The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1845-02-18 00:00:00

bill until the I ever, was

nderstand i
e should h

ther the general opinion upon the
f which he had great con-

f opinion that the proposed unio

give rise to conside

my rigt
hand b;

a which several honourable

part, leave was given to bring in the bill

pears on

one hand by an estimated re-
duction of taxes to the amount of £400,000. I allude to
the wool duties, and to the duty on gloss, which were re-
moved at a subsequent period of the session, but on the
other hand credit was taken, for £IOO,OOO, on account
of the China expenditure, which vote it is not necessary
to refer to, because that will not affect the calcul,tion of

nd, because there is a saving on the one

alarming the reduction the other. My right
hon. friend stated at the same time, that in consequence
of the postponement of the payment of £700,000 the sur-
plus would be reduced, and that the real surplus would
be £2,273,000. That estimated surplus was, in point of
fact, in making the account of the s!li of January last
very cons'derably exceeded. It will appear by reference
to the document of the state of finance and expenditure
of the sth of January last, there was a surplus of
£3.357,000, and that instead of £51,790,000, the sum cal-
culated upon by my hon. friend ; the amount of net receipts
of revenue on the sth July last, was £54,003,000. The
'ncrease of revenu -4 re-

ceipts from the customs
toms revenue, as estims

rose chi , rrom the increase or
Instead of 1;21M0,000 of Cus-
'y right hon. friend, the

ated by

actual receipt was, on the sth of January,
The Excise, which was taken by my right hon. friend, at
£13,000,000 produced on that day, £13,380,000. There
was some money received under the treaty with China,
amounting to £385,000, fur which my right hon. friend
bad not taken credit, but the re-ult was, on the sth Jan,
last, an income of £54,000,000, instead of the estimated
income of £51,795,000. The expenditure on the sth Jan.,
1845, had been, on account of debt and consolidated fund,
£32,862,000, and on account of the payment then made
for the army and navy and other public services,
£17,458,000, making a total expenditure of £50,617,000,
and leaving a surplus, as it appears on that account,
amounting to £3,357,000. (lit ar, and cheers.) At the
same time, although that is the actual account, as ap-
-stb January, yet the house will be naturally
anxious to have an estimate of the account as it will pro-
bably appear on the sth of April next. For the period of
which I am speaking, I am of course hound in a matter
of this kind to give an estimate rather than a positive
statement, but certainly 1 have every reason to apprehend
that the balance, comparing the actual receipts of revenue
within the year on the sth of April next, with the expen-
diture, will amount to a sum of above £5,000,000 for the
year. (Cheers.) The accounts, to any one cursorily
reading the papers which had been presented to the house,
might appear rather confused, on account of the arrange-
ments which are necessary to be made in different quar-
ters for the p iyment of the public creditor. At one period
of the year, taking the year ending on a particular day of
one quarter, the charge for the debt will appear consider-
ably more than the same charge for another year termi-
nating on the same day of another quarter. I cannot
trouble the house with the accounts in detail on that
point, but I think—taking the estimates as they are ready
to lay before the house-1 think the house may calculate
upon our being in possession, on the sth of April next, of
a surplus of revenue received during that year, as com-
pared with the expenditure, of, at least five millions.
Now, I know that my right hon. friend states that that
will not appear on the face of the acoounts. For instance,
£2,000,000 of money have been applied to the payment of
Exchequer-bills, on account of the opium compensation.
I do not wish, however, to deal to-night with the intrica-
cies of accounts. I wish to state to the house what is our
real practical position with respect to finance severed from
all questions of annual account ; and I think that I am
justified in stating that such has been the improvement of
the revenue, apart from the property tax, that the surplus
which I have stated, namely, a surplus of at least
£5,000,000, will be the surplus of revenue this year as
compared with the last. (Hear, and cheers.) About
£385,000 will have been received on account of China
money; there are other small sums from the South Sea
Company ; and taking them altogether, perhaps the whole
amount received from casual sources will be £500,000,
which we cannot rely on permanently. Of course a portion,
and a very considerable portion, of the revenue is derived
from the income tax, which has produced £5,190,000.
The stamp duties produced in the last year £7,100,000,
and the taxes—that is to say the land-tax and the assessed
taxes—produced £4,200,000. Then, with respect to the
post-office, I feel warranted in estimating the revenue of
the post-office for the next year at £700,000, for the ac-
tual produce of last year was £691,000. The crown lands
produced £1,500,000; and I will take them at that esti-
mate. As to the miscellaneous sources of revenue, I am
inclined to take them at nearly the same amount which
they actually produced during the nest year—that is
£250,000. Now I have been here speaking of the ordi-
nary permanent sources of revenue, and tie net amount
of my estimate on these is £47,900,000. Besides, I cal-
culate that during the coming year we shall receive
£600,000 on account of China. So that. even if the
house should refuse its sanction to the continuance of the
income-tax, I think that I should be entitled to take
credit for half-year's produce of that tax, viz, £2,600,000.
which will come into the receipts of the year ending the
sth of April, 1840. Therefore. with this £2,600,000 on
the account of China, I am warranted upon calculiting a
clear revenue of £51,100,000 even if the house should
refuse to continue the income-tax. The charge for the
debt could of course be calculated. On the filth of April,
1846, the charge for debt will be £28,450,000, and then
you will have the full advantage of that reduction which
took place last year on the interest of the Three-and-a
Half per Cents. The charge for debt, funded and un-
funded, £28,450,000 ; the charge on the consolidated
fund, £2,400,000, making a total of £30,850.000 on ac-
count of the debt. The estimated debt voted last year
amounted to £17,700,000; the total charge, therefore,
assuming the present system to remain unaltered, would
be £48,577,000. Deduct that sum from the total revenue,
that is £48,557,000 from £51,100,000, still the surplus on
the sth of April, 1846, will be £2,523,000. Sir Robert,
at great length, alluded to the estimates for the army and
navy—in our military establishments he would propose no
increase; but on account of our naval service, and of the
ordnance connected with the navy, there will be an in-
crease in the estimates of one million. The estimate I
now present of the total expenditure of the present year is
as follows :—The charge for the Debt, £28,395,000, the
charge for the Consolidated Fund, £2,400,000, making a
total of £30,795,000. The vote of supply for the army,
£6,617,800, for the navy, £6,936,000, for the ordnance,
£2,142,000, for the miscellaneous estimates, £3,200,000,
being together, £18,895,000, and added to the charge for
the debt of the Consolidated Fund, £49,690,000. For the
revenue of next year I will take 51,100,000. The charges
for the present year, £49,690,000. And, even with this
increased expenditure, there would be a surplus on the
sth of April, 1846, of between one and two millions.
An HON. MEmnsta on (the Opposition benches.—The
half-year's income-tax ?
Sir ROBERT PEEL.—Of course the half-year's income-
tax. lam not now estimating the permanent expenditure

).500.0(