The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-08 00:00:00

THE BUDGET.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER rose at
20 minutes to 5 o'clock to make his annual financial state-
ment, the house having gone into committee of ways and
means. The right hon. gentleman, who was received with
cheers, said : Mr. Massey—With a view to gather fully the
purport of the figures which I am about to submit to the
house, it may be well that we should notice in the first in-
stance, though in very few words, the particular circum-
stances which have affected the condition of the country.
In the financial year 1862-3 we had but an indifferent har
vest. Ireland was suffering under lamentable depression, and
Lancashire had been afflicted beyond all example. In the
year 1863.1, on the contrary, England at least was blessed
with a harvest of unusual abundance ; the distress of Ire-
land was in some degree mitigated, at least as regards the
consuming powers of the country and the low price of
grain; and as respects Lancashire, the distress which was
there suffered had been very considerably reduced, although
it still continued in a condition far below that of its usual
prosperity and vigour. Upon the whole, therefore, sir, after
considering on the one hand the advantages, and, on the
other hand, the drawbacks of the year, we may perhaps
arrive at the conclusion that circumstances did not differ ma-
terially from those of an average financial year. Sir, with
that brief preface I proceed to lay before the committee the
statement which I have to make. And, first, as respects the
financial year which has just expired. The expenditure of
that year, as it was estimated on the 16th of April, 1863'
was £67,749,000. But there were augmentations,
chiefly in consequence of the New Zealand war, and
partly in consequence of payments for the Scheldt toll
which were made during the present session, which
raised the amount to £68,281,000. The actual expendi-
ture, however, under the authority of Parliament was only
£67,056,000, or less by nearly a million and a quarter than
the sums which the various departments have been autho-
rised to lay out. As respects the army, its estimate,
amounted to £15,469,000, but its actual expenditure was no
more than £14,638,000, and this although a war has been
unhappily raging in New Zealand, which cannot be consi-
dered to have added less, and may perhaps be esti-
mated to have added more, to the military expenditure of the
country than half a million of money. The votes of the
navy were £10,736,000, and the expenditure was very nearly
the same, viz., £10,821,000. The miscellaneous services
authorised by Parliament were £7,805,000, and the expen-
diture £7,702,000. And here, sir, it may, perhaps, be well
that I should stop for one moment to disabuse the mind of
some portion of the house of an impression which has gone
abroad as to the constant and rapid increase in the miscel
laneous estimates of the country. The miscellaneous ser-
vices for the year 1859-60 amount to £7,721,000; for the
year 1863-64, to £7,702,000 ; and the estimates for the pre-
sent year amount, as they now lie upon the table, to
£7,628,000. Upon the whole, therefore, this portion of the
public expenditure has now for some time been about sta-
tionary, for the tendency to decrease—the decrease shown
being £93,ooo—is too small to state as a fact of much signi-
ficance. There is, however, another item of civil expendi-
ture which was at one period viewed with peculiar and just
jealousy by the house. I mean that called the packet
estimate. In the year 1860-61 the house was called upon
to vote for that estimate £1,069,000. I need not say that
it is an estimate which it is difficult to operate upon, inas-
much as it takes place under contracts that subsist for
considerable terms of years. The estimate which we
propose to submit for the present year will not amoun'
to more than £883,000, showing a reduction of £186,000
within the last four years. (Hear, hear.) Now, sir, it is
desirable that the house should understand what is the state
of our expenditure as it has appeared in the last year, in
comparison with the expenditure of former and recent years.
I now give it as it appears in the exchequer accounts, only
placing to the debit of each year the sums of money which
are called "excesses," and which, in the exchequer account,
appear of a later year than that to which they properly refer.
Taking that view, our expenditure was, in the year 1862-3,
£69,302,000, and in 1863-4 it was £67,056,000, showing a
decrease of £2,246,000. In 1861-2 it was £70,838,000 ; and
the decrease, estimated in the same manner, would be
£8,782,000. In 1860-1, when the China charges were very
heavy, the expenditure was £72,504,000 ; and the expendi-
ture of the year just expired, when compared with that sum,
shows a decrease of £5,448,000. It I go back to 1859-60,
which may be called the first of the years of high expendi-
ture, we spent £70,017,000 ; and the expenditure of 1863-4,
as compared with 1859-60, shows a diminution of £2,961,000.
