The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-03-31 00:00:00

THE BUDGET.

The Right Hon. G. J. Goschen, in making his
annual financial statement in Committee of Supply
in the House of Commons, asked the indulgence of
the House, because he stood in somewhat exceptional
circumstances owing to the introduction of the Local
Government Bill, which necessitated his dealing with
the ratepayer as well as the taxpayer. In giving the
statement of expenditure for the current year, he
stood at a disadvantage, on account of
the year being still unexpired by a week,
but he believed his estimates were as nearly as
possible the real expenditure.
The total Exchequer issues for the Consolidated
Fund for the year would be £27,572,000—an excess
of about £44,000 over the estimate due to the issue
for the Localisation Fund now practically brought to
an end. Going through the estimates of Supply, the
army expenditure was £18,167,000, as compared
with a total estimated expenditure of £18,394,000,
showing a saving of £227,000. The navy
expenditure was £12,236,000, and showed a
saving of £151,000. The Civil Service Mis-
cellaneous Estimates were £18,210,000, and showed
a saving of £52,000, as compared with the Budget
Estimates. The Post Office expenditure was
£5,403,000—a saving of £lB,OOO. The Telegraph
Service £1 140,000—a saving of £lO,OOO. The Packet
Service issues would be £698,000, a saving of £1000;
Customs and Inland Revenue, £2,708,000, showing
a surplus of £BOOO. The total Supply Services
amounted to £59,452,000, showing a saving of
£467,000, as compared with the Budget Estimate, and
£656,000 as compared with the total estimated ex-
penditure. The total expenditure was £87,424,000,
showing a saving, as compared with the Budget Esti-
mate, of £423,000, and £612,000 as compared with
the original Estimates. Those figures, he hoped, would
not be unsatisfactory to the Committee. There had
been a saving of £lOO,OOO on the interest of the Un-
funded Debt, which had gone to diminish the Funded
Debt, and which arose partly from the low rate
of interest on Treasury and Exchequer Bills,
the average of which had been £2 ss. lid.; but there
had also been a saving of £15,000 which he had
secured by watching more closely the balance at the
Bank of England. That money, of course, went to
the credit of the Sinking Fund. (Hear, hear.) One
fact to which he might now point out was that there
had been no Supplementary Estimates this year for
the army or navy. In no year since 1870 had there
not been either Supplementary Estimates, or
Votes of Credit, for the army or navy, and
generally for both. He pointed to the fact
that for the first time in twenty years the expen-
diture on the Army and Navy had been kept below
the Revenue. There had been no Supplementary
Estimates for the Revenue Department for the first
time in 20 years, and the Supplementary Estimates
for the Civil Service had been lower than in any year
for 20 years except last year. This year they were
£208,000, as against £105,000 last year. They had
spent £407,000 less than the original estimate,
£612,000 less than the original and Supplementary
Estimates taken together. Coming to the consideration of
the Revenue, he had a fairly satisfactory statement to
submit to the committee. The revenue from Customs was
£19,630,000, or £30,000 more than the Estimate, but
considerably less than the excess from the Excise,
which amounted to £25,597,000, an excess of
£305,000. Stamps amounted to £12,940,000, showing
an increase £1,182,000. The Land Tax amounted to
£1,050,000, showing a deficiency of £15,000. The
House Duty amounted to £890,000, a deficiency of
£30,000. The Income Tax amounted to £14,340,000,
almost exactly the sum estimated. The total produce of
taxes was £75,447,000, an excess over the estimate of
£1,472,000. (Cheers.) The receipts from the Post
Office were £6,850,000, an increase of £50,000. From
the Telegraph Services, £1,950,000, the exact amount
of the estimate. The revenue from Crown lands was
£390,000, an excess of £20,000; and interest on ad-
vances to local works, £242,000, an excess of £2OOO.
The Miscellaneous Revenue was £2,910,000, a de-
crease of £90,000. The total of non-taxed
revenue was £14,142,000, or £lB,OOO less than
the estimate, making, with the Income-tax
Revenue, a total of £89,589,000,. or £1,454,000 more
than the estimated revenue. Now (continued the
Chancellor of the Exchequer) I will say a very few
words with regard to the smaller differences on the
Customs' Revenues. Coffee and its two satellites,
chicory and cocoa—(laughter)—show no remarkable
eccentricities. They seldom increase the Revenue
beyond the estimate; they are a dull item. Tea is
fairly, though not remarkably progressive. In
1836-7 the receipts from tea were £4,515,000,
in 1887-8 they were £4,618,000 —an increase
of £103,000. With regard to tobacco, in conse-
quence of the reduction of duty that took place last
year it was estimated that there would be a loss of
£515,000, but the loss was actually £596,000, an
excess over the estimated loss of over £BO,OOO. This
was not so much due to the dislocation of the Customs
as to the considerable delay that took place in the
voting of the Budget last year, and the action of the
" watering " clauses, which prevented an excess of
water being put into the tobacco; these clauses
did not come into operation until a late period.
When, however, they did come into opera-
tion they considerably increased our receipts on the
consumption of tobacco. This means that each indi-
vidual smoker smoked more tobacco and less water
than before. (Hear, hear.) Since the Ist August
there has been this gratifying increase in the
amount of tobacco consumed; 26,900,000 lb.
weight were cleared, as against 25,900,0001 b. in the
corresponding period of the previous year, which
gives an increase of 1,000,000 lb. of tobacco.
Coming to the revenue from wines and spirits, he
stated that the income from that source in 1876-7
was £30,909,000, and in 1887-8 only £27,043,000—a
fall of £3,886,000. On the whole, there was an in-
crease of £300,000 on the revenue from drink. Of
the income tax he could not speak with satisfaction,
the yield per penny having fallen from £2,000,000 in
1884-85 to £1,955,000 in 1887-88. To sum up the
result of the present year the actual revenue had
been £89,589,000. The estimate was £88,135,000,
there thus being an excess over the esti-
mates of £1454,000. He added a saving on ex-
penditure of £422,000, and a surplus over which he
estimated, namely, £289,000, and he was happy to
be able to place before the committee fw the year
1837-8 a realised