TusrE are some passages in the Budget speech of the Chancellor of the Exchechants out here, and others which throw ner which have special interest to mer-light upon the condition of the English people that it will be useful to note. Mr. Goschen said that the revenue from dutiable articles had generally remained stationary and the expenditure had largely increased; and this want of expansion was particularly noticeable in the Customs and Excise. The revenue from the former had fallen off £450,000 last year and he went over and explained the past and present yield of the different items which compose our Customs tariff. The revenue from coffee was actually Jess than it was twenty years ago, but that from cocoa had doubled in the last fifteen years. The consumption of tea had doubled since 1857 when it was 2.45 Ib. per head whilst it was last year 4.871b.per head. The Chancellor thought the House might congratulate itself on the fact that whereas England received 150 millions of pounds of tea from China and only 28 millions from India ten years ago, she got last year only 145 millions from the former and 81 millions from her own eastern possessions. This expression of satisfaction, although it was cheered by the House, is not likely to be echoed out here, and we shall only derive a poor consolation from the fact that the British revenue has not, as the Chancellor showed, benefited by the increased consumption of tea as it would have done had our own trade remained the sole supplier. "'he progress in the rate of increase," he continued, "is not so great as it used to be, and the explanation is that the Indian tea is stronger and goes somewhat further than the China tea." Summing up his review of the Customs' revenue Mr. Goschen said:—"It may now be interesting to state how the breakfast table stands as compared with ten or twenty years ago. he fall in the price of tea and sugar. has been Been conferred by the total repeal of greater than the boon which would have
the duties. In 1866 the price of a pound of tea and sugar was 2s. 6d, in 1876 it was 2s. 1}d., and in 1886 it is 1s. 74d. I think I have now proved two things—that the revenue from constable articles is not in a satisfactory or elastic state, but that must not be attributed to a diminishing consuming power on the part of the labouring classes, but from changes in habits an in the-fiscal system." The duties on tea and dried fruits had only increased two millions since 1876 while the excise from alcohol had fallen off 4} millions, and the revenue from wine was constantly declining and in ten years had fallen off 30 per cent. The' articles on which the Customs duties are collected are so few that the Chancellor has but a limited scope in which to show his financial skill. Tea remains one of the dutiable articles in England, but Mr Goschen does not appear to have seriously considered making any change in the duty on it He tueed the duty on tobacco, placing it at the same rate at which it stood up to the last increase, of 4d. per Ib. a few years since. The result of that increase was not satisfactory to the revenue, only £550,000 out of the £750,000 augment tation which lad been anticipated, having been received. This was partly due to the consumption of tobacco having fallen off since the duty. was raised and partly to the dealers having put more water into the tobacco so as to enable them to sell at the same price as before the increase of duty.
Before the increase of duty the increase of consumption was double the ratio of the increase in population, but since then the increase of consumption has not been as high as that of the population. It was, Mr. Goschen said somewhat plaintively, only 1.42 per head, but, he added that it did not follow that the population smoked fewer cigars or pipefulls. There had been some falling off in the consumption of tobacco. The Chancellor does not approve of smoking and the consumption of fluids, which some social reformers say is th inevitable accompaniment of it, bei performed in one act, and so he Beopeees to lower the duty on tobacco. lished the Income Tax was 3d. pet pound, Inst year it wis 8d.; in 1874 and 75 the total charge on taxes was 62 millions, last year it was 75 millions. \'The revenue, on taxable commodities has not increased and the burden of taxation has fallen on the shoulders of the Income Tax payers, and this class have before them the prospect of having to contribute to Local taxation. Sound finance, Mr. Goxchen considered, required the reduction of the amount, set aside for paying off the National Debt, and he explained the means and manipulation of finances by which he expected to obtain the following results "The reduction of debt will be about £5,000,000 annually, and that will redeem about £600,000,000 at par in 52 years, and £700,000,000 in 56 or 67 Years." This may be upset by wars and rumours of war and scares of sundry kinds,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.