The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. MONDAY, MAT 11, 1908. THE BRITISH BUDGET.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 110, 11 May 1908, Page 4

The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. MONDAY, MAT 11, 1908. THE BRITISH BUDGET.

' Mr Asquith's Budget speech is" of more than ordinary interest, chiefly from the fact that part of the appropriation it foreshadows comprises an expenditiire of several millions for old age pensions,. Another point of interest is the large surplus for* the year, this amounting to over 4$ millions. A still larger surplus is anticipated for the next year. A further striking feature iB the great reduction in the National Debt, this having been brought down from £731,163,418 to £713,133,418, a reduction in one year of £18,030,000. By the end., of 1908 Mr Asquith expects this will be further reduced to it696jd00,000,' the amount at which it stood in 1888, Mr Asquith pointod' but that ,the .reduction in the Debt sunder ,th.c present Government /had teen at the rate of 15J.- millions a year, as against nine millions during the term of office of his predecessors. The interest how. being saved on this Debt amounts to the appreciable sum of one and a quarter million pounds per annum. All this he .was careful to point out had been done out of taxation, and he thought, perhaps not unreasonably, that it was now time to slacken off and relieve the taxpayer. One remarkable statement contained in the Budget is that the income-tax has yielded £1,180,000 above the estimate,/which would indicate an unaccountable looseness in .estimating, for which some explanation will no doujxt be forthcoming. The Budget of the previous yearv by no means anticipated such a large surplus as has actually been realised. Then Mr Asquith estimated the receipts to be £142,790,000, and expenditure £142,457,000, snowing a modest surplus of £333,000. The actual results have been: —Receipts £156,538,000, expenditure £151,762,----000, surplus £4,776,000. From this it will be seen that Mr 'Asquith is by no means such an expert in forecasting as, say, Sir Joseph Ward, whose estimates have been singularly verified by actual' results, though there is of course no comparison between oil r humble finances and those with which the British Treasurer has to deal. Mr Asquith proposes to dispose of his surplus by a reduction in sugar duty of a farthing in the pound, which will account for £3,100,000. The balance will be devoted to paying old age pensions from January 1, 1909, to March 31 of that year, which is expected -to- absorb j £1,200,000. Much adverse criticism, I both in the House and the press, has been evoked by these proposals, the main contention appearing to be that the surplus should not be disposed of in face of the naval requirements, larger shipbuilding being needed to keep pace with the developments or the German navy. This is the contention of The Times, but since costly ! building operations have been* proceeding; while/this surplus was accruing, there aoes not appear to be anything in the contention. There is no'proposal to cease the building j of warships in the future. The Lon- j don press speaks with many differing j voices. The Express considers the ' Budget a great one, with a keynote \ of sound finance and social reform,; while The Chronicle considers it the most reckless of modern times. Other ' journals assert that free-trade is i doomed, though how this conclusion ; is arrived at is difficult to understand. However, the Budget, taken, as a whole, is probably .all that Mr Henry Chaplin declares it to be, the greatest effort since Gladstone's great Budget. That it is comerehensive . and lucid is only what might have- j been expected of Mr Asquith, who \ is nothing if he is not .thorough. j