§ MR. RYLANDSsaid, that he had early in the Session put a Question as to the carrying out of the Resolution which had been passed last year advocating the reduction of the National Expenditure. The reply of the right hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer to that Question had been that, in con- 482 junction with some gentlemen of the Treasury, he had been engaged in a very careful examination of different branches of expenditure, and that, in consequence of this investigation, he believed he was on the way to secure a considerable economy, without interfering with efficiency. For his (Mr. Rylands's) own part, however, from the Estimates laid on the Table, he was bound to say that down to the present time he saw no very great evidence of any remarkable economy on the part of Her Majesty's Government. The present Government had made large promises to secure economy in administration, and to relieve the country of much of the burden of taxation; but, so far from doing that, in some cases the burdens were increased. He could assure the right hon. Gentleman that throughout the country, and especially in the manufacturing centres, there was great dissatisfaction as to the expenditure incurred and justified by Her Majesty's Government. He thought that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in making his very decided separation between what he called taxation and income not in the nature of taxation, was somewhat misleading the House and the country. Take, for example, the postage and telegraph stamps. There were several millions of profit left; and he thought that the moment they got a profit, then they were bound to consider that that profit was a portion of the Revenue of the country that was imposed on the taxpayer. He was not so unreasonable as to suppose that reductions in expenditure could take place without some delay; but he believed that if the Chancellor of the Exchequer, instead of adopting so ambitious a scheme in regard to the reduction of the National Debt, which gave no general satisfaction to the taxpayers of the country, had given a certain portion of the money which would then have been at his disposal to the relief of the taxpayer and to the loosening of the springs of industry, that would have been a far more popular and far more advantageous thing to the country. He did not say that it was not prudent to discharge national obligations; but what he complained of was that the Chancellor of the Exchequer had, at a time when the trade of the country was suffering from foreign competition, raised money which 483 would benefit people who in future years might be able to bear burdens better than the taxpayers who were now living. At the present time, also, the people were paying for local advantages which ought to have been provided by their predecessors, and establishing permanent institutions which would benefit future generations. These local burdens amounted to many millions. He could understand the argument in favour of a large payment to the National Debt if the Government had made a considerable reduction in the expenditure of the country; but he was bound to say he had seen no evidence of that economy which he had reason to hope would have been displayed by Ministers. What he had looked forward to, and what he desired, was the Government proposing the appointment of Committees of that House to inquire into the condition of the great spending Departments. He had too much confidence in the Chancellor of the Exchequer to unduly press his views in that respect upon him during the present Session; but he hoped that when they came to examine the expenditure of the country during next Session, in accordance with the expectation held out by the right hon. Gentleman, the Committees would consist of Members of that House, and not of Gentlemen who were permanent servants of the Crown. The Heads of the great Departments of the State deserved the highest possible honour and respect. They were, however, Gentlemen who, by the very nature of their position and by the conditions of the society in which they moved, were always awake to their own interests. When the people were asleep, they were awake. He hoped the Government would tell the House what course they proposed to take to reduce the evergrowing expenditure; and he should be very glad indeed if the right hon. Gentleman could give the House and the country some definite assurance with regard to its reduction. Next Session he hoped, at least, that the Government would appoint Select Committees carefully to investigate the main branches of the National Expenditure.