THE BUDGET. (Hansard, 28 March 1851)

§ MR. HUME
said, he understood that the Budget was not to come on on Monday evening, and that he considered was a breach of the understanding made with the House, and therefore a breach of good faith. When his hon. Friend the Member for Lambeth submitted his Motion, he seconded it for the purpose of asking him to withdraw it, in order to allow the Chancellor of the Exchequer to make his statement. But if now the Budget was postponed, what security would they have? They would have the Navy, the Army, and the Ordnance Estimates, which were the principal votes of Supply, passed, and then the Budget was to come on. He did not think that this was treating the House fairly. He considered, therefore, that the House should not proceed with the Votes until they had the Budget before them. If the thing had been unexpected, it would have been a different matter; but the Government had had two or three weeks to consider the matter, and consequently they had no excuse. In fact, it looked as if they were taking advantage of the disposition of the House to forward their objects; and they (the Members) would be liable, if they acquiesced in it, to the suspicion of neglecting their own duties. He begged, therefore, to propose— That this House is of opinion that Her Majesty's Government ought, agreeably with their 729 promise, to bring forward their Budget before proceeding further with the Supplies. He was not aware that there was any obstacle to their bringing forward their Budget at once, and therefore he would submit the Motion he had just read to the House.

§ MR. SPEAKER
said, that the Resolution was not in order, because the Motion of the hon. Member for Portarlington was now before the House.

§ LORD J. RUSSELL
said, he did not recollect having given any understanding, or made any promise, that the Government should bring forward the Budget before they had got the supplies. He certainly thought that, according to the theory of the lion. Member for Montrose, the Government, having a surplus in hand, would be perfectly justified in proceeding with the Estimates before the Supplies.

§ MR. W. WILLIAMS
could not avoid expressing his surprise that the Budget had not been considered before they had been called on to vote any further portion of the Supplies. He was surprised that the right hon. Baronet the Chancellor of the Exchequer should for one moment have delayed to bring forward his financial statement. The right hon. Gentleman stated on a recent occasion that he intended to reduce the duty on Timber and Coffee, and also to take the duties entirely off seeds. The right hon. Gentleman must be aware, at all events, this was about seed-time; and that in consequence of his statement that important trade was paralysed. He (Mr. Williams) believed it had always been the custom in such cases to take off the duty provisionally, and give a guarantee. However, the result had been very much to inconvenience the trades to which he had referred; and he considered that the delay was totally unnecessary, for the Government had had plenty of time to consider what course they would take. With regard to the feeling out of doors on the subject of the Budget, the Government must be aware that several Members in the House had been called upon to oppose every vote of supply unless that most odious and obnoxious tax, the Window Duty, should be repealed. If the hon. Member for Montrose should take an opportunity of moving his Resolution, he should certainly support it, for he considered its principle most salutary.

§ MR. B. OSBORNE
said, he would never pledge himself to stop the supplies, whatever constituency he might represent. At 730 the same time, however, he must say that the noble Lord at the head of the Government had hardly acted quite fairly by his supporters in that House. He hoped the right hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer would just get up in his place and state whether he meant to repeal the Window Tax or not. He could answer for it, that such a step would calm the apprehensions of many hon. Gentlemen on that side of the House; and he hoped he was not asking too much of the right hon. Gentleman, for he must have made up his mind one way or the other. Those two important trades—the timber and the seed trades—were suffering greatly from the suspense; and he did hope that the right hon. Gentleman would at least make a short statement on the subject, even if he could not bring forward his whole Budget.

§ The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER
did not think the request of the hon. and gallant Gentleman by any means a reasonable one, and he considered that it would not be for the advantage of the public service that he should now state what was the course he meant to propose. The hon. Member for Montrose must he aware that, according to the system recently introduced, of paying over into the Exchequer all balances on the 5th of April, the close of the financial year, it would be utterly impossible that any payments could be made for the great public services after that date, unless the money was voted by the House. Besides, it must be remembered that the Mutiny Bill must be passed before Easter, and the number of men also voted before the 5th of April. He did not mean to say that he could not make the financial, statement as well on Monday as on Friday, but it was indispensable to proceed at once with the Estimates, unless a stop was to be put to the public service on the 5th of April.

§ SIR B. HALL
understood the noble Lord, after the division the other night, that he would take the Army Estimates, and that he would then state when the right hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer would make his financial statement. In the earlier period of the Session, however, he had distinctly understood the noble Lord to say that he would take the Navy Estimates, and that he would then lay before the House his financial views. Now they ought to have that statement before they proceeded to grant any of the Estimates. They were fast approaching Easter, and as a night would be taken up by 731 the important subject on which the noble Lord had given notice that he would move a Committee on the Kaffir war, they would be thrown another night forward, and would have that less time to consider the financial statement of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He considered, therefore, that the arrangement which had been made with the House ought to have been carried into effect. But to show the necessity for this financial statement, he would remark that in consequence of the general condemnation of the Budget, they had reason to believe that a new proposition was likely to he made; and he thought that they ought to he in possession of that statement before they proceeded any further. He hoped, therefore, that they might carry out the understanding which they certainly had in the first instance, and that they should have the Chancellor of the Exchequer's statement before they went any further.

§ The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER
said, that the hon. Baronet was not accurate in supposing that there had been the understanding which he stated.

§ SIR DE LACY EVANS
thought that the Chancellor of the Exchequer should make his financial statement on Monday. The noble Lord at the head of the Government had given notice of a most important Motion for that night; but there was a subject of far more importance and of much deeper interest than the Kaffir war to the inhabitants of the metropolis and of the I large towns, namely, the Window Tax. The proposition of the right hon. Baronet on that subject had given universal dissatisfaction; and he believed that that proposition would be altered. If, however, he was mistaken, he should be glad to be informed that such was the case. He must concur, however, to some extent, with the right hon. Baronet with respect to what he said as to stopping the public service; and he believed that the number of men to be proposed was not an extra or improper number.