The Sun.
London, England, 1840-05-16 00:00:00

to explain to the House those measures which her Ma-
jesty's Government are prepared to recommend for the
adcption of the House. lam well aware, Sir, that I may
have to appeal to the indulgence of the House, as in
order, to elucidate my subject I shall have to refer to
figures which will render a subject, naturally intricate,
still more tedious and uninteresting. With a view of
as much as possible saving the time of the House, I
have had printed and laid on the table of the House
such figures as I shall have to refer to with reference
to the past year ; and if Honourable Members will
refer to the papers which have been delivered this morning,
they will see the details of the income and expenditure
of the past year. It will not, therefore, be necessary
for me to go into minute details of the produce of
the Customs and Excise ; but I will .Mate the ordinary
income for the year ending 6th April 1840, which amounts
to 47.685,0001., and if we add to that the payment by
the East India Company of 1e1,0001., the total income
will be 47,836,0001., the expenditure stands thus. Indeed,
this appears upon the printed returns, and, therefore,
I shall not trouble the House with it. The
sum total under the different beads for the charge of the
debt was 29,439,0001. The other charges in the conso-
lidated fund amounted to 2,410,000/., making a total
charge upon the consolidated fund of 31,849,0001. The
whole grants, with one or two trifles which it is
not necessary to detail to the House, amount to
17,451,000/n making the total expenditure of the year
49,300,0001, leaving nut the small figures. There is
therefare in the income, as compared with the expen-
diture as it appears by these returns, a deficiency
of 1,457,000/. This is, undoubtedly, evidence of a defi-
ciency of income, as compared with the actual expendi-
ture, but I should hardly have thought it necessary
to explain that this is not the actual deficiency
in the income as compared to the expenditure
had not a different opinion been entertained in some quer-
ers. But there was a case when my Noble Friend opened
his Budget last year, and, as the House is aware, provision
was made for the deficiency that was then contemplated.
There was a vote of Exchequer Bills, amounting to
1,000,0001., and in looking at the actual sum pro-
vided for, this vote of Exchequer Bills must be deducted;
that reduces the balance to 457.000/. ; but that is not en-
tirely all—there appears in the miscellaneous charges a
charge whiCh is very properly inserted asareiexpenditure—
itrelates to aSubject which the Hon. Member for Dublin has
asked a question upon from the Noble Lord the Secretary
' for Ireland. In the course of last year there was a sum of
260,0001., within thirty-eight or so, which it was deter-
mined should be applied to the payment of the clergy
in Ireland, and which was issued in Exchequer bills ; and
together with those other Exchequer bills, 5,000,000/.
in amount, which were funded under an Act passed
by my Noble Friend who was then Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, that sum of 260,000/. was provided for by the
funding of those Exchequer Bills, and which, being de-
ducted, leaves a balance unprovidcd for daring
the year of 197,000/. I have thought it necessary
to make these explanations, because I have seen
that these balances have been much misunderstood
in other quarters, but that sum is all that remains un-
provided for, and which the House must meet. Now,
Sir, having very shortly, and without going into the de-
tails, put the House in possession of the whole of the
expenditure, I think it will be but just both to the House,
and to my Noble Friend, my predecessor, that I should
compare the estimates made by him when he opened his
financial statement last year, and the results as they now
appear in the paper which is in the hands of the
Honourable Members. That statement was made in
July 1839, and the estimate then made was not made
by him, but was called for and printed. The in-
come was then estimated at 48,128,0001. and the
expenditure, including the million estimated as the extra
expense for Canada, was 48,988,000/., and the deficiency
at that time calculated upon was 860,000/. There was
afterwards in the course of the Session, a further
supplemental vote for the army of 75,000/.,
making the whole estimated deficiency amount to
935,0001. The actual amount of the defici-
ency. however, was not 935,000/ , but 1,447,000/.,
but deducting front that deficiency the sum of 260,000/.,
to which I have already alluded, which was not properly
charged upon the I ear, reduces that deficiency to the
sum of 1,197.000/., but it must be borne in mind
that my Noble Friend made no calculation as to the
deficiency in the postage, the reduction upon which
was 947,000/., so that the only difference between
my Noble Friend's calculation was 12,000/. Now,
Sir, having made this statement of the expenditure
and income of last year, and compared the calculation of
my Noble Friend with the result of the year, I now proceed
to deal with the more immediate subject of consideration—
the expectations of expenditure and income of the cur. era
year. I shall first state those sums for which provision
must be made for expenditure. The interest on
the debt charged on the Consolidated Fund amounts
to 29 443,0004, the other charges on the Consolidated
Fund amount to 2,434,000/., making the total charge on
the Consolidated Fund amount to 31,877,000/. The
vote for the army, which has already received the sanction
of the House, is 6,600,0001. ; for the Navy, 5,659,000/. ;
for the Ordnance, 1,885,000/ ; for the miscella-
neous estimates, some part of which have been voted,
2,736,000/. The grans for the year, therefore, so far
as appears before the House, amount to 70,055,0001. Of
those su:ns, those which have already appeared, and are
voted by the House, amount to 48,757,000/. There are,
however, some items of expenditure which it will be tie-
ucssary for me to state to the I louse, end make allowance
for in the calculation I am about to submit. The House will
remember that in the early part of the Session,when my Hon.
