The Morning Herald insists on the necessity of abolishing the
Malt- tax; and with that financial acumen for which the Herald is so distin- guished, suggests an excellent method of supplying the deficiency in
the revenue which would thereby be occasioned-
" Let Ministers, then, meet the wishes of the country by raising a loan of two millions and a huff; this, with the boasted surplus of two millions, rumpled with a just economy in the administration of the hnances, will meet the 'Auc- tion of the four millions and a half caused by the repeal of the Malt tax ; and the increased capabilities of consumption thus given to 6,500,000 of people en- gaged in agriculture will soon enable the Government to pay off the loan.. . . We believe seriously that the raising of so trilling a loan for so go xl a purpose would scarcely affect the Public Funds one per cent. ; and our inquiries 'support that opinion ; and as to the idea of the national creditor taking alarm, that borders too much upon the ridiculous to dwell upon."
But the misfortune is, that one loan of two millions and a half would not provide for an annual deficiency to that amount. Does the Herald value the revenue derived from the Malt .tax at only one year's purchase Assuredly the Fundholders would not take alarm at such an operation as Vie Herald suggests. But the proposition "borders too much opal the ridiculous to dwell upon."