GEEAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. (FINANCES.) 



445 



in 18S3-'84. The interest on local loans was 

 465,000, on exchequer bonds for the Suez 

 Canal shares 200,000, the other charges on 

 the consolidated fund 1,479,000. The dis- 

 crepancy between the estimates and the actual 

 expenditures was owing to the heavy appro- 

 priations in supply during the last quarter of 

 the year. The total army charges for the year 

 amounted to 18,955,000, the navy 

 charge 11,427,000. The remission 

 of 344,500 in the Egyptian con- 

 tributions to the army and navy 

 added that sum to the expenditures 

 under those heads. The grant to 

 India for the Afghan war was 

 250,000, the grant for 1883-' 84 

 having been 1,000,000. The civil- 

 service expenditure was 17,562,- 

 000, showing an increase due to 

 additional expenditures for educa- 

 tion. The customs and inland reve- 

 nue expenditure amounted to 2,- 

 745,000, the post-office expenditure 

 to 4,666,000, the expenditure for 

 the telegraph service to 1,731,- /; ^ 



000, that of the packet service to 

 .729,000. 



The regular army estimates for 

 1884-'85 amounted to 15,931,000, 

 which were increased by supple- 

 mentary votes of 1,624,000 for the 

 Nile and 725,000 for the Bechu- 

 analand expedition to 18,280,000. 

 The actual expenditure on the army 

 was 18, 955,000, including 292,500 

 voted to make good the Egyptian 

 contribution. The regular estimates 

 for 1885-'86 provided for an expen- 

 diture of 17,820,700. For the new 

 operations at Suakin a supplement- 

 ary vote of 942,000 was obtained, 

 and for warlike preparations in view 

 of the Afghan complications a credit 

 of 11,000,000, of which 4,500,000 

 was to cover expenditures incurred 

 in Egypt and the cost of retiring from the Sou- 

 dan, and 6,500,000 to be devoted to special 

 military preparations. Of the latter sum, 4,- 

 000,000 was to be expended in strengthening 

 the army and 2,500,000 to naval preparations. 

 Of the sum applicable to expenditures con- 

 nected with the Egyptian expeditions, 400,- 

 000 was for the army, including 750,000 spent 

 on the Suakin and '400,000 on the Wady 

 Haifa Railroad, and 500,000 for the navy, 

 including cost of bringing away the troops. 



The funded debt, which stood at 710,476,- 

 000 on March 31, 1880, was reduced to 640,- 

 631,000 in 1884, and on March 31, 1885, the 

 capital stood at 640,182,000. The capital 

 amount of the portion of the debt that was 

 converted from 3 per cent, into 2f and 2 per 

 cent, stock in 1884-'85 was nominally in- 

 creased. The reduction in the interest charge 

 effected by this conversion was 47,000 for 

 the year. During the year terminable annui- 



ties of the value of 5,514.000 expired. Dur- 

 ing the five years of Mr. Gladstone's ministry 

 the diminution in the nominal amount of the 

 funded debt was about 70,000,000, in the 

 nominal amount of the total liabilities 30,- 

 000,000, the actual amount of debt paid off 

 12,000,000, ^ which is about the amount of 

 the charges incurred for the wars of the pre- 



LORD GEORGE HAMILTON, 

 First Lord of the Admiralty. 



ceding government, including the 5,000,000 

 that was India's share in the cost of the Af- 

 ghan war, but was assumed by the Imperial 

 Government. 



Mr. Childers estimated the expenditures for 

 1885-'86 as follows : 



Permanent charge of debt 28,037,000 



Interest on local loans 552,000 



Interest on Suez Canal bonds 200,000 



Other charges on consolidated fund 1.760,000 



Army 17,751,000 



Navy 12,886,000 



Afghan war grant 250,000 



Civil service 17,687,000 



Customs and excise services 2,801.000 



Post-Office 4,855,000 



Telegraphs 1,840,000 



Packet service 



Total 88,872,000 



The total revenue he estimated at 85,180,- 

 000, based upon a 5d. income-tax. Adding to 

 the deficit of 3,732,000 the vote of credit 

 of 11,000,000, and allowing 200,000 for the 