But, in order to come more accurately at the state of this
important portion of the case, it is necessary to take into
view two circumstances. On the one hand, we have in-
curred of late years certain charges for fortifications, and on
the other hand, both our expenditure and revenue have in-
cluded, during the past year, a considerable amount, not
less than £1,125,1/00, which does not appear at all in the ac-
counts of the previous years. When I rectify the balance by
the removal of those new charges appearing on both
sides, and by the addition of the charge for for-
tifications, the account will stand as follows :—ln
1859-60 the expenditure was £70,017,000. In 1863-4 it
was £66,731,000, fortifications included, showing a de-
crease, as compared with 1859-60, of £3,286,000. I need not
trouble the committee with the comparisons drawn on the
same basis for the intermediate years. That may be dis-
pensed with. I shall have enough of that commodity to
present when I am giving full particulars. There still re-
mains this element, in order to state that case with perfect
clearness, that it is also known that in the year 1860 we re-
ceived, through the providence of our forefathers, a benefit
of considerable relief from debt. The permanent annual
relief we have been enjoying since 18.60 is £2,146,000; but
in the year 1859-69, owing to a particular arrangement, the
charge on account of these terminable annuities, which
dropped altogether in 1860, was increased beyond that
amount. As I stated in the budget of 1859-60, the charge
in that year on account of terminable annuities, which have
Since ceased, was £2,546,000. Deducting that sum from
the expenditure in 1859 -60, for the purpose of comparison
with the and as showing how it stood in rela-
tiontot yhaetarr 6elliBef,3l:t4, stands at £67,471,000. The expendi-
ture of last year was £66,881,000. That I believe to be a
true comparison. In this point of view the expenditure of
last year shows some diminution as compared with that of
1859-60. There is an absolute diminution of £649,000, in-
dependently of the relief from the long annuities, which,
although not a very large sum, is worth taking into notice.
It is the more material, as this is the first year I am enabled

to state to the house that, after allowing for the relief from
the cessation of the long annuities, our actual expenditure,
including fortifications, is less than it was in 1859- 60.
(Hear, hear.) I now come to compare the expenditure of
the year which has expired with the revenue of that year,
and of course I must go back simply to the exchequer
account, in order to explain at this stage the precise
effect. The expenditure for the year 1863-64, as it appears
in the exchequer account, is £67,056,000 ; the revenue for
the same year, as represented in the same account, is
£70,208,000, showing a surplus of revenue over expenditure
of £3,152,000. But in order to estimate that surplus, it may
be necessary to consider the expenditure for fortifications,
for although the house made deliberately, and a matter of
policy, a separate arrangement fey dealing with that expen-
diture, yet in point of law it must appear in the balance-
sheet. The expenditure for fortifications for last year was
£BOO,OOO, and if I deduct that amount from the surplus of
the £3,152,000, there will still remain a clear surplus of
revenue over expenditure of £2,352,000. Perhaps the com-
mittee will desire to know in what way the estimates of the
revenue have corresponded with the anticipations which last
year the house was encouraged to form. Last year I esti-
mated the revenue at the period oi the Appropriation Act at
£6B,l7l,ooo—the actual receipts have been .P 70,208,000.
The surplus, therefore. of the actual receipt beyond the
anticipated retteipt is £2,037,000. More or less that surplus
07'0. The excise was esti-. actually amounted to
123
appears in every branch of the revenue. The customs were
estimated
232,
ooao, at
0Lf2a2n,737, O
excessooo.
