tinued commercial depression, were not such as to encourage experiments in finance or readjustments of taxation. Nor was the Chancellor of the Exchequer, new to his office, and a member of a Cabinet representing a minority in the House of Commons, likely to adventure upon any bold step or untried path in the region of fiscal policy. The first budget of Mr. Ward Hunt was, under these circumstances, of a cautious, and unambitious character, the Minister prudently contenting himself with carrying on the financial concerns of the nation for the current year through the medium of the existing machinery, and with the least possible disturbance to the arrangements of trade and the convenience of the tax-payers. On the 23rd of April the right hon. gentleman made his financial statement in a rather thin House, and amidst but slight manifestations of public interest in his disclosures. He said that though the elasticity of the revenue had not equalled that of former years, a retrospect of the financial condition of the country was not unsatisfactory. In April last Mr. Disraeli reckoned on a revenue of 69,130,0007., which in November he increased by supplementary income-tax to 69,970,000l., but the actual income was 69,600,0007, showing a deficit on the estimate of 370,000. The Customs had exceeded the estimate by 650,000%.; stamps, by 200,000.; taxes by 90007.; and Crown lands by 50007., while Excise had fallen short of the estimate by 538,0007.; income-tax, 663,000l.; Post-office, 20,0007.; and miscellaneous, 14,0007. Comparing next the revenue of the year with that of 1866-7, the nominal increase was only 165,000l., yet by taking into account on one side the extraordinary receipts of 1866-7 (250,0007. China Indemnity, and 500,000l. New Zealand Bonds), and on the other, the loss in this year's revenue from the reduction of the marine insurance, and from the arrears of uncollected income-tax, the real increase from the expansion of the revenue this year was 808,0007. He stated next, with great minuteness of detail, the branches of revenue and the items which differed in one way or other from the estimate and from last year's yield, showing that in most of the principal items a falling off in Excise was met by a corresponding increase in Customs, and vice versa. The whole deficit of 370,000l. on the estimates would have been more than made up, he maintained, if the income-tax had all been collected, for though there was a dead loss of 200,000l. revenue in this item, the arrears amounted to 463,0007. Reviewing rapidly the effect of last year's alterations (mentioning that the actual loss on marine insurances amounted to 270,0007., and that the number of dogs. brought under duty had been increased from 445,645 to 828,341), he passed on to the expenditure of the past year, which he placed at 71,236,2427. Comparing it, then, in the same way, item by item, with the estimate and the expenditure of the previous year, he showed that, while it fell short of the estimate by 52,0007., it exceeded the expenditure of 1866-7 by 4,455,000, and disclosed an excess of expenditure over income for the year 1867-8 of

1,636,000. This deficit had been met out of the balances in the Exchequer, and, as a consequence, with the other excesses of payments over receipts, the balances which, at the end of March, 1867, stood at 7,294,000l., at the same date in 1868 were only 4,782,0007. This, though a larger reduction than was wise, had not been productive of any practical inconvenience. Mr. Hunt passed then to the finances of the coming year, and dealing first with the ordinary expenditure, and putting out of sight for the present the Abyssinian expedition, he estimated it thus:

Having explained the changes in the charges for the debt, the result of which was an increase of 80,000l., and offered some reasons for the increase in the Estimates-which he showed in certain cases to be more apparent than real-he stated his proposals for raising the revenue of the year. Assuming the tea duty to be continued, and taking the Income-tax at 4d., he thus calculated the next year's income:

Mr. Hunt then explained how he proposed to provide for the extraordinary expenditure on the Abyssinian war. Premising that Mr. Disraeli's original estimate of 2,000,000l. for placing the army on the coast of Africa would not be exceeded, and would represent the cost of the expedition up to the beginning of the year, its expenses from that date he calculated at 600,000l. per month, made up thus:-Sea transport, 400,000l.; provision for troops, 28,0001; provisions for baggage animals, 90,0007.; extra allowance to troops, 10,000l.; coals, 26,000l.; miscellaneous, 35,000%. And as it was confidently expected that the expedition would be

over by the end of May, its total cost would be 5,000,000, of which 3,000,0007. remained to be provided. If this had been a permanent expenditure, Mr. Hunt said he should propose to raise some part of the sum by a tax upon articles of consumption; but considering how soon it would be over, and the double disturbance to trade caused by putting on an indirect tax for a short time, and taking it off again, he preferred to resort to an additional income-tax of 2d., thus raising the rate from 4d. to 6d. in the pound. This would produce 2,900,000l., of which, however, only 1,800,000l. would come in this year, and therefore, in order to avoid Mr. Gladstone's objectionable device of raising the additional tax on the first half-year, he proposed to take power to issue 1,000,000/. Exchequer bonds for a year, to be repaid when the second half-year of the tax came in. The result would be that, taking into account the surplus on the ordinary revenue and expenditure, viz. 922,0007., there would be 3,722,0007. to meet the expense of the Abyssinian war; and calculating this at 3,000,000%. for this year (and there was no reason to believe it would be exceeded), there would remain a surplus of 722,000l. over and above the ordinary and extraordinary expenditure of the year. He also proposed to take power to renew 600,000l. Exchequer bonds, which would fall due on March 18, 1869.

Mr. Gladstone signified a general assent to the scheme, admitting that it was wise not to disturb trade by increasing indirect taxation, and that the burden was fairly divided between the present and the future. Remarking that Mr. Hunt had not been very liberal in his provision for the Expedition, he insisted that the addition of 2d. to the Income-tax had been caused, not by the Abyssinian war, but by the permanent addition to the expenditure of the country which had occurred under the present Government. To enforce this contention he entered into an elaborate comparison of the estimates of the last three years, concluding that they had increased by 2,840,000l. since the Government came into office.

