THE SINKING FUND.
Next week I shall be making special reference to the effect on the Sinking Fund of the Chancellor's present system of budgeting, but in this place it will be sufficient to explain to those who are unfamiliar with the National Accounts why it is that during the past year the amount actually applied to the Sinking Fund was only £57,509,000, whereas it almost appeared from the way the Budget was presented at the beginning of the year that £65,000,000 was definitely hypothecated. The explana- tion is to be found in Mr. Churchill's introduction a year ago of the system of including the Sinking Fund in the general charge on the debt. That charge, during the past year, mainly owing to the high interest rates on Treasury Bills already referred to, has worked out at 17,490,566 above the estimated total for the year, and accordingly that figure has been taken from the Sinking Fund. In other words, it is the Sinking Fund and not the general Ex- chequer Accounts which has suffered by reason of this increased debt charge.
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