The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-04-30 00:00:00

THE BUDGET.

We have to acknowledge the kindness and promptitude
of Mr. Aylward, news-agent, in enabling us to present
the following information thus early to the public.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.-MONDAY.

On the motion of the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
the house then went into a committee of ways and means,
Mr. Greene in the chair.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER rose and said,—
He thought it desirable to avail himself of this opportunity
of bringing under the consideration of the house the view
of the financial condition of the country which the house
is entitled to expect, and which it must be anxious to re-
ceive at the bands of her Majesty's government. He was
happy—and be was sure those hon. gentlemen who differed
from his views would be happy also—that theviews which
he had entertained of a speedy revival of industry and
commercial enterprise had been realised,_ and that the
alarming forebodings which were indulged in had turned
out to be groundless. He called the attention of the hottse
to the situation in which they stood when this question
was last before them, touching more particularly on the
China opium debt. The balance sheet showed on one side
£2,000,000 to have been received from the East India
Company and-the China 'opium claim. The estimate he
had made of the public income during the course of last
year, has undoubtedly been very greatly exceeded. Toe
amount that has been received from the Customs is
£21,426,000, instead of the £19.000,000 at which he had
estimated it. This included £350,000 arising from the
duties on grain and wines, the importations of both of
which were consideralq greater than was expected. The
duty on sugar had increased £200,000 and upon tea
£300,000. There was an tow:Dentition also in the duties
on cotton wool, amounting to £200,000, an indication of
increased activity in the manufacturing districts. He es-
timated the excise revenue at £13,000,000, and the amount
it yeilded was
.12,900,000. _. The taxes estimated at
£4,200,000, produced 4,192,000. The increase from the
Post-office, he was happy to announce, exceeded anticipa-
tion, the receipts were £628,000. The revenue from the
Crown lands, estimated at 130,000, produced 147,000.
The miscellaneous estimates were £870,000, the receipts
were £803,000. The total of the estimates op these
several items were £50,150,000, and they had produced
£52.138,840, in-ing an increase of £2,700,000 beyond his
calculations. The army expenditure last year was
£6,188.000, beir', a redaction of £300,000! Taking the
sums tOgetherhehad calculated en a surplus of £700,000,
but it had from the causes shown, and £650,090 less
being _required for the navy, produced a surplus of
£4,165,000. (Loud cheering). At the close of
last year there was a deficiency of £2,400,000.
He however believed That deficiency to be rather appar-
ent theta real, and reeommended to the House. to make no
provision for the payment of that deficiency—not to raise
means by lOan for the. purpose' Of-getting rid of it, but
that it should be defrayed out of the surplus of 'future
years, as circumstances, from tithe to time, might alto v ;
and he was happy to be able to announce .to the House
that the deficiency for 1843, which amounted altogether to
£2,749,000, has. been clsared off and discharged out of
the produce of the revenue of the present year, and after
the discsarge of the debt incurred in, the course of last
year, it will enable*US to present to the public a surplus of
£1,400,000 on the Ist of April last passed.—(Cheers.)
So far then as the past year is concerned he believed the
House would agree with him that his statement was .sa7
tisfactory. We will now proceed to consider the estimates
and prdspects for the year on which we have entered.
111 r CO L LETT (Athlone.)—What is the amount of the
property-tax ?
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER.—£S,3IS,OOO,
which is somewhat larger than the estimate he bad made
last year, in consernienee (as we understood) of there be-
ing a larger return from ScatlandAlian he had anticipated.
Now, Sir, in making the estimate for the year on which
we have entered, he would adhere to the rule he had laid •
laid down fur tlimself on a former orea.,ioo, that of not
being betrayed into too sanguine expectati :ns, which the
fut.mruAvould not bear out. He therefolmeuptend laim-
selt wan taking the Customs at little more fban time aniount
they have actually produced last year, viz., £21,500,000.
£830,000 of whieh was 'deriVed from corn; and as the
state of the harvest in this country was not yet ascer-
tained, he thought it prudent to estimate tie Customs at
no more' than they had produced last year, viz.,
£21,500,008. He also estimated the Excise as in the year
gone by, at £13,000,000. lie took the Stamps at
£7,000,900, the Assessed Taxes at £4,200,000, and the
Property Tax at £5,100,000. To these he added the Post-
office at £600,000 only, and, for this reason, tie revenue
of the Post-office made some little progress in the course
of last year, and he doutted riot that in the coarse of next
year it wi.uld make a certain progress also. The Cro,n
both' he would take at £130,000, and the miscellaneous
estimates at £250,000, making' a- total of £51,793,000.
With regard to the Natiotial ilea the payritent for the last
year wr.s £29,300,000—f0r the present, £27,697,000:—
(Cries of " Hear, hear.") The deficiency of what must
be paid in the present year, as comeared with last, amounts
to £1,400,000; but the House must not he led into the
delusion that that is the real decrease. The real diminu-
tion of the debt, in the present year, was one-half of the •
benefit deri, eable from the Three-and. a- Half per cents:,.
being £313,000. The charges for the year on account of
the debt and consolidated fund amount to £3,097,000.
This included the Exchequer-bills, and the interest taere-
On. The estimate for the army amounted to £6,616,000.
The estimate of the navy to £6,250,003 instead of
£6,380,000, as in the piteceoing year ; and, in this expen-
diture, provision had beeil m ide for the great national
works. The orditatice to a 'Sum of £1,812,000, and the
miscellaneous estimates, he eaculated would amount to
somewhere about £3,000,000.
lie then filliided to the beneficial working of the reduc-
tion of the Three and-a-Half per cents. The amount of
dissentients in England amount to £60,994, and in Ire-
land to £13.280. He ih,n alluded to the, position of Go-
vernment with the South Sea Co. and the payment of the
grant by the 55th Ge roe 111., for which a fluid had been
sunk which now produced about £300,000 ' • and there was
a deficit of £239,000, fo which the public were paying
the Company. The total
£30,097,170, the
£11,860 a year. He recommended an arrangement
ordinary service is £17,700,000, andofforthtehereeviinruaem:dui)r:atriys
service £816,000 , makingowyuoilidul leave
eaaavktdeue
ttiaaaenll ooa fwp
next£pa
anlreBeyetess:4rf6so,l
surplus
that will
that
swt
ibt foetyadol
deducted
expenditure
thatneddi
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of
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et. h
get
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asdre willh
amountt ,
( portioni
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to the reductions which he had before alluded to) of
'b
but if iwhichwf
the surplus £2,376,000.. ("_ficar.....b.ear," and cheers.)
The hon. 'gentleman then referred to the income tax,
which had produced in 1842, £5,100,000, and that this
tax was imposed with the double object of supplying, dur-
ing an interval, the previous deficiency of the regular re-
venue of the country, and for giving time for certain re-
pealed duties to recover, so as to be as productive as be-
foie the reduction was effected. As this question is in-
teresting and important, we will give the Chancellor's
own words upon it. "The income tax was siibmir.ed by
my right hon. friend to the house and he stated his opi-
nion that if this tax were continued for five years. it would
have the effect which he anticipated. (Cries of " Three
years.") My right hon. friend took it for a shorter pe-
riod. My right hon. friend indeed took it for a shorter
period—for three years—and he did so on this ground,
that if at the expiration of that period the result which he
had anticipated to occur at the end of five years should
not occur; then the house would have an opportunity of
considering whether they would continue that impost for
the same period, or whether they would take another
mode of supplying any deficiency which might exist.. I

