Sir William Harcourt discharged what he called the "un- accustomed
duty " of making a Budget statement with his usual tact. But he did not supply all the usual figures. As to the last year's revenue and expenditure, for instance, he dealt only with the differences between the Estimates and the actual results, instead of giving the complete figures in the ordinary manner. The Budget estimate for the revenue of 1885.86 gave £90,790,000, the actual receipts being £89,581,301, a deficiency of £1,208,699. The estimated expenditure, however, was £93,617,171, and the actual expenditure £92,223,814, showing a gain of £1,393,327. Comparing the actual revenue with the actual expenditure, there is a deficiency of £2,642,543 on the accounts of the past year, a less deficit than had been expected, because the saving of expen- diture had been greater than the falling-off of revenue. In the year 1884 85 the deficiency was £1,019,773; the deficit for last year is 02,612,543, making a total deficit for the two years of £3,692,316.
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