Daily Kennebec journal., 1901-04-19
TELLS THE TRUTH.
Continued from page 1.)

difficulty however. is not so mucn tl.c
| cost of the war in South Africa as IN"
! operations in China, as they viii m
| crease our ordinary expenditure. Even
| If the war came to an end within three
or four months Uhis statement caus II
| cheering from the Irish members) "
sooner than the honorable members
suppose. our ordinary expenditures
would not permit OF the remittance "f
the additional taxation proposed I"r
| war purposes last year
| 1t therefore becomes necessary to
put our expenditure on broader blS"F.
| The country has reached point when
il is necessary to widen the scope "t
| taxation but the direct taxpayers niI@'
! bear their share OF the burden. | pro-
pose that pence shall be added to the
| income tax. making l shilling and :
pence in the pound. The extra , pence
will realize G3S0O.000. There will b. n"
addition to the beer. Wine tea, splriiS.
or tobacco duties. l am not disposed
| to impose customs duty on manu-
factured imported goods as suggested
by Sir Howard Vincent.
| The average consumption of sugar
| is So pounds per head Sugar is taxed
| in every ether community in Europe
and is taxed in the United States. IN
! this country taxes remained on sugar
long after the institution Of free trace.
| What propose Is not Il protective duty
but an adequate public necessity ms
| arisen for some duty of which the H.
Loring classes should bear a fair shni-.
! The effect Of my proposals on the prirc
of sugar is doubtful. as the price Of
sugar Is governed by the bounty Sys-
| ten. | propose n duty on refined sugar
| of 1 shillinGS and > pence a hundro |
weight. \ half penny per pound Won. !
be shllingS ana pence, SO a mar2ih
Of 6 pence Is left 10 cover the CUSTOMS
| handling. etc. There Is. therefore no
| reason why tax of 4 shillings ana ;
| pence should increas. the retail prIc,
more than half a penny per pound. Tho
graduated scale Of taxation will b. as
| follows:
| Refined sugar which is polari1ed
at sS and upwards and which repre-
sents two-thirds of the total imports.
would pay the full tax. This will dimiE-
| ish to n minimum of shilings per
| hundred weight on raw sugar pol1"-
lied at &c. This scale is only tentative
{ nj | am perfectly willing to listen to
criticism and the benefit OF experience
: nj better knowledge.
| ".iolasses. in which are included the
! grocery syrups consumed largely by
| tho poor. pay shillinGs per hundred
| weight. and glucose. Of which n great
| deal has been heard lately ana which
81 used in the manufacture Of Jams
| nd acrntcd waters. win have to bear .
tax oi shilling ana pence. ! antiri-
pate n yield Of ca. 100. .b00 from this tax.
The West Indies will not he exempt.
4 My next proposal is q novel one. un-
known III this country for - years. IL
l. m export duty Of a shilling 4 ton
al coal. In aiming to secure revenue
from coal am not sacrificing trade.
| The imposition Of 2 shilling. which Is
| infinitely less than thc fluctuations
IN price. w;ll 40 no zeal injury to tn
coal trade. even suppnsing that tho
export Of coal is checked. | am not
sure that even that result will be I"
evil. From this source expect C2.lt0 :
GOO making an aggregate Of cll.0"h .hAo
! from direct taxation.
My final balance sheet Will tc: From
taxation revenue OF c122 200 900. from
non-tayation. E2l .055. .00o. total of
| Gas. 81 600. propose to reduce the
expenditure 10y again suspending the
sinking fund to else. .962 600. This shows
q deficit Of $50. .767 600. To which mus
be added cl.250.GOo for the fresh ic"'
have to borrow. ! must ask the II 'lTe
TO give me borrowing powers consider
ably in excess Of this deficit Of Cal 900.
COO In order 10 finance the exch"Que'
| ask powers to borrow SEQ 000, 900 by
means of consols.
"As to obtaining contributions from
the Transvaal. Sir David Balfours; re-
portS are not encouraging at present.
think the House will see that the war
has brought that country to the verge
of ruin. Opposition cheers greeted this
remarkD This can no longer be "cr
,idared. The small war has cost c151.-
coo 900 double the cost Of the 'rmeal
war There is C61 900 600 Of the fund
cd debt redeemable within the next 10
years.
II have tried to put before the IIous..
a true report Of our finances for thr
present and Immediate future. In orr
time no chancellor Of the cxchruu":
has had difficult n task and nom
has had q more induigent audience.
Sir Michael Hicks Beach concluded
at G4l =. N. amidst loud applause.
having spoken hours and 26 minutes.
Sir William Vernon Harcourt COM
plmented the chancellor of the cx-
chequer on the ability he had show n,
declaring that his speech was chlr@ c
teriZed by honesty. quality very
much lacking in the conduct of the
war. in telling the House and the coun-
try the truth in regard to the position.
The budget. continued Sir Will."n,
Vernon Iiarcourt. was but q chapter
in the disastrous incident of the war.
1t WAS proposed to borrow altogether
| C121 600. 600 more. four times as much
as was borrowed foT the Crimcan var
Sir William argued that England was
not assisting now as she was AZ tho
close OF the French war and declared
IN conclusion that il was the most dis
astrous statement that the eXchc",c.
had ever made.
After the speech of the chancellor
of the cXchequer. in the House Of Com
mons. Mr.. John Redmond. the Nation
! alig' leader. asked what interest Ire
land had in the war which led to this
extra ordinary. disastrous and disgrace
t full financial situation. He protcstcd
against fresh taxation. which he said