least, I am not open to the charge of break'
ing faith. As respects the rest of the arrangements by
which we propose to create the necessary surplus, I think it
Is something to be able to say that we can meet the demands
of the enormous expenditure of this country without adding
in any degree, whether great or small, to any of the burdens
of the people." (Cheers.)

In the desultory discussion which followed, a general
approval of the scheme was expressed by SiiS. Northcote,
Mr. Hubbard, and Sir G. Goldney. Mr. Dodds regretted
that the revision of the Probate Duties had not been
carried further. Mr. Watney, Mr. Whitbread, and Mr.
Storer made some observations on the Beer Tax. Mr Anderson,
Mr. I,,,laclver, Mr. Ashmead-Bartlett, Mr. Bidden, and Mr.
Atiittcin spoke, 4na Mr. H. Fowler, Mr. Lea, Mr. Illingworth,
and Mr. Wiggin complained of the excessive expenditure,
and Mr. Gorst twitted the Ministerialists with a violation of
their economic pledges. Mr. Pease replied that the
large military expenditure was due to the late Govern-
ment, and especially to their foreign policy and
their treatment of the Boers; but this was warmly
denied by Sir W. liarttelot and Mr. Warton, who
charged Mr. Gladstone with the responsibility for the Trans-
vaal War and the "peace with dishonour" by which it had
been closed. The Budget resolutionCwere then agreed to.
The remainder of the evening was devoted to a considera-
tion of the Army piscipline Bill on the Report, the Rouse
adjourning at twenty minutes to three o'clock.

In the HOtTsEo Lonps, April 5, I-ord Kenmare, replying
to an inquiry by the Puke of St. Albans, said that the
theatres had better means of exit than other public build-
ings hi the metropolis. In that respect they had been im-
proving, and the improvements were being continued. He
would lay on the table a. return relating to this subject,
The Mutiny Bill was read a tlrst thaw and the remaining
stages fixed for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

The Sea Fisheries (Clam and Bait Beds) Bill was read a
second time.

Lord Abinger drew attention to the scheme of Army
Grganisation submitted to Parliament by the Secretary for
War, arid a long discussion followed, among the speakers
being Lprd Chelmsford, the Marquis of Lansdowne, Lord
Eibblesdale, the Duke of Cambridge, Viscount Hardinge,
the Earl of Galloway, Viscount Bury, the Earl of Merley,
and Lord Strathnairn.

Their lordships adjourned at a quarter-past twelve o'clock.

In the HOUSE OF COMMONS, Mr. Firth moved the rejection
of the London City Lands (Thames Embankment) Rill,
whieh stood for second reading, lint after some dig-
cnoion thp amendment was withdrawn, on the gnder-
litaudipg that the measure be referred to a select
oommittee, which chould be instructed to consider
and report upon the condition of the buildings
machinery, and appliances of the Royal Mint, and whether
such alterations and improvements as may be required in
them can be made upon the present site of the Royal Mint,
or whether it is desirable that new buildings should be
erected npon the site proposed to be sold by the Corporation
tinder he provisions of the bill.
Mr. Macfarlane asked the First Lord of the Treasury
whether, before dna* intrusling the government of the
Trs,mvaal and the future welfare and liberty of its large
native population to Pia poem he would instruct the Com-
missioners appointed to settle the conditions of peace to
ascertain by plebiscite the wishes of the majority of its
people; and if the surrender of the Transvaal, without some
such precaution, to a lighting mine*, would be a fuldlrnent
of the " honourable engageraents entered into with the
natives" to which he referred' on the 25th of May last as a
reason for maintaining the annep.tion, the original policy of
which ip condemned.
Mr. Oladstone, in reply, said ; It has never been the
practice, as far as I knot, to resort to the piebis,rne in a
ease like the present: In the case of the Cession of the
lonian Island,: the principle might have been resorted to
with far more proprietY, but it was not resorted to even In
that ease. With regard to the wand part of the ben.
inember,s question, ram certainly of opinion that the terms
which we have made are those by which we can most satis-
factorily discharge our engagements to the native popula-
tion of the Transvaal. (Rear, hear.)
sir S. Northcote ; I wish to put a question to the Prime
14inister, of which have given him private notice, with
respect to a statement in his Budget dpeeeh tif hat night,
which%pears not to have been i:loperly'underitood.: I 'rUer
to the statement with regard to the proposal as to the legacy
and the probate duties. Will the right hon. gentleman
kindly state how he arrives at the net result that £390,000
will be gained on the probate duty; also what the probate
duty would have prodnced if it had been left alone, and what
It will produce at altered. I would 41so put 0107Sialne .
ques-
tion as to the legacy duty.