Mr. T. Baring strongly deprecated placing the whole cost of the war on income, and maintained that an addition of five per cent. to the Customs duties would not have created so much disturbance of trade as had been anticipated.

Mr. Hubbard differed from Mr. Baring, and preferred direct taxation, but pointed out that but for Mr. Gladstone's scheme for reducing the public debt, there would have been a million applicable to the war. To Mr. Gladstone's remarks on the increase of permanent expenditure, he replied that it was made necessary by the low ebb at which the late Government had left the military services, and that if we had been spending three millions a year less, our revenue would also have been less, and additional taxation would have been needed at this moment just the same.

Several members who took part in the discussion descanted strongly on the high amount of the Estimates and the want of conomy displayed by the present Government. Others urged

the propriety of giving up or suspending the operation of Mr. Gladstone's scheme for redeeming the public debt. The Chancellor of the Exchequer replied to Mr. Gladstone's criticisms, arguing that, not having opposed the Estimates of the Government for the preceding year, he was as much responsible for them as the Government were; and also alleging that the late Ministers had left the army and navy in so inefficient a state through their mistaken parsimony as to impose on their successors the necessity of increased expenditure.

The Resolutions were then agreed to.

The two great heads of Public Expenditure, those for the Army and Navy services, were this year estimated at very high amounts, each of them exhibiting an increase over the preceding year. This augmentation of the public burdens occasioned a good deal of comment and gave rise to imputations of extravagance against the Ministry, which were frequently repeated at the ensuing General Election. The charge was, however, retorted upon their opponents by the party in power, who alleged, as the Chancellor of the Exchequer had done in the speech just extracted, that it was the misplaced economy of the Liberal Cabinets that had left our national armaments in a defective state, and entailed the necessity for additional outlay upon their successors. These charges of profusion and parsimony were as usual, freely bandied about between the two parties, and probably not without some exaggeration on both sides. The general subjects of naval and military organization and expenditure were discussed at some length upon the occasion of moving the Estimates in the House of Commons. Those for the navy were explained by Mr. Corry, the First Lord of the Admiralty, on the 11th of May. Previously to the House going into Committee on that day, some serious animadversions upon our marine equipments were made by Captain Mackinnon, who called attention to numerous defects both in the sailing and fighting qualities of the recent additions to our iron-clad navy. He instituted an elaborate comparison between them and well-known vessels of the wooden navy, contending that the iron fleet was faulty, inferior, and retrograde.

Mr. Samuda commented with some severity on the treatment of the designs sent in to the Admiralty by private shipbuilders in recent competitions, and complained particularly of the partiality shown to the broadside over the turret system.

After a brief vindication of the Admiralty against these complaints, Mr. Corry proceeded to state the amount and purposes of the Estimates for the current year. Their amount he set down at 11,177,290., as against 10,976,2537. for 1867, giving an apparent increase of 201,9377., but, taking into account transfers of various items to and from other departments, the real increase, he showed, over last year was only 98407.; and the naval policy of the year, he added, would be to concentrate on the increase of our armourclad fleet as much force as was compatible with maintaining the

efficiency of other Departments. Passing to details, he dwelt for some time on the first vote-the number of men, and, pointing out that its amount must depend mainly on the strength of our foreign squadrons, he discussed at considerable length the suggestions made last year by Mr. Childers, on this particular. Among other causes for maintaining these squadrons he pointed out that if we withdrew them or over-reduced them, in the event of a war we should lose the command of the sea on distant stations, and our commerce would be destroyed; that the foreign squadrons were the schools of our sailors, and that in most cases their strength was governed by considerations of policy, the Foreign-office being in reality more responsible than the Admiralty. He mentioned, too, that while the cost of the French navy was 6.35 per cent. of the value of the trade of France, the cost of the British navy was only 2.73 of the value of our trade. But after making careful inquiries from the commanding officers who had recently returned home from foreign stations, the Admiralty had made some reduction in those squadrons, which he explained in detail, amounting in all to fifteen ships and 2758 men. Looking, therefore, to all considerations-to the state of Europe and to the importance of not breaking faith with the continuous service men, who numbered 16,754 out of the 18,963 blue-jackets in the fleet-the Admiralty had not been able to propose a greater reduction in the number of seamen (which includes all ratings) than to 35,700 as against 37,015, the number of last year, but taking into account an increase of 450 in the Coastguard, and a decrease of 1700 Marines, there was a total decrease of 2542 men. But notwithstanding this reduction there was an increase in the two Votes for wages and victuals, owing to various causes, such as increase of allowances, rise in prices, transfers of accounts, and the like in the first case of 85,6827., and in the second of 94,2587. Proceeding to the two great votes-No. 6 (Dockyards) and No. 10 (Naval Stores)-Mr. Corry stated while on the first there was a decrease of 151,8617., on the second there was an increase of 269,3327., of which 231,9417. was for the purchase of contract-built vessels, showing as a balance of the two votes an increase of 117,5277. After explaining in great detail the shipbuilding programme of last year-which he showed had been pretty closely carried out, particularly in the dockyards, both as to the number of tons ordered and the expenditure sanctioned, Mr. Corry next stated the programme for the coming year. Besides the work already begun, but not completed-amounting to 1,116,894 tons-it included eight new ships, viz. two unarmoured corvettes (to cost this year 42,2067.) and six armour-clad vessels-three to be built in the dockyards and three in private yards. In the dockyards were to be built the Sultan, a first-class iron-clad, the Iron Duke, a second-class, and the Triumph, of the Audacious class; and in private yards, a sister ship to the Triumph, a single turreted Monitor of 2700 tons, and a ram of 2137 tons. Of all these Mr. Corry gave full