The Sun.
London, England, 1857-02-14 00:00:00

to come forward at the earliest opportunity to lay before
the committee a statement of the finances of the year. I
shall begin by calling the attention of the committee to the
expenditure and revenue of the current financial year, com-
mencing on the Ist April last and ending on the Ist April
next. I shall do so for the purpose not merely of compari-
son and information, but also for the purpose of removing
some important misapprehensions which, if I may judge
from what I have observed in the house since the beginning
of the session, appear to me to prevail with respect to the
expenditure and taxation of the current year. In the state-
ment I made last session I estimated the revenue of the cur-
rent year, ending on the let of April next, at 71,740,0001.
I ought, before I proceed further, to remind the com-
mittee that, as the financial year is still incomplete, I
am obliged to estimate both the revenue and expenditure
for the unexpired portion of the year—that is, for a portion
of the month of February, and for the whole of the month
of March. I believe, however, that the estimate I have
made for that period will prove to be sufficiently accurate
for the purpose for which it has been framed ; but at the
same time I must ask the committee to remember, while
following the figures I am about to read, that the revenue
and expenditure for about six weeks rest upon estimate and
not upon account. Last session I estimated the revenue of
the current year at 71,740,000/., while the actual and esti-
mated receipts will, I believe, somewhat exceed that
amount, and will probably be about 71,885,0004. Tho item
which presents a diminution on my estimate of last year is
the revenue derived from Customs. I estimated the re-
venue from that source at 23,850,600/., and it will pro-
bably not produce more than 23,600,0001. That deficiency
appears to be principally attributable to the short stock of
sugar, and in some degree to the check in the importation of
tea. I will now read the details of the estimated revenue of
1856-7 and the sums actually received, together with the
estimate of the further sums to be received up to the 31st
of March next :

Service.

Estimate
per Budget.

Actual and Estimated
Receipts to
31st March neat.

Customs

' Excise .. • .... ..

BUmpa ................

Tazei ••
Property and Income tax
Post-office ..... • ........
Crown lands .
Miscellaneous •• .. •