Mr. Gladstone, said in reply,—l am much obliged„to my
right hon, friend for putting the question, inasmuch as it is
evident that I have not been quite correctly understood.
1 he probate duty, according to the estimate, if it had been
lef t along, would have yielded £3,100,000 for the year, as it is,
It will produce, not for the year, but fqr 10 months, £3, 513,000
Thei,efore there Is a gain of £613,04. Ihe Ipgaci duty, If
left alone, would have produced for the year, £3,660,000.
With the alteration in operation for ten months the legacy
duty will produce £3,525,000 for the year. The result Is
that we gain on the probate duty £513,000; and we lose on
the legacy duty £125,000; leaving a net gain of £388,000, or,
in round numbers, of £390,000. It will be understood that
the date at which we expect to bring the new system into
ppeTation is the Ist of June.
In apawpr tp qqueation fm Mr. O'Connor, Mr, W.
Forster declined to pledge tin) Giciveinment either tn hring
in another Disturbance Bill or to refuse the aid of the mili-
tary and police in evictions; upon which
Mr. T. P. O'Connor moved the adjournment of the House
In order to express his dissatisfaction with this answer. In
the course of his speech be -contrasted Mr. Forst,er's lan-
guage about evictions last Session with his action this year,
and asserted that the Coercion Act was being used for the
Clearance of estrtes and the exaction of unfair rents. Ile
spolf.e also of Nr. Gladstone's ungracious manner to the
Itish members, and asised for spine assnrance that the Land
/3 ill would give a retrospeptive protection tq the tenants
now threatened with eviction.
- •- • - -

•
Mr.T'orster, in defending himself, denied that he had ever
Varlet:l in his spode of regarding the question of eviction.
Within the las month, lip sald. the niimber had increased
to 215, and the government were watching them with the
greatest possible attention; but it would hp cOntrery to all
precedent to make any statement anticipatory of the and
Bill.
M'Carthy, in jnatifying Mr. O'Connor's aption, accused
the Gov'eriunant, iUáng othe-e things, cf having fomented
the agitation against the landlords last year, only to turn
against it when it had served their purpose, to which
Mr. Gladstone replied with some warmth that if such were
the opinions of the Irish members they ought to bring them
forward in a tangible form, and not merely on a motion for
adjournment. Alluding to Mr. O'Connor's charge against
himself, he said he had all through the controversy exercised
much self-repression and should continue to do so, and
while declining to go into Up T.4nd Bill, hp said he had
never throughout Ills life Impwn a case in whieli the Govern-
ment had bestowed greater labour, care, and anxiety in the
consideration of the proposals which they meant to lay be-
fore the House.

Mr. Parnell maintained that, notwithstanding the excited
manner of the speech of the Prime Minister, the Irish mem-
bers, on the eve of the Easter recess, were perfectly justified
In drawing the attention of the Government to the necessity
of giving a retrospective action to their Land Bill; and Mr.
Healy was making some observations, when the House was
punted °up at half-past seven o'clock.

The land Pf spme of the prisoners in Kilmainham
Goal is being tilled by the country peoplp, who gather in
large numbers for the purptsP.-'

Five branches of the National Lar;(l League of
Great tiritiiq were epened on Sunday in varioue districts of
the metropolis.

Mr. Gladatone's Budget provides for reducing the
debt by £60,000,000 on the next 25 years. The United States
have diminished theirs by 900,000,000 dollars, say 200 mil-
lions dating since 1866. A properly applied sinking fund of
only per cent., would redeem £122,000,000 in a quarter of
a century, and the annual charge for the debt might be
lowered to £27,000,000.—The Cuckoo.