Friend the Secretary of the Admiralty moved the Navy
Estimates, a question was asked respecting the discrepancy
which existed between the number of men and the sum
stated, and my Noble Friend the Secretary for the
Colonies stated there was some discrepancy, and stated
it was not impossible that a further sum might
be required to make the force amount to that which the
House had voted. and in that view it will be necessary for
my Honourable Friend to submit to the House a vote
for that purpose to the amount of 100,000/.—( Hear.)
There is another expenditure for which the House mu.,t
be prepared. The House is aware that the Commission
which was appointed, and which, in consequence of re-
peated motions in this House, her Majesty was advised to
issue, the Military and Naval Commission, has made its
Report, and it is the intention of her Majesty's Govere-
ment to advise her Majesty to adopt the suggestions of that
Commission ( Hear, hear.) To meet that, it will be
necessary to le,ve a vote of this House. I have placed
the amount in one sum, and the amount I shall take this
year to meet additional expenses is 75,000/. The vote for
Canada I shall also have to submit this year to the House. I
have brought forward the estimates earlier than my Noble
friend in a former year. I did so very soon after the sth
of April. I have some difficulty in making myself sale
upon this vote, but I have been desirous to name a sum
which I think might be voted by the House, and which.
at the same time, would fairly meet the expen-
diture of the Canades.—( lieu-, hear.) I have
endeavoured to take care not to name too large a sum nor
' to attempt to reduce the estimate below what I thought
would be required.—( Hear, hear.) The sum I shall take
for Canada will amount to 350,0001. The vote of last year
was 1,000,000/., and the former vote was 500,000/
This year I propose to take 350,000/,—( Hear.) The
Right Hon. Gentleman the Member for the University of
Cambridge (and this is the last item I shall have to make
to the House), put to me on a former occasion a
question with regard to the expenses of the China Com-
mission. The House is quite aware of the arrangement,
but which is not a new arrangement, that has been made
between her Majesty's Government and the Government
of India. The extra expenditure which may be necessary
for this expedition will be charged on her Majesty's Go-
vernment. The sum will be advanced by the Govern-
ment in India, and repayments will take place
of that, which on examination of accounts, shall
be shown to be the extra expenditure occasioned by the
expedition. Upon former occasions, I believe, a vote was
not taken specifically ; and in the case of Java and the
Mauritius, where that course was pursued, the sums were
repaid after a certain time, and no specific vote was taken.
But, Sir, I admit that both for the satisfaction of the House
and in a constitutional point of view, it is much better that
the subject should come in the shape of an estimate before
the House, and that a sum should be taken in order to show
that at any rate the subject has been under the considera-
tion of the House.—( Hoar.) It does not appear to me to be a
regular mode of proceeding, that we should employ an
army in China, without the subject ever having been men-
tioned in the House of Commons. I therefore propose to
take an estimate on that account—to take a vote on ac-
count of the expedition. To make an estimate of the
expedition is not so easy—( Loud cries of " Hear,
hear," from the Opposition benches)—because it is
is not possible for me to calculate the length of time
during which that expedition may continue. 1 have the
means of laying on the table of the House, so far as I am
able to ascertain from India, the rate of expenditure at
which that expedition will be charged to this country, but
I have not estimated, nor can any human wisdom estimate,
whether that expedition will last for one period or another.
I have made an estimate of the expense in India. Ido
not mean to impute anything like unfairness to the East 1
India Company, but we are all aware of the great ex-
penses attending any expedition in India. I will, however,
state what was the amount estimated as the expense of the
preparation of the expedition up to Ist May, 1840, The
amount was up to Ist May 54,000/.; taking this as the rate of
expenditure of the expedition, it will appear that if the
expedition should last six months from May 1, the expen-
diture, in addition, will amount to 162,000/., making the
total cost of the expedition amount to 216,000/. Sup-
posing it should last eight months, the amount would be
216,000/. But as in the estimate presented bq the East
India Company I see some items charged, which it
seems to me will not be increased by the expedition,
even if it should last that time, as certain items are charged
which it appears to me wilrnot be needed by the expendi-
ture. Ido not propose to ask that sum of the Hous, but
to ask for a vote of 150,0001. on account of the expedition
to China—J, Hear, hear, hear)—which will defray
all the expenses incurred by the expedition up
to the Ist of May, 1840, leaving a balance of 100,0001.
to meet the current expenses of the expedition, to be paid
after the accounts of the East India Company shall have
undergone an examination.—( Cheers.) I will now re-
state the estimated expenses of the current
amount of the interest on year :—The
the debt, and the other charges
on the Consolidated Fund, will amount to 31,849,000/.
The expenses of the Army, Navy, and Ordnance, will
amount to 16,908,000/. The additional estimate for the
Navy amounts to 100,000/. ; the Naval and Military Cons -
mission, 75,000/. ; the expenses in Canada, 350,000/. ;
the expenses of the China expedition, 150,0001, making
~ the
estimated expenditure of the current year 49,4.'2,000/.
Sir, I now come to the expectation which I entertain of
the revenue at this moment at the disposal of the House.
I mean that which we may expect to receive at the present
moment supposing the taxation was altered. And here, I
must admit, that 1 labour under a difficulty which
nobody ever laboured under before in the office
which I have the honour to fill.._ (Hear, hear,
hear.) I sec, from the smile upon the coun-
t
tenance of the Right lion. Gentleman opposite, the
Member for Harwich, (Mr. iferries), that he well knows
to what I allude.—( Hear.) What the value of that vote
has been—what good the country has derived from it,— I