30 JUNE 1917, Page 2

In fulfilment of his promise made on June 18th, Mr.

Boner Law issued on Monday a detailed statement of the items ntaideg, up current national expenditure and the basis on which the figurea were compiled. Mr. Bow Law had stated on June 18th that for the nine weeks (April 1st—June 2nd inclusive) the total national expenditure worked out at an average of £i,884,000 per day. He now gave the exceptional reasons for this increase : first, that national expenditure is not incurred at a uniform rate throughout the year, but fluctuates considerably ; second, that it wen im- possible foi the Treasury to give final figures of total current expendi- ture until a considerable time after it had been incurred. While there is no reason to suppose that the Budget estimates for Con- solidated Fund Services or Supply Services other than Votes of Credit will be exceeded, Mr. Boner Law anticipates some excess in expenditure on Votes of Credit Services—which are almost five- sixths of the whole outgoings—under the heads of Army and Muni- tions. Much of the eependiture takes place outside of the United Kingdom—which is the principal cause of the delay in giving the final figures.