We must conclude our notice of the Budget by mentioning
the way in which it has been received in the country. If we are to judge by the Unionist Press, it i being received with something like consternation by the various interests affected, and those interests are many and important. In a sense, too, almost all the arguments adduced by the interests penalised are sound arguments, for almost every argument against a fresh impost is economically a good argument. We must not forget, however, that, disagreeable, dangerous, and impoverishing to the individual as the process is, the money has been spent, or ordered to be spent, and must be got somewhere, and, the only way to get it is by raising new taxes. Those who are now howling should not either have approved, or been so feeble in their opposition to, old-age pensions, which are the cause of the whole trouble.
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