Mr. Lowe introduced his Budget on Monday, in a dull
and tedious, but lucid speech. He showed that, owing to the economy of Government, to the recovery of elasticity in the revenue—a recovery which exceeds £2,000,000, and is mainly owing to the cheapness of corn—and to the levy of taxes in advance, a process which has yielded £1,000,000 more than Mr. Lowe expected, the surplus of 1869-70 amounted to £7,870,000. Of this amount, £4,300,000 has been spent in paying Abyssinian accounts, leaving only £500,000 unsettled ; £1,000,000 in retiring Exchequer Bills ; and the remainder in increasing the Exchequer balances in the Bank of England, -which are now £8,606,000, in Mr. Lowe's opinion rather too large a sum. The Telegraphs have been paid for by selling £4,000,000 of new Consols to the National Debt Commissioners, and £3,000,000 quietly and secretly to the public ; and the addition to the Debt thus caused is to be extinguished by a creation of £7,000,000 terminable annuities payable in 1885. Government itself takes these annuities, and provides for the loss on them by a charge of £190,000 a year till they are extinguished.
