The age-herald., 1899-04-30
COST OF THE BRITISH NAVY
Responsible for the Necessity of Extra
 Taxation.

| London Cable to New York Sun.
 The house of commons was crowded to- 1 day in view of the presentation of the | budget statement by the chancellor of the
 excheuuer Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, as l it is recognized as being of exceptional im-
 portance. Sir Michael began by congratu-
 lating the nation upon the facts that trade
 had increased that tho number of unem-
 ployed workers had decreased within the l past year, that wages were higher and that
 exports lad increased. There had been q rush of tobacco through the customs for | the past few weeks, he said, in expecta- | ton of the reimposition of a duty of six
 pence per pound, but he would leave to-
 bacco alone for the coming year. feeling sure that there would be an increase in | the revenue therefrom.
 | The expenditure for the coming year
 would be G112,92D OO0 or 900 above l that of the previous year. This increase, l he explained, was largely due to the votes 1 for the navy. The total increase in the country's expenditure for the last five | years, he said, was about 919,073000 He 1 hoped that the successive annual increases | would be to a large extent met by the l country's prosperity, which was such as
 to produce automatic increases in the l revenue from the existing taxation See 1 ing that the increased expenditure was due l so largely to increased armaments, he
 hoped for a great deal from the coming | disarmament conference
 The taxation, he announced would in- 1 clude new stamp duty of five shillings l per G100 on the normal value of documents representing foreign and colonial bonds
 which are now not dutiable, and also a du . ty of sod. per G100 on loan, capital and debenture stock created by corporations o,,I a,,io tI,O c+a
 The final balance sheet, he said, showed a total estimate of revenue of Gill ,157, ,0O0. Various methods of meeting the deficiency had been suggested. He had been asked to tax bicycles and also to put tax upon
 perambulators, of which domestic persons
 knew che value. 0aughter) He felt that
 a further alteration of the tobacco duties
 would cause a disturbance of trade and
 make things worse than before for smok-
 CTS.
 The new taxation plans propose an in
 crease of the duty on the capital of com
 panies from two shlings to five shillings
 per G1D0 of capital ana a charge of six pence instead of one penny stamp duty on
 letters of allotment and renunciation, which s expected to produce G450,000. The plans also propose an increase of the sur tax on sparkling wines from two shillings to two shllings sixpence, to impose a duty of three shillings on still wines imported in bottles and to increase the other wine duties by sixpence. This, it is estimated, will produce G420000.
 Dealing with what is known as the new sinking fund, namely, the balance of 925,- 000,000 which is annually devoted to the in- terest and management of the national debt, the chancellor of the eXchequer nouncod a record balance of G7,7360 GOO, which would be available for the reduction of the debt in connection with the new sinking fund and the system of terminable annuites, by which the debt nowadays is mainly reduced. He explained that be- tween the years 1902 and 1904 the sum of e7000,000 annually would accrue to the new sinking fund, which, unless parliament altered the system, would in 1905 exceed e9000,000 annually.
 The chancellor said that it was not de- sirable in the interest of steady reduc- ton of the debt that this be allowed. He therefore proposed to follow the example of MT. Gladstone in somewhat similar cir cumstances in 1881, namely, to proong the terminable annuties thereby reducing the annual charge thereon. This would enable the government to cancel the national savings bank debt of e13O00 ,000 and also to cancel consols to the amount of 915,- GOO 000 held by the National Debt commits sioners for the savings bank. and in place of these to establish two terminable an- nuities expiring in 1923, when consols will be redeemable at par The scheme ought | to result in reducing the annual fixed debt charges from G25,00O00G to G23O 900.
 Forestallng the criticism that this treat l ment of the sinking fund would be bene- 1 fitting todays taxpayers at the expense of | the taxpayers Of 1902, the chancellor con- | tended that the nation had established | navy of such strength that it had been the | main factor in avertjng great war in | 1893, the burden of which would have fallen | not only on themselves. but on the taxpay- l CTS of 1902. |