A Few notes from the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Budget speech should have interest to those engaged in the China tendo, and from thole general bearing on commerce. He pointed out that the revenue from tea was £200,000 short of the estimate formed by Mr. Childers ast year, but the actual yield was ce derably above the yield of 1883-84 which was £4,270,000, the average of the last two years being 44 millions ater-ling. The receipts from tobacco increased gulf " million sterling in late years; but the duties on wines are " cone stantly declining source ut revenue French spirits also give less, but the deficievoy here was partly made up by an inoresse on German spirile, And regarding the income now derived from alovholic drink, Sir Win, Harcourt showed that the receipta from spirits Inst yenr were am on less (han in 1883-84, and, in another part of his apecoh, he made the following instruefive comparison between the revenue from this source ten years ago and what it is now In 1875-6 the revenue derived from wine, beer, and spirits was as follows:—Front wine, £1,753,000; from beer, £8,161 000 from foreign 4 141,600; and from its, £15,154 000, making together £31,209,000, Now the poptilation at the time was 32,749,000 Thera. fore, the contribution from wine, spirits, and beer amounted to 19s. 1d. per head for that population in 1885-6 we have & population vf 36,325,000, and hud they been consuming xs much wine, beer, and spirits as they did in 1875-6, the yid the revenue on account of these a1 les would have amounted in the lust fivaneial Your at the rate of 19s. 1d. per head of the population to £34,660,000. 'The actual yield wns £26,830,000, 'The receipts from Wine in 1885-6 were £1,225,000; from her, £8,405,000 5 from fore' i home spi wit did wt that 9d. per the ratio out of consideration, it is aupplying an alevholic revenue of actually less nit did in 3875-6 by the sum of The decline on these duties Inst yone wns the lurgest over known, amounted to £1,179,000, much of which the Chu dae to great change in the habits vf the people. Hy did not wish the House lo suppose that this diwina. tion of aluohulic reyeune is due to a failure of the consuming power of the people, which, somewhat doubtful phrase, he explained by showing that over two millions of the falling off in the last ten lind been recovered from other articles, On this point his Sgures cortninly prove thnt if the power of consuming or drinking alcohol ting fallen off, Ube power of outing shows remarkable expansion, He said:
In 1870 there were imported into thin country 430,800,000 eggs, while in 1884 there were 993,600,000 exes imported, OF oranges and Temons in 1870 there were ported 2,000,000 Dusiivls, und in 1004 4,500,000 bushels. Of raw fruit there were imported in 1870 1,200,000 bushels, and in 1884 5,000,000 bushels. Then there is another article which think is of immense importance—I moan petroleum. The ens tries for home consumption of petroleum in 1870 were 7,000,000 gallein 1884 53,000,000 gallons, You wi lect the days when the labouring to go to bed almost by the a he could not afford coal for a fire hardly a farthing rushlight for but now he gets that extraurd and bright light to illumis and the child who has been educated at the Buard school is able to read to his pat in the evening, an enormous addition.
to his comfort." Then take an article like spices In 1870 the home consumption ut spices was 16 millions of pounds, and in, 1884 it was 28 millions of pounds. Again, sugar has ineressed from 144 millions of cwts. in 1870 to millions of ewts. in 1884. The cheapnosa and abundance of sugar hare been ong
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.