The revenue for the year ending with March 31st was
£89,581,000, or over a million and a half more than was collected in the previous year. But as compared with the Budget estimate, the Revenue Returns are unsatisfactory. The estimate of revenue was £90,790,000, so that the actual revenue turns out to be less by £1,209,000 than Sir Michael Hicks- Beach expected last July. Of course, it is very probable that the expenditure also has been cut down considerably below the estimate, and in that way the Chancellor of the Exchequer may be able to show that the result is no worse, even if not actually better, than the last Chancellor of the Exchequer had hoped for ; but with the returns for Customs, Excise, and Stamps all dwindling, it must be admitted that the finance of the country is not elastic, and that we have at last reached something more than a stationary condition of trade,—a condition of temporary stagnation and decline.
