In the House of Commons on Tuesday Mr. Lloyd George
opened his Budget. The first question that is always asked in such cases is : Are there to be any new taxes P The second is : Is any taxation to be taken off P In both cases the answer is "No," for the slight readjustment of the Cocoa Duties, described by us elsewhere, will not affect the taxpayers. The next question always put in regard to Budgets is : What is the realized surplus P In this case the answer is a little com- plicated by the fact that the arrears in taxation caused by the throwing out of the Budget by the Lords have not yet been completely adjusted. Making allowance, however, for the fact that some twenty-six millions were collected in the past financial year which do not belong to it, there is for the past two years a realised surplus—that is, a surplusage of cash in the Treasury—of about 25,607,000. The existence of this surplus is due to the fact that, in spite of very heavy Supplementary Estimates, the expenditure was considerably leas than the Estimate, while the increase in revenue over the Estimate amounted to £4,060,000. The Chancellor of the Exchequer proposes to spend his realized surplus as follows :—
£1,500,000 to sanatoria for insured workers.
X250,000 loan at 31 per cent. to Uganda and East Africa.
£1,500,000 to the Development Fund.
X2,357,000 to the Old Sinking Fund (relief of debt).
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