fbzustoot
mated at £17,624,000, whereas it yielded £18,207,000. The
stamps were estimated at £9,000,000, but they yielded
£9,317,000. The income tax was estimated at X 8,600,000,
but it yielded £9,084,000; and there were other surpluses of
small accounts upon remaining items of revenue, with one
slight exception—under the head of China. The house
naturally looked with great interest, not only to the
aggregate, but to the detailed receipt of revenue from the
customs; for whatever may be the case with regard to
the excise, the customs .are the branch of revenue which
gives us the greatest number of criteria for judging of

the condition of the people. (Hear, hear.) The totalel3-
crease of customs for last year, as compared with the previ-
ous year, when the tea duty was is bd per pound, was esti-
mated at £1,297,000, whereas the actual decrease was
£802,000. Notwithstanding that, the important article of
sugar, including molasses, in consequence of the partial
scarcity, instead of increasing with the improved condition
of the country, shows a positive decrease of £253,000. And
again, in that branch of the revenue, the decrease of which
I always referred to with satisfaction—l mean the revenue
derived from the duty upon corn—it warn less in the year
just expired than in that which preceded, it by no less a sum
than £225,0003 thereby bearing testimony to the abundance
of domestic produce and the moderation of the price at
which the first necessary of life was being supplied to all
classes of the community. The article of wine shows an
increase of £104,000, which I conceive to be a very satisfac-
tory increase. The article of spirits shows an increase of
£285,000. Tobacco shows an increase of between £200,000
and £300,000. The article of tea, which had been estimated
to show at the end of the year a loss to the revenue of
£1,300,000, showed only an actual loss of £930,0130. With
regard to the large excess of revenue from excise over the
estimate, that has been owing to two causes. IN ith the
partial improvement in the condition of the coun-
try, the article of spirits—that distilled at home—shoves
an improvement of £250,000. And the important
branch of revenue which we derive from malt, in conse-
quence of the almost unparalleled excellence of the
bar ley harvest, shows the greatest receipt ever known, and
an increase over the previous year of £710,000. That
is an augmentation we cannot expect in future
years, and the committee must bear in mind that the
estimate of the revenue from the excise does not bear the
same relation now to the actual revenue which it did
before the malt credits were shortened. Before that time,
when it was the practice to give from six to eight months'
credit for the payment of the malt duty, the effect was that
when the Chancellor of the Exchequer made his financial
statement he knew what his estimate for malt would be for
the coming year. At present he only knows about one-half
of it, and on this account there was an element of uncer-
tainty introduced int) the estimates in this particular article,
for which some allowance must be made. The only other
article of revenue which I wish to refer to is the China in-
demnity. It was estimated at £450,000, but the actual re-
ceipt was £135,000. Sir, if I compare the revenue of the
year just passed with the revenue of former years, it is be-
cause I think that in the growth of the revenue of the coun-
try we have, upon the whole, a pretty sure test of the growth
of its strength and of its resources. (Hear, hear.) Com-
paring then the revenue for 1863.64 with that of the years
1862-63, the result is this—that, although taxes to the ex-
tent of between £3,000,000 and £4,00i,000 were remitted,
the decrease in the revenue would appear to be no greater
than £394,0G0. However, that is not precisely correct, for
it is necessary to allow for a considerable increase in the two
last heads of our receipts, but which ought not to be consi-
dered properly heads of revenue—l mean the miscellaneous
receipts and the Chinese indemnity. After deducting these
two heads, the revenue for the year 1862.63 was £67,850,000;
while the revenue for 1863-64, after making a similar deduc-
tion, stands at £67,173,000. The comparative decrease,

therefore, between the two years may be stated at 5677,000.
But when it is considered that the remission of taxation for

1863-04 was £3,7o3,ooo—(hear)—that the loss anticipated
from the remission was £3,343,000, and that the actual loss
was only £677,300—it will appear that the recovery in the re-
venue has been no less tkan £3,026,000. (Cheers.) But if we
look back further for the purpose of comparing the growth
of the revenue of the country, not mei ely within a twelve-
month—if we go back to the year 1860-61, since which
period we have imposed no new taxes—l do not, of course,
take into account charges altogether insignificant—we find
' hat the revenue for 1860-61 showed a gross total of
£70,283,000, but, deducting the miscellaneous receipts of
which I have spoken, a total of £68,830,000. Well, taking
the revenue for '63.64 at £67.176, that shows a decrease in
the revenue since 1860.61 of £1,657,000. But then within
that period we have taken 3d. from the income tax, which
withdraws from the revenue a sum of £3,525,000 ; we have
'alren off the paper duties, which may be set down at
£1,340,000; we have reduced the tea duties, which repre-
sents a loss to the revenue of £1,660,000 ; while the repeal
of the charges upon shipping cost £143,010. Altogether,
therefore, there has been a diminution of taxation to the
extent of £6,638,000 since the year 1860-61, while there has
been a decrease in the revenue to the extent only of
£1,657,000. (Cheers.) The result is, that during these
three years the increase in the revenue has been £5,011,000,
or at the rate of .£1,670,000 a year. (Cheers.) But if we
go back further still, and compare these results with the
average revenue of the five years commencing with 1858-
59, we find that the annual increase in the revenue during
those five years has not been so great. As far as I can cal-
culate, the revenue has grown during these five years, upon
the average, £1,233,700 each year. If we go back to 185;
it would appear that the revenue has grown, upon the
average, to the full extent of £1,000,000 per annum, and
even in the worst years, viz., 1860-61, and 1861-62, the
growth has been £900,000. In a better year, such as that
which has new e apsed, it has been nearly £2,000,000.
