The Revenue account. for the quarter which closed on the
10th instant, is more favourable than the return for the corresponding period of last year—the excess of receipts being, in round numbers, 636,000/. This is supplied to the extent of 388,0001. by the Excise ; but it is admitted in the Globe, that this sum should be reduced to 35,0001. for the purposes of a fair compa- rison, inasmuch as about 353,000/. brought into the quarter's ac- count appeared last year among the receipts of the July quarter. In the Customs there is a small increase of 33,000/., and the con- siderable excess of 129,000/. in the Stamps. On the year, the in- crease is 741,0001.; but of this sum 130,000/. is derived from the sale of Crown lands, from which source 65,000/. goes to swell the quarter's receipts. When it is remembered that the comparison is made with a most disastrous period,—the receipts of the October quarter of last year having fallen to the extent of nearly 1,200,000/.,—it must be confessed that the financial condition of the country is not cheering; especially when the necessity of an increased expen- diture for an indefinite time, in consequence of Colonial misgovern- ment, must be anticipated. The Times assumes that the Corona- tion revelries accidentally augmented the Excise of the quarter : it is likely, however, that the duty on a large portion of the taxed articles consumed on that occasion was paid into the Exchequer during the July quarter, preparations having been made for some time before the Coronation-day. On the other hand, the extraor- dinary consumption must have taken off large stocks, and in- creased the amount of subsequent purchases by tradesmen and innkeepers.
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