The Sun.
London, England, 1837-07-01 00:00:00

MALT.

Bushels. Bushels.
1834 40,517,000 1836 45,509,000
18:35 40,662,000 1837 42,642,000
Decrease from 1836 to 1837 2,867,000
Average of 1834, 1833, 1836 42,229,000
But the prospects of the excise for the current year are of
such a nature as to induce me to believe that if there should be
a falling off in the customs there will be an increase in the
excise. I know that this is mere or less a matter of specu-
lation ; but as far as I am able to judge, I have every reason
to believe that, without any fear of being contradicted by the
result, I may take the estimate of the income to be derived
from the excise in the current year at 13,800,0001. being
639,391/. less than the actual receipts of the excise for the
year ending the sth of April, 1837. Upon stamps I shall no
doubt have something to lose, because the repeal, which only
partially affected the last year, w ill of course come into full
operation in the current year. I calculate the income to be
derived from stamps at 6,800,000/. ; but I have reason to
believe that they will produce a trifle more. The taxes of the
year I estimate at 3,710,000/. in place of the 3,631,917/. which
was the product of the taxes in the past year. The income to
be derived from the Post-office I estimate at 1,660,0001., and
from miscellaneous sources at 170,0001. Thus the gross
amount of the estimated income of the year I take at
47,240,0001. and the gross amount of the expenditure, exclu-
sive of West India compensation, at 45,786,415/. If to the
latter 845,000/. be added as the estimated expense of the
slave compensation,
expenditure of 608,5851. ; but that sum, for the reasons I have
a gross surplus will be left of income over
already stated, must be reduced by the amount of the sums ne-
cessary to he advanced to meet the deficiency of former years,
so that in fact the net surplus max upon which we can calcu-
late is 334,1431. I regret most sincerely that this amount
must dtstippoint the expectations of many lion. Gentlemen,
And I ceafess it disappoints my own. I could have wished
that the surplus had been larger. Tbere were two or three
important questions with respect to the reduction of taxation,
nhich I was most anxious to have had an opportunity of pro-
posing' and although I am not at the present moment in a con-
dition to bring them forward, I will not seller them to escape
my recollection. If, after the event which is no puhlicly announced, of a dissolution, there should
be an early sitting
of the. new Parliament, it would, in my opinion, be most de-
sirable, if the improved condition of the fieaeces arid commerce
of the country would permit it, that the several claims which
had been advanced to the attention of tho House for a reduc-
tion of taxation should he taken into consideration.—( Hear.)
As I have already stated, notwithstanding the difficulty and
pressure of the moment, I have no deep apprehension for the
real and permanent resources of the country. There may be
danger in high-flown and exaggerated statements with re-
spect to the finances of the country, as in the case of the
Hon. Bank Director, who on a former occaeien spoke of a
" passing cloud," and of the Hon. Member for Sunderland,
who indulged in another and a stronger metaphor ; but there
is no danger in telling the simple truth, namely, that the com-
mercial crisis which has occurred, but which, I hope, is now
rapidly passing away, has certainly produced a temporary
pressure and inconvenience ; but there is nothing and has
been nothing in that pressure and inconvenience which ought
to make a man of reasonable firmness and courage consider
that any portion of the main resources of this country arc in
any the slightest degree permanently compromised or affected.
—( Hear.) I have before me—if the disposition of the House
were different from that which I expect it to be—if I could
claim for a short time the attention of the House to an ex-
traneous subject—l have before me the means of showing
that within the last two or three weeks the elements of im-
provement have been developing themselves in various parts
of the country, and that various branches of trade and manu-
facture which have been amongst the most depressed are ra-
pidly reviving, and exhibiting something of an improved state.
I could show that the receipts of the revenue have also, as a
natural coasequence, considerably improved, and that the
condition of the country generally is such as to give a reason-
able man much more confidence now than could possibly
have been felt two months ago..—( Cries of " Hear.") I
may be allowed to say, with respect to the former efforts I
have made as Finance Minister, that the experiments I have
tried in the reduction of duties have been attended with so
much success, with so many good and valuable consequences,
as to induce me, whenever the opportunity shall present itself,
to persevere in the same course. Let me refer first to the elety
on glass. Having in a former year a surplus with wl oh
c 1 l deal, I applied it in the way which I thought best ICU
eseesenessesseseeseee.