that instead of having a surplus of
L2,913,673, as in the commencement of 1831, the expenditure of 1831
being L19,646 below that of 1830, there was a falling off to the amount
he had already shown; and the real excess of expenditure over income in
1831 was the sum of L698,857. Lord Althorp attributed this deficiency
chiefly to the reduction of taxation in 1830. The whole reduction of
taxation in 1831 amounted to L4,780,000. From this, if L3,364,412 were
deducted as the loss on customs and excise, there would be a balance
of L1,414,588; a clear proof that the resources of the country had
increased by nearly a million and a half in the consumption of articles
not affected by taxation. He owned he had been too sanguine in the
calculation he had made of increased consumption from reduced taxation,
but it was satisfactory to observe that, notwithstanding the great
reduction of taxation, the deficiency in the revenue had been so small.
He felt it right to state, he continued, that the deficiency at the
end of the year was increased in the April quarter, the amount in
that quarter being L1,240,413. Finding this deficiency his majesty's
ministers had endeavoured to meet it, not by an increase of taxation,
but by a reduction of expenditure. They had lowered the estimates by
more than L2,000,000, and had reduced official salaries and appointments
to the utmost of their power. In two years, the reductions they had made
in salaries and officers amounted to L334,353. Lord Althorp next entered
into a statement of the gradual decrease of the surplus, and then
proceeded to the estimates for the year ending-April, 1833. He
calculated that the expenditure of the year ending April, 1833, would
be L45,696,376, which would be L2,162,051 less than that for the year
ending in April, 1832. He next proceeded to give a comparative estimate
of the income as it was in April, 1832, and as he calculated it to be
for 1833. From the various items he expected a total of L46,470,000;
deduct from that L45,696,376, as the amount of expenditure, and it left
a surplus for the year ending in April, 1833, of L773,624. Against this,
however, was to be set the deficiency of 1832, amounting to L1,240,413,
and take from that sum the surplus of L773,624 for 1833, and it would
leave a deficiency on the two years of L466,789. Mr. Goulburn contended
that, according to the noble lord's statement, there would be a
deficiency at the end of the current year, on account of