The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-16 00:00:00

THE BUDGET.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER rose at 20
minutes to 5 to move that the Speaker leave the chair, in
order, in the Committee of Ways and Neans, to bring
forward the financial statement of the Government. At
this time the house was completely filled. The hon. gen-
tleman was loudly cheer el,

The motion was agreed to, and the Speaker accordingly
left the chair.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER proceeded
to say (addressing Mr. Massey) that the expenditure imme-
diately after the Russian war was £64,664,000, and that in
1859-60 it rose to £69,502,000, exhibiting an augmentation
of £1,838,000, In 1860-61 the expenditure was £72,8,12,000
—an augmentation in two years of L 8,178,000, or an average
outlay in these four years of £71,195,000. or without the
outlay for fortifications £70,678,000. The increase of the
expenditure was perfectly justifiable, because there was an
anxious desire to increase the defences of the country on
the part of the public and the Parliament. For four years
the finances of the country had been kept in a state of
tension. Last year the income and expenditure
nearly balanced one another. The income and expen°
diture which the Government now asked the house to
consider was a hopeful and favourable one. The harvests
of the last three years had only been ordinarily favourable,
but then there was the drawback of the distress in Lanca-
shire. The losses thus inculcated during the past twelve
months should not be lost upon the house, or the country.
The magnanimity with which the distress had been borne,en
h
and the calm endurance of the people, could not be sP:isen
too h,ghly of. (Cheers.) The price of cotton d
since the distress, from 6d. or 7d. per lb.
ttoin-dsu. and 2s. Id.
ge in an
l y
at the time he spoke. And he could n
light hopes as to the future. This and theo distress of Ire-
land, as yet but little noticed, had to some extent interfered
with the revenue. Otherwise he probably should have
been able to exhibit a brighter picture of the finances of the
nation. Agricultural statistics, carefully computed, in
respect to Ireland, exhibited that, from 1856 to 1860, the
annual value of agriculture and stock—the four usual items
—was £39,437,000, whereas in 1862-3 it had descended
to £27,327,000, and the duty from spirits, which was
£2,463,000 in 1561-2, had only reached £2,292,000 in
1862-3. These causes must be taken into consideration in
reviewing the present finances of the country. The esti-
mated amount of annual revenue at alat March last was

£70,040,000, but the actual revenue had been £70,108,000.
The expenditure had been £69,301,000, leaving a surplus,
after the usual deductions, of £1,301,000. (Hear, hear.)
The right hon. gentleman then entered into an expla-
nation of the various chief heads of the revenue, and
the alterations thereon, as compared with the previ-
ous year. The greater part of the spirit duty had been
realised, but the amount, owing to the distress in the
country, had not been realised. Illicit distillation had not
prevailed to a very great extent during the last two years.
Probably the consumption of the milder cad less inflamma-
tory liquors had something t) do with the falling off in the
spirit duty. The estimated expenditure for the current
year was £67,719,000, and the income £71,490,000, show-
ing a differeece over the estimated charge of £3,741,000.
(Loud cheers.) Some of the items of expenditure were not
matured, such as the Galway subsidy. (Hear, and laugh-
ter) Notwithstanding the great remission of the customs
duties, these duties had increased in two years £2,500,000.
Ic was the duty of the Government to seek to remove all
the anomalies of taxation. The law altering the duty on
tobacco had already become law. Chicory was familiar to
this committee—(laughter)—and an opinion prevailed
that it should be taxed as much as coffee. Such
was his opinion. He proposed to assimilate the
two duties—those on coffee and chicory—and he proposed
to ask the house to pass a resolution to that effect this even-
ing. Strong liquors sold in clubs were not now sold with a
license. (Laughter.) He proposed to compel clubs to pay
the same rates of license as was charged upon the keepers of
hotels and coffeehouses. (Laughter.) Beer licenses of £1
taken out with one to sell spirits would be assimilated
with those which paid £3. Beer-sellers would be allowed
to take out £1 licenses to sell not less than two dozen bottles
or 41 gallons of beer to be drunk on the premises. Carriers
would be charged one half the duty charged on omnibuses
and other stage carriages. Railways, now charged a duty
of 5 per cent. on their traffic, with exemptions,
he proposed a duty of 31 per cent. without
exemptions, which would destroy an anomalous state
of things, but which would most probably result in
the same thing, so far as the Treasury was
concerned, (Hear, hear.) The law on charitable legacies
in Ireland. which were not taxed, would be assimilated to
that of England. Then he proposed to render endowed
charities amenable to the income• tax, which hitherto had
not been the case, except so far as church
building sites and charitable subscriptions
were concerned. At present the income-tax on £2,000,000
of this was returned, He estimated £75,0j0 of revenue
from this source. He would now proceed to state
the ends to which the Government proposed to devote the
surplus he had specified. (Hear, hear.) After the Ist
of July next he proposed to abolish the charge of ld.
inwards on goods adopted in 1861, and which he confessed
had not worked well, and had, indeed, broken down—this,
he confessed, he did not without a pang (laughter) ; the
Is. 6d. stamp on bills of lading outwards would like-
wise disappear at the same date. (Hear, hear.)
This would involve a less of £191,000, or in the nine
months, to £143,000. Mr. Pitt considered that the lowest
of incomes to be taxed should be £2OO, though £6O was the
original rate. The income •tax, in its imposition by Sir R.
Peel, who limited it to £l5O, only intended it to be
a temporary tax, but this had unhappily been
been found a fallacious view. (Hear, hear.) He
proposed to mitigate the tax on incomes between £lOO and
£2OO, by allowing £6O to be removed out of these
incomes from taxation. At present a man with an
income of £lOO paid £2 lOs ; under the proposed
plan he would pay £1 lOs ; £125, £3 2s 6d—£2Bs 9d ; £l5O,
£5 12s 6d—X3 7s 6d ; £175, £6 lis 3d—X4 6s 3d. He be-
lieved this reduction would constitute a great boon to the
public.

