444 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. (THE NAVY FINANCES.) 



of the British army lies not merely in its small 

 numbers as compared with Continental armies, 

 but also in the neglected state of its equipment 

 and organization. The army could not be sent 

 into the field with a sufficient artillery or en- 

 gineer force, and, when it was at last consid- 

 ered necessary to prepare for mobilization, the 

 War Office was overwhelmed with the rush of 

 business, and the manufacturing resources of 

 Great Britain were taxed to supply the stores 

 that for ten years have been supposed neces- 

 sary in the arrangements for mobilization. 



The Navy. The navy in 1884 consisted of 

 288 vessels, of which 62 were armored ships, 

 including 7 unfinished. The number of vessels 

 in commission was 150. There were besides 

 78 torpedo-boats, 23 first class, 48 second class, 

 and 7 of wood. The ironclad navy comprised 

 6 turret-ships, including one not completed at 

 the end of 1884, and 6 barbette-ships, 5 of 

 them unfinished, for great naval warfare ; 10 

 battle-ships of the second class, one of them 

 unfinished; 19 cruisers, 3 of them not com- 

 pleted ; 10 vessels suitable for coast and har- 

 bor defense ; and 12 antiquated cruisers. With 

 the appropriation of 3,100,000 obtained in 

 December, 1884, for additions to the navy, be- 

 sides 1,600,000 for naval ordnance, and 825,- 

 000 for fortifying coaling-stations, the Gov- 

 ernment prepared to build 4 new first-class 

 ironclads, 5 belted cruisers, 1 torpedo-rain, 7 

 sea-going torpedo cruisers called scouts, 5 gun- 

 boats, and 15 first-class torpedo-boats. The 

 depression in the ship-building trade was re- 

 lieved by orders given for a good number of 

 these, while three of the ironclads were begun 

 in the Government dock-yards. During the 

 Afghan crisis the work of construction and re- 

 pairing was kept up night and day. The poli- 

 cy adopted in the construction of new vessels 

 was to confine the armor-clads to a displace- 

 ment of not more than 10,000 tons and a cost 

 of $3.750,000, giving special attention to the 

 element of speed. The ''Admiral " type, repre- 

 sented by the " Collingwood " and the " Ben- 

 bow," was abandoned, and the plan of a com- 

 plete belt of armor was no longer condemned. 

 In July a series of practice manoeuvres were 

 conducted in Bantry Bay. A flotilla of tor- 

 pedo-boats and small craft attempted to re- 

 move a wire boom without success; but the 

 torpedo-ram u Polyphemus," steaming seven- 

 teen knots or more, eluded the attacks of tor- 

 pedo-boats and Whitehead torpedoes aimed at 

 her hull, and broke the five-inch steel wire ca- 

 ble without a tremor or a pause, though she 

 would have succumbed in an actual attack to 

 the sunken torpedoes exploded by contact. 

 This successful performance recommended the 

 type of the " Polyphemus " to the Admiralty, 

 which decided to build a number of .fast steel 

 rams on the same model. The torpedo-boats 

 that have been built to accompany the ironclad 

 squadrons were found to be unsuitable for 

 ocean manoeuvres, and will have to be replaced 

 with others of larger dimensions. The recent 



English type of ironclads, in which deck-room 

 is sacrificed to safety, are for long cruises ex- 

 tremely uncomfortable. The unarmored coast- 

 guards are too short and slow to be manoeu- 

 vred in combination with modern ironclads. 

 The adequacy of a boom for harbor protec- 

 tion, guarded by mines and torpedo-craft, was 

 satisfactorily established. Among the vessels 

 completed during the year, the principal ones 

 were the " Colossus," the " Collingwood," and 

 the ram " Polyphemus." Among the new ships 

 launched were the " Benbow " and the " Cam- 

 perdown," whose imperfect. belt of armor has 

 been the subject of much contention. During 

 the Russian war-scare a volunteer system for 

 coast defense was organized. Volunteer engi- 

 neers and submarine mining militia have been 

 assigned to the principal ports. The sum of 

 6,425,000 was voted for naval armaments, coal- 

 ing-stations, and submarine mine defenses after 

 the accession of the Conservative ministry. 



Finances. The total revenue for the year 

 ending March 31, 1885, was 88,043,110, and 

 the total expenditure 89,092,883, leaving a 

 deficit of 1,049,773. The revised estimate of 

 revenue made in November, 1884, when the 

 income-tax was raised from 5d. to d. in the 

 pound, was 86,733,000. The original esti- 

 mate was less by about 1,200,000, the ex- 

 pected yield of the extra penny of income-tax 

 during the remainder of the financial year, the 

 portion remaining to be collected in 1885-'86, 

 being estimated at 720,000. The actual re- 

 ceipts from the income-tax were 12,000,000, 

 exceeding the estimate by 750,000. The cus- 

 toms receipts were 20,321,000, .about half a 

 million more than the estimated amount. The 

 surplus over the estimates, both in the income- 

 tax and in customs, was largely due to acceler- 

 ated payments, induced in the latter by antici- 

 pations of fresh duties on tea and tobacco. 

 The excise produced 26,600,000. The spirit 

 duties, customs and excise, yielded 18,295,000, 

 which was 141,000 less than the previous year. 

 The stamp duties produced 11,925,000, which 

 was 435,000 more than in 1883-'84, owing to 

 collections of arrears in the succession duties. 

 The yield of the land-tax was 1,065,000, that 

 of the house duty 1,885,000. The total re- 

 ceipts from taxation were 73,796,000. The 

 receipts from other sources were 14,247,000, 

 the post-office producing 7,905,000, the tele- 

 graph service 1,760,000, the receipts from 

 crown lands 380,000, the miscellaneous reve- 

 nue 3,175,000, interest on advances 1,027,- 

 000, the latter showing a decrease by non-pay- 

 ment of the 199,000 of interest on the Suez 

 Canal loan by the Egyptian Government. 



The expenditures exceeded the estimates in 

 a greater degree than the receipts. The origi- 

 nal estimate of supply was 54,188,000, and 

 the revised estimate in November 56,673,000. 

 The actual expenditure was 58,066,000. The 

 charges on the consolidated fund amounted to 

 31,103,000. The permanent charge for the 

 debt was 28,884,000, about 90,000 less than 



