The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-29 00:00:00

~~~

~~

Total ...

£138,582

ont armaments.

diture ?

few days.

blage.

7ONSERrATIVE CIOT7BPIIf:7I2ENT AND
THE PUBLIC EXP.ENDITU.RE.

The following letter has been addressed by the Chan.
::cllor of the Exchequer to Mr. Assheton Cross, the Con-
:ervative candidate for South-West Lancashire :
Lochletter, Inverness, August 24, 1868.

My dear Cross,—ln reply to your letter requesting me
to furnish you with some detailed explanation of the in-
2rease of public expenditure since Lord Derby's Govern-
ment took office, animadverted upon by Mr. Gladstone
st St. Helen's, I would in the first place
remind you that Mr. Gladstone made a similar
attack upon the Government in the House of
Commons on the night of my financial statement, confining
himself, as at St. Helen's, to generalities ; that upon that
and subsequent occasions he was fully answered, and chal-
:enged to chew that the services upon which the increase
bad mainly taken place had been left in an efficient state
by the late Government, and' that this challenge lie Las
sever taken up.
I do not c )mplain of the statement that the expendi-
duce voted by Parliament Las risen 13,000,000 since the
change of Government—speaking in round numbers, that
is sufficiently accurate. The difference between the esti-
mates presented to Parliament by the late Government
1(•r 1866-67, and by the present Government for 1868-69,
after making all necessary corrections for alterations in
account and transfer of charges from the Consolidated and
other funds, amounts, I believe, to 1"2,815,654.
1. The excess of the army, estimates of 1868-69 over the
Driginal estimates of 1866-67 amounts to £1,560,000.
The principal causes of increase are as follows :
Increase of pay to army and militia, and for more
efficient recruiting of the army ... £500,000
Raising militia to full quota •.. 82,000
Cost of converting small arms, on an average of
the three years ... ••• ••• ••• ••• 200,000
Heavy ordnance for forts, on an average of the

three years ... ...
Military expenditure for Straits Settlements,
Ceylon, and Australia, in consideration of which
contributions from those colonies are to be paid
into the Exchequer
Capitation grant to volunteers ...
Increase of vote to expedite the completion of
Bermuda fortifications ...
Increase of pay to medical officers under Royal
warrant, sanctioned by late Government
To carry out provisions of Contagious Diseases

70,000

128,000
37,000

35,000

18,000

[ncrease in cost of provisions ...
ro accelerate completion of survey

... 40,000
... 100,000
... 30,000

£1,240,000

The balance—viz., £l2o,ooo—covers the cost of rewards
to inventors, a hospital ship at Hong Kong, drainage at
Gibraltar, and a number of other items that it would be
tedious to enumerate.

2. The excess of the navy estimates of 1868-69 over 'the
original estimates of 1866.67, added to the supplemental
estimate of March 1866, after making the necessary
adjustment for alterations in the account, &c., amounts to
£584,914.
Accounted for as follows :
£50,000 Increase of 2d. a day pay to marines.
12,656 To improve system of retirement of officers of
royal navy.
5,926 Increase of pay to medical officers of royal navy.
70,000 Increase in vote for wages of seamen and marines.

And the residue principally due to increased ship.
building.

3. The excess of the civil service and revenue
estimates as finally voted for 1868-69 over the
original estimates of 1866.67, after making the - -
necessary adjustment for alterations in the
account, &c., amounts to £870,740
From this should be deducted (say) 300,000
being that portion of the supplemental esti-
mates for 1866-67 (excluding extraordinary ser-
vices) which ought to have been provided for in
original estimates.

£570,740

This increase may be thus accounted for :
Constabularly of Ireland, in pursuance of report
of commission of 1866, presided over by Mr.
Kuatchbull-Hugessen £147,000
25 per cent. of augmentation of pay of police,
Great Britain, in accordance with circular in
1866 of Sir G. Grey
Extension to Ireland of payment of school.
masters' salaries and half medical expenses of
Poor Law Administration, as promised by Mr.
Gladstone
Carrying out of works commenced or sanctioned
previous to July 1866 ...
Extra expenses of Home Office and Poor Law
Board Administraticn, owing to legislation ...
