The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1881-04-12 00:00:00

)art Cottntti Erprtss.

TUESDAY, API:IL 12, ISSI.

THE BUDGET.

jr (;'o 1t me's eleventh ItO 'get may be said ti be
nati, remarkable one in more senses than one. It is
not so much whist is doue, lint what is loft for future
consideration. Moue people have termed it an unambi-
tious 8.1 re-ice back a ponay from the
isn„nmr To, is very agreeahle ; but the general public
ara not ranch int onstod in the gra !nal ettinction of
the tax on silver plate, and there Is nothing very excit-
ing in the clian4e of surtax up in foreigif sprit', while
altorotion in the duty on beer falls fiat
after the discussions id last year. Wrien we come to
the death duties, then we perceive a touch of the
masters hand. thou rh even in this instance our grati-
tude is" the sense of favours to some," Mr. Gladstons'a
finding it difficult to led with this subject In a cow.
prehenaive spirit just now. One of the features of the
caw, we must admit, is a little delicate; whatever
Jiangsu are made will disturb, it apprars that very
arrangement of charging duty act tilling to
degree of rolatimiltip. Nothing coul ibe more reason-
;Me than to impose a smaller tax on the legacies of
f.hildren than on c illateral relative,. There is a sweet
4mpficity in the I vinciple equal to that which dis-
tinguishes the "3 per Coats." But Mr. Gladatoue
intimatea that this must be disturbed when his pr.
posed scheme Likes effect, the compenaatiou being a
lightening of the burdens of the general legatee, and
the production of a larger sum for the Exchequer.
That part of the chango, which will permit Probates
to be granted, where the value of the Estates is not
more than i:300 by Revenue Officers. is a high!y com-
mendable idea, and one by which the 0 'meet'.
'tent will eventually profit. Many an estate is
kept out of the Probate Court at present, because
of the expense and the trouble involved. When it is
understood that for a small fee the process may be
undergone by merely supplying to an official in the
immediate neighbourhood, every estate, however
small, will be legally administered to. In dealing
with this matter Mr. Gladstone is in his element,
though it must have been a severe act of self-denial on
his part to have refrained from re-adjusting the
l'robate and Legacy Duties in a thorough competent
manner. Time, let us hope, will enable him to do so.
Costly wars in two or three different parts of the world
have dissipated the surplus he nut unreasonably counted
upon; but it is • source of gratification that, i a spite of
such heavy expenses, the Income Tax can ba lessened,
sod the country is saved from additional bur:ens. An
external policy, whether successful or otherwise, is
incompatible with reduced taxation. There must be
peace abroad if we are to realise to the full extent the
results of modern fiscal reforms. A single ye ir of
quietness will suffice to prove this, and we can express
no better wish for the nation than that peace may be
maintained till the time again arrives for Mr. Glad-
stone to arrange another Budget. He calls the present
one his last, bet we sincerely trust it may be but the first
another series.