GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



371 



The finance accounts for 1883-'84 make the 

 total receipts of the Exchequer 87,205,184 

 and the expenditures 86,999,564. The gross 

 receipts from customs were 19,814,558, of 

 which 9,088,436 was from tobacco, 4,223,- 

 861 from spirits, 4,268,734 from tea, and 

 1,268,842 from wine. The gross yield of 

 the excise duties was 23,552,968, of which 

 14,888,419 was from spirits and 8,657,141 

 from malt. The license-tax on the sale of liq- 

 uors and tobacco yielded 2,014,348 ; licenses 

 for coats of arms, male domestics, carriages, 

 plate, dogs, hunting, etc., 1,582,734 ; the duty 

 on railroad passengers, 747,700. The stamp 

 duties produced 11,846,587, of whjch 1,890,- 

 180 comes from contracts, 4,178,503 from 

 wills, 3,351,977 from legacies and successions, 

 942,728 from receipts, and 751,302 from 

 bills of exchange. The house and land taxes 

 were 2,918,929 in amount; the income-tuxes, 

 10,978,162 ; the net receipts of the post-office, 

 7,756,688; of the telegraphs, 1,747,929 ; of 

 the domains, 517,762 ; the interest on ad- 

 vances for local works and on Suez Canal 

 shares, 1,196,128; various receipts, 4,288,- 

 056. There was a balance in the treasury on 

 April 1, 1883, of 6,972,730. 



The financial year 1883-'84 gave only a small 

 surplus, with no prospect of improvement in 

 1884-'85, No change was made in taxation 

 except a slight relaxation of the carriage-tax. 

 The consideration of the "death-duties" was 

 postponed until local taxation should be dealt 

 with. The failure of the parcels-post experi- 

 ment induced the Government to postpone for 

 another year the reduction of the rate for tele- 

 graphing to fid. a message. Toward the close 

 of the year a deficit of 1,500,000 for 1884-'85 

 was foreseen, instead of the expected surplus 

 of 250,000, while the increase in the war es- 

 timates promised to leave the treasury 10,- 

 000,000 behind at the end of the coming year. 



The consolidated debt on the 31st of March, 

 1884, amounted to 640,631,095, the capital 

 value of the terminable annuities to 91,682,- 

 269, and the unfunded debt to 14,110,600 ; to- 

 tal, 746,423,964. The deduction of the proba- 

 ble sum of recoverable credits reduces the total 

 net amount to 717,220,892, including the sav- 

 ings-bank deficit to be made good by the Gov- 

 ernment. 



Mr. Ohilders carried through in the session 

 of 1884 a bill for the conversion of 3 per cent, 

 consols at the option of the holders into 2f or 

 2 per cents by exchange at the rate of 102 

 of the former and 108 of the latter for every 

 100 of the old stock. The suggestion of a 

 conversion of the ordinary kind in the open 

 market raised an outcry among the holders of 



consols, and the timid measure adopted was 

 objected to by those who consider English con- 

 sols to be a sacred and inviolable institution. 

 The conversion was expected to reduce the 

 annual burden by 1,310,000, but the holders 

 refused to exchange their bonds. 



The Chancellor of the Exchequer failed to 

 get passed a coinage bill which proposed to 

 provide for the redemption and recoinage of 

 light gold coins by debasing the half-sovereign, 

 replacing the standard coins of that denomina- 

 tion by token ten-shilling pieces. Tampering 

 with the standard of this coin was calculated, ac- 

 cording to the opinion that prevailed, to impair 

 the international character of the English coin- 

 age, and to afford opportunities for fraud. 



The Session of Parliament The fifth session of 

 the tenth Parliament of the reign of Queen Vic- 

 toria met February 5. The speech from the 

 throne mentioned the Congo treaty with Port- 

 ugal, which was afterward repudiated owing 

 to the opposition of the powers, the negotia- 

 tions for a revision of the Transvaal convention, 

 and the suspension of the order for the evacua- 

 tion of Cairo and the reduction of the army of 

 occupation in Egypt, on account of events hi 

 the Soudan which led to the dispatch of Gen. 

 Gordon to report on the situation, and assist in 

 the withdrawal of the Egyptian garrisons. The 

 legislative programme embraced a measure " for 

 the enlargement of the occupation franchise at 

 parliamentary elections," a bill for extending 

 municipal government to the whole metropolis, 

 forming part of a scheme for the extension and 

 reform of local government which should in- 

 clude the regulation of the liquor-traffic, and 

 minor measures on merchant-shipping, railway 

 regulation, municipal elections, the Government 

 of Scotland, education and Sunday-closing in 

 Ireland, and intermediate education in Wales. 

 The tactics of the Government in evading a 

 decisive vote on their Egyptian policy, which 

 was repeatedly challenged by the Opposition, 

 and those of the Opposition in blocking and 

 retarding the extension of the suffrage and en- 

 deavoring to force a dissolution, took up the 

 attention of Parliament to such an extent that 

 the session was almost entirely barren of posi- 

 tive legislation. Mr. Bourke assailed the Egyp- 

 tian policy of the Cabinet in the debate on the 

 address, and a vote was taken without a dis- 

 cussion, which was promised later. Mr. Chap- 

 lin forced the Government to promise to give 

 effect to the resolution of Parliament of the 

 preceding summer on the restriction of cattle 

 imports for the prevention of cattle- diseases. 

 Mr. Parnell's amendment to censure the Irish 

 Executive for interfering with public meetings, 

 and leaving the disturbances of Orangemen in 

 Ulster unpunished, was rejected. On February 

 12 Sir Stafford Northcote proposed a resolu- 

 tion, based on the refusal of the Government 

 to define Gen. Gordon's position, or their inten- 

 tions regarding the relief of Tokar, declaring 

 that the recent lamentable events in the Sou- 

 dan were due to the weakness and hesitation 