(LEFT SPEAKING.)
We shall continue the Chancellor of the Exchequer's
statement in a later edition.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.—This Day.

EPSOM RACES—This DAT.
BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.
TRIAL STAKES.

Buckephlm
Argonaut....
Six ran.
HEATHCOTE PLATE.

Poland
Eas,. Sheen 2
Rapture
_

-
Twelve ran.
TWO-YEAR-OLD STAKES.
Molly Carew
Diomed
Narbonno

Twelve ran.
CITY AND SUBURBAN HANDICAP.

Adventurer
Umpire 2
General Hesse
Comet ..
Oberon ..

Thirty ran. Won by a neck. Two lengths between the
second and third. The winner was objected to, but over-
ruled.

Buckenham was scratched immediately after winning
the Trial Stakes.

LONDON BRIDGE STASES.

Alcibiade
Bagnal
Antidote

Ten ran.
INKERMAN PLATE.

Portland
Tarragona. 2

Twelve ran.
LATEST BETTING.
METROPOLITAN.
3to 1 agst Adventurer (taken)
4to 1 agst Bedouin (taken)
TWO THOUSAND GUINEAS,
No change.
THE DERBY.
6to 1 agst Lord Chtden (taken)
7to 1 agst Hospudar (taken)
12 to 1 agst Saccharometer (taken)
14 to 1 agst National Guard (taken)
20 to 1 agst Glenochty colt (taken)

Course of the Exchange.—This Day.

An Account, pursuant to the Act 7th and Bth Victoria
cap. 32, for the week ending on Wednesday, the 15th day
of April, 1863:

ISSUE DEPARTMENT.

.otes issued ...—..X28,019,225

Government Debt £11,015,1(0
Other Securities .. 3.634,900
Gold Coin & Bullion 14,3:9,225
Silver Bullion ....

£:.9,019,225'

£29,049,225

BANKING
• oprietors' Capi-
al £14.553,000
Rest
Public Deposits (in-
cluding Exche-
quer, Savings'
Banks, Commis-
missioners of Na-
tional Debt, and
Dividend Ac-

EPARTMENT.
i Government Seen-

rifles (including
Dead Weight A-
nnuity) £11,12 ',445
Other Securities 18,748 232
Notes
Gold and Silver 83e,012
Coln

counts) 5,769.276
Other Deposits 15,013.391
Seven Day and
other Bills 820,040

£39,050.134
W.

X 39,050, ,34
MILLER, Deputy Cashier.