The Express.
London, England, 1865-05-01 00:00:00

•••' • ---,PHUT IL DOTS, Ilaarger.
May 1, 1906. JOHN B. JOHNSTON, Secretary la Loadoo.

TORN BROODER'S EXCELLENT& BIJOU-
TIIIIIOOUILANTKMODILIZI MCCLAVE Le FABRIQUI.
J. B. haring been honoured with a diet-cime Medal at the Nits
Universal fthibition, accompanied by the above tiattming tee
timealak respeottolly invites the pith& to an inepection ot his
GOLD CHAINS and extensive aseorhuent of JEWELLERY, all
made on the renthear—JOHN BROODEN, Goldsmith. Yana-
-15zt017. No. le, Heartetta.Mseet, CeventEardea. W.C. Este
blithed A.D. 17W. Amoy made of (noise and Jois for la.
each. N.B. This astablidunent is closed ate in the evade& and
on Satindap at I *Week.

REM:EMBER I you will see your friends at
IVAN& after the Opera. We 'hall map there.

VLORAL HALL, over at 10. Sup at EVANS'
afterward& Do not forget

Else exprefifS.

TO 001.113BPONDJUlTIL
advertisements Weeded for The Express" London Imestog
zit
del of thas Otice, 10, Bon eritvetrest, W Two

HA YK&AZZT.

TEES Etsßntq MY 1413 MaiiIIIL.—THN WOMAN IN
MAUVE. Marra BotAmu, backstoes, and Comptoo • Medusas
Stull sad Lovell—LOßD DUNDREARY MABOXILD AND
DONE NM Mr. Sothewa.—And JUDY SWAYING. MD, Keeley.

Plll2lClllB't

HIART:IrthiNGIT AND YIDDLLMINEIB.
—ARUM NA POOUL Maws. D. Unclean% J. Bre
B. Vand•abolt D. Flame, D. Murray, Boylan, Mariam . Wrt.
gloncleaent and MW U. OUnr.—And AN AMPLL APOLOGY.

LYCZI7M.

Tan MIMIC A DAY AFTER THE WEDDING. Kowa
Horemen and DPlntyre; M. Hemmen and Mrs. G. lee.—THE
MOUNTEBANK. Mr. Feebler sad Mutes Beater. Mr. WWl-
comb :M1 Leclerc% MEE& !Marko—And THE LUST CHILD.

RLITANNTA.

TEM ICI 731,/fO. TEI VOLCANO OF ITALY; OR. TBZ
yuctrivirs PERIL Mrs. 8. Lean—The Templeton bllnetrele
—DEBO-LEAK. Mai Se Came. —And AMINICAN BLAVYRY.
...Commence at Yell-pd IL

lIIGH SWAMI AT LONDON-M.IDM

THIS 10;;IZ 6A.liiii.77::iltitra;;;. on. If on.
'l'Pmoalow Weals& 6h. 441e.....Altanacos. 711. Um.

LONDON, MONDAY, MAY 1.

FOR perhaps the fiat tine in his career as
Chancellor of the Exchequer Mr. GL&DSTONI has
on this occasion obtained the universal approval of
the commercial world. For several years the
Budget has been looked forward to with more or
less of misgiving, not from any doubt of the capacity
of the author, still leas from any fear that a real
regard to the public interest might be wanting.
But there is such a quality as commercial tact,
which, apparently of little consequence in the eyes
of the general public, is of no small importance in
business. Hence it has constantly happened that
Blr.GLuerrosa's Budgets have been framed upon an
apparently scientific and symmetrical plan, but with
all this have more or less irritated the trading com-
munity. Theory does not always accord with
practice. Many little taxes, right enough accord-
ing to abstract reasoning, but utterly unrealiaable
in the every-day work of life, have owed their in-
troduction to his auspices. Suffice it to say, they
have been tried and withdrawn. Mr. GIADSTONZ
may occasionally be ingenious to excess, but his
intellect is too strong to be incapable of simplicity.
The present Budget is a cue in point. Indulging
for a moment only, and by way of interlude, in
that passion for the infinitely little which has some-
times possessed our Minister of Finance, and
seduced him into petty finessing with stamps,
he has contented himself with taking a wide and
intelligible ground, resting his measures less upon
mathematical accuracy of detail than upon their
absolute value to the general interests of the na-
tion.

If a Budget is important to the people at large,
it is doubly so to that portion engaged in trade.
A change of duties may easily make or destroy the
fortunes of hundreds. This was common enough
in old times, when the announcement of an open-
ing or closing of the ports was of vital significance.
The progress of free trade has in a great degree
lessened this kind of crisis, but as long as the
necessities of the State require the levying of
customs duties, a contingency at least likely to be
permanent, no change can be introduced that
will not seriously affect one clams, to the advantage
of the other. The modern practice of leavirg
goods in bond sufficiently protects the wholesale
dealer, but is of little value to the ordinary trades-
man. As far as the latter is concerned, a reduc-
tion in the duty on tea or sugar simply diminishes
in an equal ratio the value of his stock in hand,
and consequently of his capital invested in it. It
is true that by the improved appliances
of modern trade these losses have been
now almost reduced to a minimum. But if
a shopkeeper is likely to suffer from these neces-
eerily abrupt changes he frequently contrives to
recoup himself at the expense of the con-
sumer. This was well exemplified in the case of
the malt duty. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHE-
QUER has shown that a reduction of the tax suffi-
cient to lower the price of beer by a farthing or
halfpenny a quart could only be effected by a de-
ficiency in the revenue of nearly two millions
and a half. No one practically conversant'
with business can doubt that the gain
in this case would be entirely absorbed
by the producers of beer, and that the con-
sumer would get absolutely nothing by it. The
same rule applies in all moderate remissions of
taxation. The leas the reduction osn be brought
to bear on the small but nearly universal transac-
tions of the people at large, the wholesale dealers
will gain as a class, while their customers will be
no better off than before.

It follows from these considerations that Mr.
Gtansposes proposal to lower the duty on tea by
6d. on the pound will be of general value. There
can be no mistake as to this reduction. If it had
been twopence, or even threepence, in nine case*
out of ten there would have been no difference in
the amounts paid across the counter. Sixpence
on the pound is, however, an even sum, and
every housekeeper will understand that whereas
the price of tea was previously 3s. 6d. or 45., it
must now be necessarily only 3s. or 3s. 6d.
The inference will come home not merely to the
large purchasers who deal in hundreds of chests,
but also to the greater class of the population who
buy by the quarter of a pound or the ounce. We
are not quite sure that it would not have been
as well to have taken off eightpence, even if it
had involved the necessity of leaving the income-
tax untouched for the present. The latter sum
would have made a difference of exactly a halfpenny
an ounce. Most people will be disposed to think
that it is too trivial for a Cniaremum of the
EXCHEQUER to enter upon such petty details ; but
trivial or not it should be remembered that these
apparently trifling points concern the household
economy of the majority of the nation.
In these days of disordered finance it is satis-
factory that one oonntry at least can show a fair
balance-sheet, with a considerable minion the right
le. Not one of the great Powers besides our-
Ayes but is spending far in excess of its income.
Indeed, if we want to find snotherspecimen of finan-