Star.
London, England, 1810-05-17 00:00:00

Total for Great Britain ... X 46,079,006,
He should next proceed to the Ways and Means for
meeting this supply

• WAYS AND MANS.
Annual Duty on Malt, Offices, and Pensions - .e 3,000,000
Surplus already voted for the Consolidated Fund of

1809 -
Surplus for the present year
War Taxes -
Lottery - -
Exchequer Bills handed
Vote of Credit -
Loan -

2,961,602
4,400,000
19,500,000

350,000
3,311,600
9,600,000
8,000,000

EE46,223,202

This total exceeded the supply by the sum of
8144,202.
Having stated to the House the total amount of
those grants, it became his duty to make some obser-
vations on the different items. As to the two fi:stl
items of the ways and means, it did not occur to him
that it was necessary to make any particular obser-
vations at present. But with respect to the war taxes,
he felt that it would be incumbent upon him to state
to the House those reasons which made him conceive
himself to be warranted in taking them at the amount
that he had stated. As to the war taxes, they had
last year produced 822,707,000. The produce of
the tax upon property actually paid into the Trea-
sury in the last year was 813,751,233, of which sum
the assessment had only been 811,400,000. The ex-
cess of the receipts above the assessment of the• year
was 82,351,233. It would not, however, be reasona-
ble to calculate upon so large a receipt in the present
year, as the excess of the receipts above the assess-
ment consisted of arrears which had been collected
with great activity and success. Such had been the
activity used in the collection of the arrears, that
there was none due now of a later date than the year
1807, and the arrears which now appeared to be due
were as follow :—For the year 1807, the arrears were
£409,923 ; for the year 1808, £530,368 ; for the year
180% 1,54.0,7501. and for the present year 6,241,4051.
This last sum, however, could not properly be called
arrears, as the assessment for the year 1310 was to the
sth of April, which was only last month, and which
sum is now in the regular course of collection. It was
therefore hard to state whether there were any ar-
rears properly belonging to the year 1810. Since the
year 1804 there had been granted on account of the
property tax, 8115,880,000, of which there had been
received 4107,441,478, leaving a total arrear of
88,437,522. There could be no reason to think that
the receipts of the property tax in the present year,
could fall short of 411,400,003, and when he should
add to them the estimated amount of the other war
taxes, he thought he might fairly reckon on the
whole amount of the war taxes for the year, at
819,500,000. The average produce of ti.c war
taxes on customs during the last three years had been
89,060,000, that should be taken as their produce
in the present year, added to the 811,400,030, it I
would form 'a total of above twenty millions. He
would, however, be content to take it for the present ,
at nineteen millions and a half. With respect to ...lie
Lottery, he knew an Honourable Gentleman oppo-
site him (Mr. Whitbread) was still positive in his in-
tention of opposing the raising of any sum of m nteyi
whatever in that way. Whatever weight his oajecl.
tions might ultimately have, he was sure the Honou-,
rable Gentleman would be much gratified to find
that many of the most serious evils which were for-1
merly attendant upon Lotteries had been, in a great
measure, if not wholly, removed, by different sugges-
tions which he hina,self had made. The new plan ofJ
having the whole Lottery drawn in one day cut up
by the roots that system of insurance upon the draw.
ing of the Lottery which produced such mischievous
effects among many of the lower classes of the com-
munity. When the drawing of the Lottery conti-
nued many days, it was hardly possible to prevent
illegal insurances ; and the great mischief attending
them was, that the poor were often induced to risk
all that they were worth, and expose themselves to
absolute ruin, in the hope of recovering their first
losses. The destruction of insurances had almost en-
tirely removed those evil consequences so much .:om-
plained of in former Lotteries. He did not think that
giving up the Lottery altogether would by any means
destroy the spirit of gaming among the lower orders.
—He'thought, on the contrary, that it might drive
many of them to modes of gambling which would be
much more pernicious to them, as partaking of the
evils attending insurances ; he meant the Little Goes,
and things of that description. He trusted that when
it came to be argued, the House would still be of
opinion that this source of revenue should not be aban-
doned. As to the large sum of £8,311,000, in Ex-
chequer Bills funded, the Vote of Credit of the last
yea: had been defrayed from these Exchequer Bills.
And as to the Vote of Credit for the present year, he
did not think it necessary for him to use any particu-
lar arguments to recommend •it. He trusted the
House would perceive the necessity of the usual vote
of Credit in the present state of the country, and the
circumstances arid situation of the world in general.
He came next to the consideration of the loan, con.
sisting of eight millions for the service of reat Bri-
tain, and four millions for the service of Ireland ; and
he had the satisfaction to inform the Committee, that
he had contracted for the twelve millions that morn-
ing, on terms infinitely more favourable to the public
than had ever been at any fotmer period known.—
(Hear, hear, hear.) The terms he had proposed were)
to give for every £lOO subscribed, Zl3O in the 3 per
cent. reduced stock, and to take the bidding in the 3
per cent. Consols. ' The contract was finally com-
pleted upon an offer on the part of the contractors to
take XlO 7s. 6d. in the Consols, in addition to the
£1,30 reduced Annuities for every XlOO subscribed,
making in the whole £l4O 7s. 6d. for e4pli ROO.—
The amount of interest *upon the money borrowed