X 71,740,800

.£71,885,000

The expenditure for the year 1856-7, including the loan of
1,000,0001. to Sardinia, and a vote of credit for 2,000,0001.,
was estimated at 82,113,0001., showing, therefore, as com-
pared with the estimated revenue, a deficiency of 10,373,000/.
That sum represents the estimated deficiency of the pre-
sent year, including the contingent margin which I allowed
of 2,000,000/. ; but, deducting that margin of 2.000,0001.,
the deficiency for the year will be 8,373,0001. In order to
cover that. deficiency certain loans were effected. In the
first place we received 1,499,0001., being part of a loan of
5,000,0001. effected before Easter last year; a second loan
of 5,000,043./. was effected after Easter, and there was an
issue of 1,000,0001. of Exchequer-bills, making the total
money borrowed during the current year 7,499,0001. The
power conferred upon the executive Government of bor-
rowing by Exchequer-bills went to the extent of 4,000,0.'0'.
but they have only exercised it to the extent of 1,000,0001,
and the service of the year will not require any farther
exercise of that power. (Hear.) The act of last session was
intentionally drawn in such a manner that the power will
expire on the let of April next, and I have therefore to
announce that the Government will then surrender the
power of borrowing 3,000,0001. for the service of the pre-
sent year. The total receipts from revenue and from
moneys raised by loans and by Exchequer-bills for the year
1356-7 may be set down at 79,384,0001. The actual expen-
diture of the year, including the payment of the loan to
Sardinia, will probably amount to nearly 78,000,0001.,
leaving a balance of 1,334,0001. to be carried to the service
of next year. (Hear.) On the first night of the present ses-
sion the right hon. member for Buckinghamshire stated that
we are now in the extraordinary positionof being subjected
to war taxation during a time of peace. If that epigram.
matic sentence has any very distinct meaning, I apprehend
it must be understood to mean that we have war taxation
during a year of peace expenditure; for if it has not that
meaning it involves no objection to the course taker( by her
Majesty's Government. But lam desirous of impressing
upon the committee that this has not been a year of ordi-
nary peace expenditure, but that it has been a year of
extraordinary expenditure, that extraordinary expendi-
ture having been directly caused by the war which termi-
nated only about a year ago. That this state of things was
fully within the cognisance of the house—that they were
aware, when they agreed to the financial plans of last ses-
sion, that this would not be a year of ordinary expenditure
—must, I think, be admitted by every hon. gentleman ;
but lest there should be any doubt upon is matter of such
great importance I will, with the permission of the com-
mittee, read an extract from the statement I made last year
at the time I proposed the plan of annual taxation. I most
reluctantly refer to my own words. but Id() so to show what
was the understanding on the subject, and to satisfy the
house that, so far as I was able, I brought the state of the
case clearly under their notice. On the 16th of last May,
in addressing this house, I said—
" Although peace has been happily concl tided and ratified,
and although we are not now in a state of war, nevertheless
the present year, for all practical purposes, must be looked
upon to a great extent as a year of war expenditure. The
preparations which have been made for acampaign, both by
land and sea, during the winter and early part of thisyear,
were such that, had the war continued, we were in a con-
dition to carry on this year's campaign most effectively,
both with our land and sea forces. That expenditure, -I
rejoice to say, has proved unnecessary ; wo have not been
called upon to enter a third campaign ; but, nevertheless,
the expenditure was incurred, it will become payableduring
the present year, and we shall not reap the entire benefits
of a return to a state of peace until another year. Theta
will also be the expense of transporting our troops home
from the Crimea; there will likewise be the expense of
paying off the troops, and all the other expenditure con-
nected with (disbanding the army and navy, the whole of
which will have to be defrayed during the present year.
To these must be added the expense of the retransport of
the Sardinian troops from the Crimea, which, though not
necessarily part of our war expenditure, is yet connected
with it, and is an expense which we ourselves undertook
and will be effected by our ships." ,
I think these remarks distinctly brought under the notice
of the house the fact that the current year would not be
a year of ordinary Peace expenditure, and, as my statement
was acquiesced in at the time, I assume that no doubt could
be entertained as to the difference between the circum-
stances of the currant year and those of an ordinary year.
In addition to the extraordinary payments to which Ibave
adverted, a sum of 1,000,0001., which falls entirely upon
the revenue of the current year, has been paid as the
second instalment of the loan to Sardinia. A payment of
91,0001. has also been made, under the authority of an act
passed last session for the redemption of an hereditary
pension, but this may be regarded as the redemption of so
much debt, and in the nature of an extraordinary payment,
In addition to the extraordinary charges of the year, there
has also been a loss in the war duty on malt, which W:l3
fixed to expire on the sth of July next after the ratification
of a definitive treaty of peace. The definitive treaty of
peace was ratified on the 27th of April, 1356, and the war
duty on malt expired therefore at the beginning of the
following quarter, which was the earliest period at which its
expiration could take place. There is always a long credit
given on malt, and the whole revenue is not lost, threfore,
on the first year, so that the loss in the revenue on malt in
the last year was only 220,0001, But what forma the
•
prin-
cipal defalcation in this branch of the re vee
ment of a drawback upon the ate, k in
hand wuheiclhe th
be e pay-
necessary, and this amounted to about 800003 sathatatliel
loss upon the article of malt during the
current' "
year
what exceeds 1,000,0001. sterling. That is a
reductonsoftruoem-
the revenue of the year which has already taken place in
anticipation of a peace expenditure, and therefore it is not
correct to say that no reduction of war taxation has beeia
made in the present year. lam desirous of calling the
attention of the committee to a few facts which I think irn-
portantasillustratino the elasticity of our national resources
and the spring which the industry and trade of the country
have taken immediately after the removal of the pressure
of war. We know that even during the war the energy of
this country showed itself undiminished, while that of our
rival underwent a perceptible decay :
"Gees gum cromato fortis ab Ilio
Jactata Tnscis tequoribus, sacra
Natosque matnrosque patres
Pertnlit Ausonias ad urbes ;
Dune ut ilex tones hip.nnibue
Nigrae feraci frondis iu Algido,
Per damns, per erodes, ab ipso
Ducit open animumqum ferro.
Non Hydra secto corpora firmior
Vinci dolentem crevit in Herculeni."
ese are facts which do not rest merely upon general as-
oTel°"—thoV admit of being reduced to numerical
proof,- With the permission of the committee, I will
briefly With the
attention to some of the most remarkable
results of
thatevial t webir r''cenFlY
laid upon our table. It is
our trade as com 11.1 bear in mind the present state 4,1
cially as we are tPolirlohawith its state in former years, espe-
t the pressure of war taxation has
been so great upou the ur.ntry as sensibly to diminish its
productive force and eneeer les. I will first call the retention
of the committee to the iii'er,frerse yhich has taken place in
the value of our ex orte, declaredt value of British
exports in the yea,rles6 exceeded
00a,of all previous years,
ald reached the still of nearly ne,
crease of 20,202,0901., or 21 per en,not.;:Worvt°ejl:
'thboesiengofan;Bsis",
and of 16,957,000/., or 17 per cola.
so of 1853, the
• ,dietely preceding the War, ju •
year Imam
vhieh, moreover
there was an unprecedented increase of exports. The de'
dared value of the British and Irish exports for thesethree
r was as follows 1355, 98,933,0001. ;
:eia654.3,000/. ; 115,890,030/. If we take 501110 of the
principal 1,1 auches of our manufactures we shall find the
The exports of textile
result equally eueoer +grog- e _ears manu-
factures and yarns fer thoseol7lB6;i, were5915,066;185.i,
52,299,000 e ; IS5i
;por.ts
108f5m5 et_ll fabrics,o -1,17 the salllo way 1-v;fit'i.lsitl'ilat3rjili°e-ex
JO/ •
17 89-, all kinds wore :--1851. 19, )5-00'11' .•' •
1876, 23,538,0001. These Ivo may take as lair example of
the general increase which will he found to pen, ado the
whole commerce of the country. I shall only take one
sr-
ticle of our imports—raw cotton and in this wo find the 112-
crease to have been as follows:—XlBss, 7 ;, 700, 0 )°; b. ; .
767,406,0001 b. ; 1856, 877,814,010 n, The goner.: 1C3111‘.. is
that our experts buoy doubled in value since the year
1849, and if we compare this year with the year following
the conclusion of the last great European war, ore shall
find that we commence thin period of
peace with exports
three times greater than they were in 1816. The imports
of grain were less in 1851 than in 1853, but greater than
in 1653. The i nip ts of grain from Russia fell to less th.. 11
a half in 1831 aid were suspended altogether in 1855, h t
reached 1,208,000 qrs. in 13.-.6, and were 1-1 per cent, of the
total imports against 16 per can,. in 1853, showing the ra-
pidity with which a suspended branch of trade was re-
stored on the restoration of peace. I are sorry to weiay