went back at the rate of one-half per cent., and the expenditure increased a great deal faster than our revenue in the first of these periods. During the last two years our revenue has actually gone back, while our expenditure has increased 2 per cent.; and for 1881-2 Mr. Gladstone said he was obliged to ask for a further augmentation. Mr. Gladstone then alluded to the "Income Tax" as the easiest and simplest way of illustrating the growth or decline of the wealth of the kingdom. A penny in the pound income tax in 1841-2 produced £772,000. No change took place in the area or circuit within which the tax was applied for ten years, and in 1852-3 the £772,000 had only grown to £810,000; but between 1852 and 1877-8 the penny in the income tax, after taking into account all changes in the way of allowances or remissions, so as to make the comparison approximately precise, had grown from £810,000 to £1,990,000. That includes Ireland, all additions, and all remissions. You will please to take into account that this tax for 1877-8 and for 1881-2 goes upon the supposition that the basis of the tax remains and all changes are taken together. Well, we have this startling fact to make us "pause, mark, and inwardly digest," that having grown to £1,990,000 in 1877-8, in 1881-2 the penny in the income tax, which most strictly represents not the general condition of the people, but of the wealthier classes of the country, has gone back for the first time since it was imposed. The penny in the pound income tax that realized £1,990,000 in 1877-8, estimated on the same basis, is calculated only to realize £1,943,000 for the year 1881-2. Yet our expenditure is increasing. For 1880-1 it was £83,108,000; for 1881-2 Mr. Gladstone estimates it at £84,705,000. How is this? Why is the charge for the Army increased from £15,588,000 in 1880-1 to £16,509,000 in 1881-2— "nearly £1,000,000 sterling increase"? Then there is the increase of £160,000-"the normal growth," as Mr. Gladstone called it, of the Education Vote. The last few years have been very trying to manufacturers, agriculturists, and distributors; and if proof were needed of the wisdom of our "free trade" policy, it would be manifest by the manner in which our great and growing population have passed through such a trying ordeal, following so quickly after the most prosperous years the nation ever had. But it would be unwise to ignore the lesson of the last few years; the fact stares us in the face, that our prosperity seems to have reached its maximum. Whether it be so or not, as prudent men, as a commercial nation, as honest men, we must reduce our expenditure. Why should it keep on increasing, till it has got to such an extent that it is beyond the bounds of efficient management, under our present system of Parliamentary government ? Goethe was wont to declare that "there was plenty of time for everything;" and again, "One has always time enough if one will apply it well." But does the House of Commons apply its time well? Do they understand "economy"? It is a commonplace that time is money," "time is character." The reckless waste of time by our present system stamps the House of Commons as the most thriftless assembly in the kingdom. There is too much time lost over petty quibbles and personal squabbles for them to attend to the plodding details of finance. I am aware that " efficiency is the wisest economy;" therefore, do not ask for "niggardly, cheese-paring economy;" discharging a few men from the dockyards, begrudging fair pay to hard-worked and under-paid telegraph clerks, postmen, and others. The expenditure will not be reduced by these petty details; but the whole system of national expenditure requires overhauling by a financial committee, every penny of outlay being carefully scrutinized, and the people satisfied that "they are getting value for the hard-earned money" taken from them. "Public contentment as to taxation is the foundation of social order; and the surest guarantee for the depth and permanence of that contentment is the conviction brought home to every man's mind, that he himself helps to determine the expenditure which he has to pay" (BONAMY PRICE). The people will soon want more than this. If prosperity does not soon return, they will not be content" to pay increased taxes; they will want to know why the expenditure has reached such a large sum. This is certain, that local taxation is not likely to be less, with power to raise "local loans," which are increasing, and amounted last year to upwards of £30,000,000. Local expenses, the military and naval expenses, the "extravagant educational expenditure, want instant revision and checking. Will the people ever learn that it may be accepted as an axiom that a system by which the Imperial Exchequer provides funds for local authorities to spend, is always the most extravagant and costly to the ratepayers? Examine this educational item: in 1865 the grant per head for children was 9s. 4d.; in 1870, 10s. 1d.; in 1875, 13s. 3d.; and in 1880, 15s. 6d. Take the number of men voted yearly for the Army for the last fifteen years: in 1865 it was 