Fire Brigade, metropolis ...
Increase in law charges, owing to Fenianism
Education ...
Science and Art ...
Cattle Plague Department, not heretofore pro-
vided for in estimates

15,000

G 5,000

06,000

15,000
7,500
40,000
113,000
65,000

£510,C0)

There have, of course, been many increases under
different heads of service which I have not alluded to, as
they have been' met by corresponding reductions under
other heads, but I believe that the above statements
give a fair account of the real causes of the increased
estimates.

Now, as regards the army expenditure, you must remem•
ber that before the change of Government took place the
War Office had determined to convert the small arms into
breech-loaders, but scarcely any provision had been made
in the estimates fog that purpose.
That the difficulty of recruiting the army had become
so great as to induce the then Government to appoint a
commission to report upon the subject, and that the com-
mission made recommendations entailing a very great
increase in the estimates. , .

That the forts built by the late Government were with-

sow, what have been the results of the increased expen.

1. As regards small arms the operation of conversion
will be nearly completed by the end of this year.
2. As regards recruiting the army the extra pay has
induced no fewer than 2G,000 veteran troops to re-engage
themselves.

3. As regards arming the forts, 267 pieces of ordnance
Jaye been provided (part of which was estimated for
by the late Government), and of these 142 are already
mounted.

Then, with respect to the navy, I would call your
attention to the statement made by Sir John Pakington
in the House of Commons, on August 4, 1856, in answer
to Mr. Graves :

" I regret to state I find the reserves by no means in a
satisfactory condition, or, indeed, in such a state as I had
a right to find them, so much so that the Admiralty has
great difficulty in finding relief for the ships that return
from foreign service."
It would be impossible within the limits of a letter to
contrast the state of the navy now with what it was two
years ago ; but if you will read the speech of Mr. .Corry,
in moving the navy estimates of May 11th of this year, I
think you will be satisfied that great advances have been
made towards efficiency.
Lastly, with respect to the civil service expenditure,
with the exception of a large increase in the votes for
Education and Science and Art, and of -a grant towards
the Glasgow University Building, I am not aware
that the present Government can be charged with burden-
ing the taxpayers of the country to a greater amount than
was necessary to comply with the provisions of recent acts
of the Legislature, and to carry out the engagements
entered into by their predecessors.—Believe me, &c.,
(Signed) GEORGE WARD HUNT.
It. Assheton Cross, Esq.

The .21Torthern, Ensitn learns that the Dowager
Duchess of En' helland has been in very indifferent health
for some time. Her Grace Las, however, improved these

The freedom of the burgh of Forfar was on
Thursday conferred on the Earl of Strathmore, in the
Town Ball, in presence of a large and influential assem-

TIIE NAILERS' STRIKE.—The strike in the
wrought-nail trade of East Worcestershire continues with
considerable determination, neither men nor masters
sheaving the slightest disposition to yield. The number
of men on strike is scarcely so great as estimated
a fortnight since, owing to the fact that in the
neighbourhood of Lye Waste several factors have con-
tracts to complete under a penalty within a given
time, and in these cases they have been obliged to
employ men at the advanced rate. On the completion of
them contracts, however, it is understood that the reduced
scale will be adopted in these as in other establishments.
During the last few days a considerable number of nailers
—men, women, and children—have left the Black Country
on a hop picking tour in Kent and Surrey, where, at this
season of the year, they will doubtless be able to obtain
lucrative employment.
BRAIN WORK.--This excessive tension at which
the mental faculties are kept for ten or eleven months of
the year, iu the vortex of City life, by the never-ending
competition and struggle for pre-eminence in social and
professional status, to which all who live by their wits or
their talents are now subjected, produces a wear and tear
of body and of mind the ultimate result and acme of which
arc premature old ace. Its marks are easily discerned
by the attentive observer. Yon may read them in the
careworn countenance, in the hair prematurely grey, in
the lank and stooping figure, in the languid and feeble
gait ; and the physician also detects it in the habitual
dyspepsia, in the disordered circulation, and in the degene-
rated and worn-out heart. The failing memory, . the in-
ability to fix the attention long upon any subject,: and the
irascible or desponding temper, mark the equal decadence
of the mental pant passe 4, of the physical powers.
..A.