Of this surplus, the Chancellor proposed to allocate £1,000,000 to
increase the Sinking Fund, which would then stand at £28,000,000, and the balance to take off the addi- tional twopence per pound on tea which was. imposed last year. This would leave a margin of £422,000 for con- tingencies. In the debate which followed Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and others congratulated the Chan- cellor on a sober and businesslike Budget. The Income-tax payer has some grounds for complaint after Mr. Austen Chamberlain's declaration last year, but the remission of the extra Tea-duty is sound policy, both from its Imperial effect and as another step in the reduction of taxation from a war to a peace footing.• For the financial adjustment to which the rest of the surplus is devoted there can be nothing but praise. An Unfunded Debt of £77,633,000 is a serious weak- ness tothe credit of the State, and the chief cause of the low price of Consols. Of this; £14,000,000 in Treasury bills falls due next November; £4,000,000 will be paid off at once, and the remaining £10,000,000 will be renewed for ten years, £1,000,000 being withdrawn and repaid annually out of the new addition to the Sinking Fund. This special fund will, of course, be earmarked, and therefore made incapable of suspension ; but the loss df elasticity is more than • atoned for by the circumstances of its allocation.
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