78,410; in 1870, 84,361; in 1875, 92,386; and in 1880, 108,287. Until we have "direct taxation," we shall continue this fatal policy. People pay on tea, coffee, tobacco, and beer without thinking; but if they only knew what is deducted out of their weekly earnings by these four taxes alone, they would soon want to know the reason why. It has surprised me that they so readily pay the Government "one halfpenny" with every pot of beer they drink. If statesmen are wise, they will be getting ready for the day when the masses will demand a serious reduction in the present extravagant expenditure of this country, both imperially and locally. It is the duty of every "taxed person" to demand that steps be at once taken to" diminish the national expenditure;" it is the duty of every "taxed person to know what he pays towards the expenses incurred for the government of his country; it is the duty of every man to voluntarily and willingly pay his just share, and to be willing to pay what he has to pay, by an open, honest method, by a system that will take as little out of the pocket of each individual as is compatible with the efficiency of the public service; and for each to contribute his share in that willing spirit, that the cost of collecting the revenue be reduced to its minimum. CONCLUDING REMARKS. "For 'tis the mind that makes the body rich: "Habit is the deepest law of human nature. SHAKSPEARE. It is our supreme strength; if also, in certain circumstances, our miserablest weakness." CARLYLE. "It never occurs to fools that merit and good fortune are closely united." MR. GLADSTONE paid a tribute to the value of difficulties-how they make "true men" think, if resolved to overcome obstacles in their way. He said, in his Budget speech, April 4, 1881: "Where freedom is given to industry, a method is discovered of making that freedom a benefit. Maize was considered somewhat hard for brewing, and it was found, when experiments were thoroughly made, that it contained too much oil-a very grave objection. But, then, the further discovery was made, that this excess of oil was not diffused through the general body of the grain, but lay entirely in that which is called the germ of the grain; consequently, the wit of man, thus provoked and stimulated, has extracted the germ from the grain, and turned it to its proper account-namely, that of making oil which we can burn in our lamps. The maize, relieved of the excess of oil, and now made suitable for brewing, was applied for that purpose; and I understand that the result is not only satisfactory as regards the beer that proceeds from it, but also as regards this point, that the residue, after the extract has been taken, is found to be even more valuable, decidedly more valuable and profitable, for the feeding of cattle than the residue formerly obtained." This result is attributed to the substitution of the beer tax for the malt tax, and the value of the change was the liberation of the trade, which, it was said, would act advantageously to those who supply the raw materials of trade. The gain in the value of maize is only one of the instances which prove, if you leave private enterprise alone, that it will go to work always with an ultimate benefit, that is sure to reach the public in time. Take barley also before the change in the law, it was not profitable to use light barleys; but to meet the change in the law, a very large house tried the light barleys; they lost in quality, say, 6s. per quarter, but gained in price 10s. or 4s. on every quarter of barley they used. 66 : Shallow men believe in luck, believe in circumstances: it was somebody's name, or he happened to be there at the time; or it was so then, and another day it would have been otherwise. Strong men believe in cause and effect" (EMERSON). The difference between false success and true success really lies here he who truly succeeds gains his own ends by a faithful process of "righting things" for the benefit of others as well as for his own. In" Economy" my object has been to get men to have faith in "principles," the right of the individual to be free to make his own contract, the wisdom of leaving the prices of all articles to the Creator's laws of supply and demand, the imperative necessity of England's rigid adherence to "free trade ". the basis of all economy-as by its action nations becom wealthy, and by its action alone will mankind eventually become one brotherhood, each working for the other; having at last realized the great truth that the doing to others as we would be done by, is the wisest policy that any individual can follow. I have endeavoured to show that "6 economy of resources, obtaining the maximum of result from the minimum of means, is the essential point, the foundation-stone upon which the Divine arrangement of the universe is based; therefore, I have argued that man's policy should be in harmony therewith, and based upon the same adherence to sound economic laws. Economy has been generally treated of; also Political Economy; and under "Free Trade" is pointed out how we suffered in the past, how many other nations are suffering |