was, **afore, but 4444.5 d. per dent.; ss *2 the
loan of twelve millions for the service of Great Bri-
tain and Ireland, was thus borrowed at 15s. 70.
per cent. below the rate of legal interest, (New, hear.)
The total charge that would- arise to the public, in.
chiding the sinking fund, and management upon the
loan, would be but d 5 13s. per cent. The Commit-
tee would be enabled to appreciate the advantage de-
rived to the public upon this loan, by adverting to
the terms upon which the loan of last year had
been effected. Gentlemen would recollect, that the
Loan for the service of the year 1809 had been pro-
cured at an interest of £4 12s. 10d. and that such
terms were on that occasion looked upon as most fa-
vourable. It would be seen, therefore, with satisfac-
tion, that according to the statement he had just sub-
mitted, the Loan for the service of the present year
had been obtained at the rate of Bs. 7d. per cent. less
than last year, and it would be for the Committee to
decide, whether, so far as the transaction was con-
nected with the situation of the country, it was to be
regarded as a proof for the better or the worse.—
(Hear, hear.) It would be in the recollection of the
Committee, that at a former period of the. Session he
bad submitted a proposition to the House for funding
a certain proportion of the Exchequer Bills outstand-
ing in the .5 per cents. The stock created by that
operation, added to what was created by the tran.l
saction of the Loan, constituted the whole amount
of the addition to the public debt. In consequence
of the Loan there were created in the 3 per cents. re-
duced £10,400,000; in the 3 per cent. consols, ,
£B3o,ooo—making a total on account of the Loan of
I £11,230,000. Now, if to this amount were to be
added the stock created on account of the funded
Exchequer Bills £8,581,727, it would give a total
of addition to the public debt of Great Britain in the
present, year of £19,811,727. The charge for in-
terest upon this addition to the public debt wason the
Reduced Consols, £336,000; on the Exchequer Bills
funded in the 5 per cents. 8429,086—forming a total
annual charge of £765,986. To this charge, how-
ever, was to be added, an account of 1 per cent.
Sinking Fund, £198,117, and charge of manage-
ment, £6735, which would make the whole of the,
annual charge to be provided for, including the dif-
ferent rates of interest, and charges for the Sinking
Fund, and of management 89705833. It now be-
came his duty to bring under the consideration of the
Committee the means to meet so large a supply : but
he had first to bring under the observation of the
Committee the fact, that the charge upon The whole,
inclusive of every expence, was but 85 19s. otd. per
cent. The cause of its being even so high was obvi-
ously to be found in the transaction f9r funding the
Exchequer Bills in the 5 per Cents.
Thus he had stated in detail all the heads of the
Ways and Means of the year, with the exception of
the surplus of the Consolidated Fund. It remained
for hint, therefore, to put the Committee in possession
of the grounds of his entertaining a reasonable pro.
spect as to the produce of that fund ; and also to
shew why he did not propose to take the surplus
,for
the present year at more than £4,400,000. The to.
tal charge upon the Consolidated Fund for the year
1810 was £34,421,996, the total produce of that
fund being £41,441,770, up to the sth orApril last. 1
The difference, therefore, between the charge and
produce of that fund amounted to £7,019,774.
When this difference was so large, it might be matt
of surprise to the Committee that he did not estimate
the surplus for the present year higher than he pro-
posed to do. But from that difference there was to be
deducte dthe deficiency of the preceding year, amount-
ing to £358,712, and also £2,000,000, which had
already been voted in the present Session as the pro.
duce of that fund above the estimated surplus of last
year. These deductions would reduce the difference
to little more than the sum at which he proposed to
estimate the surplus of the fund for the present year.
He next proceeded to acquaint the Committee with
the grounds on which he calculated that its produce
would be nearly the same in the current year. The
Consolidated Customs in the year ending the sth,
April, 1810, had exceeded their produce in the ante-
cedent year. This branch of the revenue had produ-
ced in the last year £5,251,449, whereas in the pre-
ceding year it had produced but £3,719,000. He
was aware, however, that it would not be either rea-
sonable or just to assume, that the receipt of the Con-
solidated Customs would in the present be the same
as in the last year. He should take the average of the
two years, which, the sum of both being £8,970,449,
would be £1,485,224. The amount of the revenue
of Consolidated Excise, he proposed to take at
what it had produced last year, £16,880,625. The
total amount of Excise revenue durinii the last year,
allowing for the duties on tea postponed, and the
sugar duties transferred from the Customs to the
Excise, amounted to upwards of £24,000,000. The
Excise revenue, in 1808, had produced £23,000,000,
but in the accounts for the Nisi year, there was a
blank left for the duties on sugar in the last quarter,
which had not been received, but which, estimated
according to the receipts of the preceding quarters,
would raise the receipts of the last year to above
£24,000,000, or £24,476,009. So that the receipts
of that year would be to those of 1808, nearly as 24
to 22, and to those of 1807, as 24 to 2$ ; and if the
receipts should continue during the remaining quar-
ters to exceed the receipts of the last year, in the same
proportion as the first quarter's receipts had exceeded
the receipts of the corresponding quarter of last year,
he had a certainty of a very considerable increase. It
would, he had no doubt, be a satisfaction to learn
that the malt duty, in which there had been some
Falling off, was now beginning to recover ; and that
there had been an increase of from forty to fifty
thousand pounds in the last quarter.
He now came to the Assessed Taxes. rile produce
of these taxes thelast year was £6,459,000 ; but upon
comparing the receipts with the actual assessments,
be found that the receipts were considerably more
than the assessments, an increase which could only
arise from the exertions made to collect the-arrears.
The amount of arrears last year, in the assessed
taxes, was not less thati £600,000, whereas he had
the satisfaction to inform the Committee, that the
whole amount of such arrears, at present outstanding,
did not exceed £300,000 ; a state of progress in the
effectual collectiop of those taxes, width must prove
to the House and the country that no neglect at least
had taken place in that department. Making allow-
ance for the arreaff collected within the last year, he
should take credit, on account of the Assessed Taxes,
for 05,860,000.