§ SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT (Derby)asked Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, What was the actual sum applicable from all sources for the reduction of the National Debt in the course of the last financial year, including the surplus to be appropriated under the Sinking Fund; and, what was the actual figures of the National Debt (calculated according to Sir John Lubbock's Return) on 31st March, 1887, as compared with the sum of £711,788,232, as stated for the year 1886?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUEE (Mr. GOSCHEN) (St. George's, Hanover Square)There was applied in reduction of Debt during the year 1886–7—By the action of Life Annuities and Terms of Year Annuities, £904,946; small Sinking Funds, £22,145; composition of Stamp Duty, £210,000; Land Tax and surplus Land Tax, £66,051; and sundry small amounts, £1,853; and by the action of Terminable Annuities—subject to final correction—£4,756,532; and by the action of the Sinking Fund attached to the Suez Canal Exchequer Bonds, £84,900. There was a surplus of Revenue over Expenditure in the year, which, representing the old Sinking Fund, will also go in diminution of Debt—namely, £776,006, making a total of £6,822,433. The net Debt stated on the principle of Sir John Lubbock's Return stood on March 31, 1886, at £711,788,223; and according to the calculation, not yet finally revised, it will be found to stand on March 31 last at £704,789,687. Sir John Lubbock's Return for the present year will 249 be laid on the Table of the House as soon as it can be completed.