The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-04 00:00:00

THE LATEST EDITION of "THE SUN."
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LONDON, FRIDAY, NAY 4, 1866.

The annual Financial Statement has not this year
been looked forward to with quite the usual amount
of expectation, anxiety, and impatience. The fact
has been that we were all pretty well aware that we
could not hope this year to extort from the reluc-
tant Chancellor any considerable remissions, and
even those M.P.s who head the crusades against
particular imposts were well aware that it was use-
less to plan any attack, or arrange any manoeuvre,
for their removal in 1866. It was known, too, that
out of the small surplus on hand it would be neces-
sary to allow for the abolition of the timber
duties, and for certain alterations in the wine
duties, as arranged in the Commercial Treaty with
Austria, so that very trifling changes could be
made with the balance, and the excitement attend-
ing the Reform struggle completely diverted men's
minds from the consideration of such minor topics.
The Budget last evening fulfilled most of these
expectations, and the balance sheet for the year is
by no means perplexing. The estimated revenue
for 1865-6 was £66,392,000, and the expenditure
£66,147,000. The actual income was £67,812,000
and the expenditure £65,914,000, so that the sur-
plus of income over expenditure was £1,898,000.
We have an additional proof, if any were
needed, of the elasticity of the revenue, and of the
wonderful rapidity with which the increase of con-
sumption consequent upon the reduction of price
in articles of daily necessity compensates for the
direct loss to the Exchequer. The full effect of the
reduction of the Income Tax is not yet perceptible,
and must be taken into account in making the esti-
Ifitates for the coming year, so that the probable sur-
Plus for 1866-7 will be only £1,350,000—a sum
which lir. GLADSTONE was careful to remind us
wotild have been more than doubled but for the
anticipatory legislation of last year. A gratifying
proof of the ever-increasing wealth of the country
was given b 7 the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who
told us that every
Penny per pound of the Income-
tax now produced about
£1,000,000 at which it used to
£1 400 000 instead of the
spirits 'be reckoned. The
revenue from • •
last year amounted to
£13,955,000, the largest sum ever
in-
direct tax on a single commodity,raised by an
his source of
income is not altogether a
satisfactory
one, since
the increase of consumption augurs ill for the health
and morals of the people. Certainly the fact does
not afford much encouragement to the hopes of the
Temperance League.
The manner in which Mr. GLADSTONE proposes
to dispose of his surplus million is worth notice.
The abolition of the Timber Duties, rendered neces-
sary, as we have said, by the Treaty with Austria,
disposes of £307,000, and the assimilation of the
duty on wines in bottle to wines in wood,
consequent upon the same Treaty, takes £58,000
more. The Chancellor then sacrifices £112,000
to the abolition of the duty on pepper, a
boon, he says, to the tax-payers of Ire-
land, who lust now appear to be quite peppery
enough without any increased consumption of that
condiment. The grievance of the mileage duty on
orculibusea -and public conyeyalacea said to be