The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-09 00:00:00

AFFGLIANISTAN.

Mr. GLADSTONE said no arrangements had been en-
tered into by the Indian Government for the payment of
a subsidy to the Ameer of Affgauistan. Ho had asked the
hon. gentleman opposite or public grounds to postpone hi
motion on Central Asia until certain matters now in nego
tiation ha I been completed.
Mr. E..A.STWICK with much regret assented to th
preposal of the right hon. gentleman, although he did no
see how it could prove detrimental to the Government ty
the country.

THE BUDGET.
The house then resolvel itself into a committee of ways
and means, and
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER rose to
make his financial statement. Having asked the indulg-

once of the houso during the long and intricate statotnent
which it bocame his duty to make, ho might sLy at
the outset that it would present no olement of diffi ;ulty or

embarrassment. He would eliminate from his observa.

tions all that with respect to Abyssinia, as the funds had
been voted for the payment of the expenditure, and the
doing so would contribute to its clearness. The estimate
that had been made by his predecessor of the gross rovene
for the year was £73,1.53,00, but the actual re-
ceipt had been £72,592,000, giving a deficit of
£558,000. There had been a falling off in most
of the sources of revenue, but the Post-office receipts had.
increased. The articles consumed by the wealthier
classes held ground pretty well, but he re-
gretted to find that in those consumed by the
poorer classes there had been a large falling.
off. The gross revenue had been £72,592,000, and the
expenditure for the year amounted to .£72,972,000, which
gave a surplus of £380,000 expenditure over receipts.
The right hon. gentleman then proceeded to compare the
estimates of the Government for the present year with those
of the Government of the year 1868, and concluded that
portion of his subject by saying there had been a saving
effected in the present year—thanks to the
,heroic
effort.] of the right hon. gentleman at the head of
the War Department and the right hon. gentleman

the First Lord of the Admiralty—of no less a
sum than £2,261,000. (Hear, hear.) The not increase
in the income for the present year amounted to £263,000,
and had the Abyssinian item been out of the way the
surplus would have amounted to no less than £4,632,000.
lie believed the whole expenses of the expedi-
tion would bo covered by £9,000,000, as he
yesterday received a telegram from Mr. Turner, in India,
which gave the estimated result of the whole of the ex-
pedition comparing that with the sum voted they found
they were better off than they expected by the sum of £l7O.
(Laughter.) Taking the whole of the matter into view,
they had just enough to pay the whole of the expenses of
the year; but they had no surplus, and the balances were
exceedingly low. He did not think that it was wise to have
the balances at so low an ebb, and that it would be wise
to make some tax which would enable them to have a rea-
sonable surplus at their hands—(hear, hear)—instead of a
deficit of £380,000. There was a set of taxes called
Land and Assessed, which ho would just refer
to. The dog tax had been most productive to the
Government, and showed the advisability of having
paid over unpaid collectors, because the paid collectors
had actually levied and received the tax on 600,00 C dogs
who had hitherto evaded this duty. (Loud laughter.)
The mode of collecting the whole of the assessed taxes
was very bad, and he thought that if the aid
of the Excise were called in to collect the money much
time would be saved, because the collector had to go
twice a year for the money, but if a system of compound-
ing and making the payment in one sum was carried out a
great improvement would result. Ele.begged to recommend
that subject to the consideration of the house. The same
fault applied to the collection of the income tax, and if
they could adopt the mode adopted in Scotland a great
improvement would result. If these taxes were collected
but once in a year there would be a saving of X 1.00,000.
Government proposed to convert the assesed taxes, apart
from the inhabited house tax, into a kind of license, which
should be collected by the Excise, and thus a person would
have to make out a list of taxable articles, such as
horses, &c., and a license granted at a set sum,
and then forthwith paid. With respect to the
taxes for 68-69, no alteration in the system would be made,
but on the Ist of Jan. 1870, the excise licenses should
issue, the time allowed before the alteration would enable
the system to :come into work without inflicting any
hardship. With respect to the Land and House tax
they proposed that the usual mode should go on for
taxes already levied, but that on the Ist of January, 1870,
these taxes should be collected by the Excise, and the same
course they proposed should be made with respect to the
income tax, namely, the whole cf the year's tax made
payable at the beginning of the year—(hear, hear)—
when the books of trade and commerce was made up.
The effect of such an arrangement would be to greatly in-
crease the yield of the tax and to lessen the cost of col-
lection, which would be a public saving. The Government
had made certain concessions with respect to the transition
and would forbear from the October collection. The
change from the custom of being two years in arrear, to
being called upon to make prompt payment, would
cause some inconvenience, but he hoped when the first
pressure had gone off the result would be that the system
would be so beneficial that additional taxation, would
not be required. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) The result of
such an arrangement would be that there would be a
windfall of £3,350,000; namely, the income tax would
give £1,800,000, the excise licenses £600,000, and the land
and inhabited house tax £950,000 within the financial
year. The first thing the Government felt it their
duty to do, supposing the house agreed to adopt these
proposals, would be to reduce the Income-tax ld. in the
pound. (Hear, hear.) There was at the; present
time a duty of is. per quarter upon foreign corn or
maize, which yielded £900,000 ; but as the article
upon which the tax was levied was the consumption of
the very poorest class, he thought they would be doing
a wise thing in repealing the tax altogether.
(Hear, hear.) There was another tax which had
led to much discussion in that house, viz., the fire insu-
rance duty. Now, looking at that duty as a tax on pru-
dence, the Government proposed to abolish the duty
altogether from Midsummer next—(hear, hear)—
provided the suggestions he had submitted to the house
in his earlier observations were adopted. There were a
few other taxes which he would just deal with. The
first was hair powder—(laughter)—that tax he proposed
to abolish. Armorial bearings he proposed to increase,
viz., one guinea for using armorial bearings, and when
the armorial was placed on a carriage he should charge
another guinea. The tax for a carriage on four wheels
they proposed to reduce from £3 10s. to £2 25.; pony car-
riage duty they would reduce to 155., and they proposed
placing a tax of 15s. on all gigs. They proposd to abolish the
horse-dealers duty, and also to lower the tax for keeping
men-servants to 15s. a head. With respect to taxes ou
locomotion, they propose to abolish all distinction between
horses kept for pleasure or profit, and make ail