MR. GLADSTONEsaid, he rose to move for the Returns of which he had given notice. These Returns were of a remarkable character, and it was only just to the individuals who had been engaged in the preparation of them that some notice should be taken of the labour they had undertaken. This country by the possession of these Returns would be placed in a situation in which no other civilized country had ever been in, for they would give an account of the net income and expenditure with a continuous balance-sheet without an interval from the year 1688 to the present time. The first gentleman who had been engaged in the preparation of the Return was Mr. Dwight, of the Treasury, who had a very extensive acquaintance with the records of the department. An idea of his labours might be gathered from the fact, that it was only at a recent period that the financial operations had been reduced to a unit system—that the old system was constituted of a vast number of separate accounts; each tax having been a separate tax with separate charges—and that it was only since the time of Mr. Pitt that they had been formed into one consolidated system. Unhappily Mr. Dwight died, and another gentleman of the Treasury, Mr. Chisholm, had to carry on the preparation of the Return. A third gentleman, whose name he had also to mention, was Mr. Anderson, whose devoted attention and indefatigable industry had given him a high place in the Civil Service of the country. The result of the investigations of these gentlemen would form a bulky document, perhaps of two folio volumes; but as several hundred pages were already in type, he trusted the Return would be in the hands of Members at the commencement of the next Session of Parliament. It would form an important record of the general financial history of the country, and he 1442 thought it would be interesting to the House to know that so important an undertaking was to be completed, and also by whom the labour had been performed.
§ Motion agreed to.
§ Accounts ordered,"of the Net Public Income and Expenditure of Great Britain, in each financial year from 1688 (the period of the Revolution) to the 5th day of January 1801 (the period of the Union between Great Britain and Ireland), and of the other Receipts into and Issues from the Exchequer, distinguishing the amounts raised by creation of Debt, and the amounts applied to the reduction of Debt; showing also the Balances in the Exchequer at the beginning and end of each year:"
§ "Similar Accounts of the Net Public Income and Expenditure of Ireland (1688 to 1800 inclusive):"
§ "Accounts of the Gross Public Income of Great Britain, deducting Drawbacks, Repayments, &c., and Bounties of the nature of Drawbacks, and of the Gross Public Expenditure, including payments out of the Gross Income in its progress to the Exchequer for national objects and for the collection of the Revenue, for each financial year from the 5th day of January 1801 (the period of the Union) to the 5th day of January 1817 (the period of the Consolidation of the Revenues of Great Britain and Ireland):"
§ "Similar Accounts of the Gross Public Income and Expenditure of Ireland (1801 to 1816 inclusive):"
§ "And, similar Accounts of the Gross Public Income and Expenditure of the United Kingdom, for each financial year from the 5th day of January 1801 up to the present time:—To which Accounts shall be appended Abstract and Subsidiary Accounts, and Notes explanatory of the Financial transactions included in the said Accounts."—(Mr. Gladstone.)