have no hesitation in saying that, at the present moment,
I cannot form any estimate of what those reductions may
be. When I look at the list of articles in the tariff on
which reductions of duty took place, and at the increased
consumption which has takeu place of those—when I find
that only on five has consumption decreased, while on all
the rest consumption has increased—l must say, I enter-
tain, very sanguine feelings as to the ultimate success of
the experiment. But the house will be good enough to
bear in mind that in some main articles—timber, I will
especially mention—on which a reduction of the duty has
taken place, that reduction did not come into operation
until the middle of last )ear. The experiment, therefore,
in these instances, has not had a fair trial; and 1 ani not
therefore, prepared to say what course ought hereafter to
be pursued in respect of them. In the course of the next
year the property-tax must necessarily come under
the consideration of the house, and it will be for
it to say what course it would pursue with respect
to the continuance or discontinuance of that in:post."
The hon. gentleman then went on to state the reasons
which had induced him to refuse to consent to any large
reduction of taxation. He proposed, however, to effect
some reductions, and the first was to remove the distinc-
tive duty between flint and bottle glass, the former paling
a duty of 2c1., and the ;atter of three farthings. This al-
teration is to take place on the sth July, and will only
cause a reduction of £45,000 a year. He also proposed
to repeal the duty on vinegar, which produced last year
£23.000. He wished for this n duction, because manu-
facturers would be much b- nefited by its repeal. and also
because it was an article so generally in use by the publ!c.
He would however allow one year or the dealer to get rid