GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



335 



Duchy of Lancaster, James Bryce ; First 

 Lord of the Admiralty, Earl Spencer; Chief 

 Secretary for Ireland, John Morley; Secretary 

 for Scotland, Sir George Trevelyan ; President 

 of the Board of Trade, A. J. Mundella; Presi- 

 dent of the Local Government Board, G. J. 

 Shaw-Lefevre ; Vice-President of the Council on 

 Education, A. H. Dyke Acland ; Postmaster- 

 General, Arnold Morley. Herbert Gladstone 

 succeeded Mr. Shaw-Lefevre as First Commis- 

 sioner of Works, but without a seat in the Cabi- 

 net. On May 13 Mr. Mundella resigned, because 

 if he continued President of the Board of Trade 

 he would have to decide on the proceedings to 

 be taken under the bankruptcy laws in the case 

 of the defunct New Zealand Loan Company, of 

 which he was a director. Mr. Bryce succeeded 

 to the office, and Lord Tweed mouth was made 

 Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. 



The Session of 1894. Parliament reassem- 

 bled on March 12. Home rule was not included 

 in the programme of legislation set forth in the 

 Queen's speech, but the first place was given to 

 an evicted tenants bill. Bills were promised 

 for the amendment of the registration law. the 

 abolition of plural voting, Church disestablish- 

 ment in Wales and in Scotland, the equalization 

 of rates in London, the extension of local gov- 

 ernment in Scotland after the English model, a 

 local veto on the liquor traffic, conciliation in 

 labor djsputes, amendment of the factory act 

 and of the mines acts, and reform of the method 

 of investigating fatal accidents in Scotland. 

 Eaily in the session pledges were given commit 

 ting the Government further to an English 

 education bill, an Irish education bill, a rail- 

 way and canal traffic bill, and a crofters bill, 

 as well as to bills for accelerating registration 

 under the parish councils act and for carrying 

 out the Bering Sea award, and support was 

 promised to the repeal of the crimes act and re- 

 vision of the land laws of Ireland, home rule for 

 Scotland, extension of the small-holdings act to 

 Ireland, and a bill to pay parliamentary elec- 

 tion expenses out of the rates. The miners' eight- 

 hours bill, on which the Cabinet was divided, 

 was treated as an open question. It was inti- 

 mated that all measures affecting Scotland were 

 to be referred to a standing committee. 



On the opening day Lord Rosebery put his 

 office at stake by admitting to Lord Salisbury 

 that Irish home rule could not be carried until 

 Plngland as the "predominant partner "is con- 

 verted. An explanation that was a retractation 

 was regarded as satisfactory by the Irish Na- 

 tionalists. On the opening day also Mr. Labou- 

 chere carried by a majority of 2 an amendment 

 to the address praying that bills that, after 

 having been rejected by the House of Lords, 

 have been passed a second time by the House 

 of Commons, shall be signed and pass into 

 law. Sir William Harcourt moved the rejec- 

 tion of the address and the presentation of a 

 new one simply thanking the Queen for her 

 gracious speech, and this motion, the Radicals 

 having intended a demonstration against the 

 House of Lords and against Lord Rosebery 

 rather than an attempt to legislate immediately 

 and thus risk defeat and dissolution, was carried 

 unanimously. The promised local veto, Scotch 

 disestablishment, and mines bills were never in- 



troduced. The W r elsh disestablishment was un- 

 satisfactory to the Welsh members because it 

 saved the life interests of present incumbents. 

 When the Welsh members threatened to desert 

 the party, and some of the Parnellites already 

 were voting with the Conservatives because the 

 ministers refused their demand of a general am- 

 nesty, dissolution seemed to be impending. The 

 discussion of Sir William Harcourt's democratic 

 budget averted the danger. This budget, in- 

 volving new principles as drastic and radical as 

 anything in the Newcastle programme, occupied 

 almost the whole time of Parliament. 



The expenditure to be provided for was 3.994.- 

 000 more than that of 1893-'94. There was an 

 increase of 3,120,000 in the navy estimates, of 

 470,000 for education, and of 88,000 for pub- 

 lic works. Including 7,250,000 for local ex- 

 penditure, the total to be raised was 102.700,- 

 000. The annual expenditure of the Govern- 

 ment had increased by 23,823,000 in twenty 

 years. There had been an increase of 12.000.- 

 000 in the army and navy, of G,500,000 in 

 grants to local authorities, of 6.186,000 for edu- 

 cation, and expenditure under these heads was 

 expected still to grow greater. With the aid of 

 the Suez Canal dividends, now released from 

 hypothecation, and by applying the new sinking 

 fund to the discharge of the debt of 5,746.- 

 000 still outstanding that was incurred under 

 the imperial and the naval defense acts, the 

 revenue would be relieved of that incumbrance 

 and the end of 1896 would see it cleared off. 

 The decline in the revenue experienced since 

 1890 had ceased, and a slight recovery in re- 

 ceipts from taxation was noticeable in the last 

 six months of 1893; still the total estimate of 

 revenue was less than the actual receipts of 

 1893-94, which had been swelled by arrears 

 from the previous year and other windfalls. The 

 net deficit to be provided for by fresh taxation 

 was 2,379.000. Sir William Harcourt proposed 

 to cover this by a revision of the death duties 

 and adding a penny to the income tax, taking 

 advantage of these operations to change ma- 

 terially the incidence of the taxes, and by in- 

 creasing the duties on drink. The effect was 

 actually to relieve the lower middle classes from 

 taxation and impose much heavier burdens on 

 the wealthy, especially the landowners and the 

 brewers and distillers. The income tax was 

 raised from 7d. to 8d.. but of the sum yielded by 

 the extra penny 85 per cent, was given up in the 

 shape of remissions at the bottom of the scale. 

 The amount of income exempted from taxation 

 was raised from 120 to 160 on less than 400, 

 while on incomes of between 400 and 500 the 

 exemption is 100. The new spirit tax is Gd. a 

 gallon, and the tax on beer Gd. a barrel of 3(5 

 gallons. The former created discontent among 

 Scotch and Irish supporters of the Government, 

 while against the other the brewers and barley 

 growers cried out. The graded income tax de- 

 manded by the Radicals having been rejected 

 by Sir William Harcourt on account of the diffi- 

 culty and uncertainty of its assessment and col- 

 lection, he appeased them by introducing the 

 principle of graduation in the new death duties. 

 The existing death duties, consisting of the pro- 

 bate duty, the account duty, the estate duty, the 

 legacy duty, and the succession duty, he aggre- 