Upon the whole, it may be safely calculated that the in -
crease in the revenue from its own inherent vigour is at :a
rate exceeding £1,000,000 per annum. (Hear, hear) I will
uow state the condition of our cash account, and the opera-
tions touching the National Debt. The balance in the ex-
chequer on the 31st of March, 1863, was £3,763,000, and on
the 31st of March, 1861, they were £7,352,000, which is an
ample, though not an excessive amount. With respect to
the liquidation of the debt during the year, it has been con-
siderable, £1,000,000 of exchequer bonds have been paid off,
and £1,994,000 of exchequer bills. Besides that, stock and
exchequer bills to the extent of £366,000 have been-liqui-
dated from surplus revenue, making a total of £3,360,000 of
the capital of th(, debt liquidated within the year. But in-
dependently of that, the committee should take into view •
that a large cum is actually paid, in the shape of terminable
annuities, towards the liquidation of the debt, representing
not interest, but capital, to the extent of £1,400,00 per an-
num. There are other payments of a minor description to
the extent of £205,000, which brings up the net amount of
debt liquidated to £4,146,000. (Hear, hear.) As the re-
salt of the measure passed last year for the conversion of
perpetual into terminable annuities, I have to acquaint the
committee that we have during the last year converted per-
petual annuities to the extent of £433,000. As regards the
huge total of our debt, it has been always a matter of inte-
rest to know what is the state of the capital charge as com-
pared with former periods. I confess I have never been able
toacquiesce
the nationali n
taking into account our great
view
tal wast a matter of trifling moment.
It appears to me to be a very formidable and inflexible
wealth, the
e that,
fact, and likely to become much more pave and serious
should our prosperity turn out to be less permanent than
most of us are disposed to anticipate. But the actual
capital of the national debt at the present moment stands
thus. Stock—that is, perpetual annuities—L74o 993 000' '
Bank debts, £37,645,000—and by Bank debts I mean 'capi-
tal sums, not the contract value assigned to stock by Act of
Parliament, but capital sums repayable in money—ex-
chequer bonds, £2,600,000; exchequer bills, £10,526,000.
Making a total amount of debt of £791,574,000. 1n'53254
which was the lowest point the debt reached since the close
of the revolutionary war—it stood at £769,082,000. The
Russian war produced, of course, important changes in
these figures, and the debt now stands at £22,492,000
higher than it stood in '53-'54. Tie '56, immediately after
the close of the Russian war, it was £808.108,000, and it
now stands, as I have stated, at .c 791,574,000. In l ,
the maximum point of debt, it was £861,039,000, whicha
charge of the debt was £32,646,000. In 1863-4 itawal
shows a decrease of £69,465,000. In 1815, thle annual
£26,211,000, showing a decrease in the annuaeof
of £6,435,000 ; therefore we stand with a reduction.t
£69,465,000 against capital, of £6,400,000 kgainse, a charee,
and the results of the efforts and of the experienethe
greatthroughout
nation, of its Ministers, and its
with Parliament,a
capital of
half-a-century, are that we stand
and
with an annual
£791,000,000 facing as for the future,
present between
charge which must remain for the
' £26,`,;00,000 and .f.a6,500000. (Hear, hear.) The general
state of the trade of the country, upon which our future
prosperity must mainly depend, is certainly of vigour and
strength, This is surprising when we consider it is still
subject to a serious drawback. The figures are so enor-
mous that they are almost staggering. I will give them
in the largest and simplest form for the years_'6l '62, Qa