The Revenue Returns for the first three-quarters of the current
financial year were published on Monday, and show an increase over the preceding year of £4,379,000. The Chancellor of the Exchequer's estimate of increase for the entire year was L2,821,000, so that there is already a surplus of more than a million and a half, and although the increase for the quarter just ended is mach smaller than that for the two previous quarters, the net gain on the three months amounts to £883,693, and the returns for the last and most profitable quarter—that which includes the greater part of the Income-tax contributions—have yet to come in. The most noticeable augmentations in the receipts during the past nine months are under the heads of Excise, Stamps, Estate-duties, Customs, and Post Office, where the increase has been £1,020.000, £860,000, 2720,000, £661,000, and £360,000 respectively, and it may reasonably be expected that corresponding results will be manifested in the receipts from Income-tax, which will come into the next quarter. Here the Chancellor of the Exchequer's estimated advance was only £300,000 for the year, but even thongh it should impair his reputation as a financial prophet, we may hope that he will prove to have underestimated the ultimate return as much as in the other cases.
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