Mr. Asquith's account of the progress already made in paying
off the Debt since the war was, on the whole, very satisfactory :— "The funded Debt on April let, 1906, was 4634,048,000; on March 31st, 1907, it was .2631,929,000, a reduction of 42,119,000. The unfunded Debt was £65,713,000, as compared with 451,713,000, or an apparent reduction of .214,000,000. The actual reduction, however, was only .29,000,000, owing to the temporary' drop in Treasury Bills. The permanent reduction effected during the year on the National Debt was 413,714,000; but it was only right to say that .23,400,000 was due to the Old Sinking Fund left by the late Chancellor of the Exchequer. The additions made to the National Debt by the late war were as follows :—Treasury Bills, £13,000,000; two sets of Exchequer Bonds, amounting in all to £24,000,000; war loan and stocks falling due in 1910, 430,000,000; and a new issue 'of Consols, .292,000,000 ; no that the total addition made to the Debt of the country in consequence of the war was £159,000,000."
Of this War Debt, 220,000,000 had been paid off, chiefly in the last two years. That is assuredly no mean achievement.
