§ But where did that increase come from? It did not come from Customs and Excise. It came from stamps, which, in 1875, stood at £10,232,000 and had risen in 1895 to £21,403,000, and it came from Income Tax also, which had risen from 2d in the pound, producing £4,032,000 in 1875, to 8d. in 1895, producing £16,100,000. The fact is that the direct taxpayers of this country have borne the bulk of our new burdens. That has been the continuous direction of our financial policy for 50 years. I take the usual classification of all duties on consumable articles as indirect taxation, and all other taxes as direct taxation. I go back to 1841, the year before Sir Robert Peel imposed the Income Tax, and T find that of every £1 that was raised by taxation, 14s. 7¼4d. was paid by the consuming classes, and 5s. 4¾d. was paid by the propertied classes; but now, of every £1 raised by taxation, 10s. 5d. is paid by the consuming classes and 9s. 7d. by the propertied classes. Let me carry it a little further. The tax revenue in 1841–42 stood at a little under £50,000,000. Seventy-three per cent. of that was paid by indirect taxation, and 27 per cent. by direct taxation. In 1861–62 it was a little under £64,000,000. Sixty-two percent, of that came from indirect taxation, and 38 per cent. from direct taxation. In 1891–92 it was £83,200,000. Fifty-six per cent. of that came from indirect taxation and 44 per cent. from direct taxation. In 1895–96, this last year, it was £92,482,000. Fifty-two per cent. of that has been paid by indirect taxation, and 48 per cent. by direct taxation. There has been a gradual transfer of burden from the indirect to the direct taxpayer of this country. [Sir W. HARCOURT: "An equalisation."] I said a transfer of the burden. The result is that whereas in 1841, £1 7s. 3½d. per head of the population was produced by indirect taxation, and 10s. Id. by direct taxation, now £1 4s. 9d. comes from indirect taxation and £1 2s. 6d. from direct taxation. That, I think the Committee will see has been a progressive and remarkable change. ["Hear, hear!"] I do not say the policy is wrong. [Opposition cheers.] There is no doubt that under 1075 it the industry and enterprise of this country, our commerce and trade, and our wealth, have been enormously developed—["hear, hear!"]—and, therefore, I suppose we may say it is justified by its results. But I must point out that our system as it now stands does not add to the popular support which any Chancellor of the Exchequer can enlist in aid of economy. I do not know why it is, but in spite of his increasing burdens the direct taxpayer is too patient, or too comfortable, or too much immersed in business or in pleasure, or too idle to do more than grumble and pay. The indirect taxpayer of this country is very moderately burdened, indeed very lightly burdened if he neither drinks nor smokes. [Laughter.] We have arrived now at this position, that in time of peace we have an Income Tax of 8d. in the pound, we have Death Duties at a point which I suppose hardly anybody will wish to increase, and we have indirect taxation levied only on a very few articles of great consumption, the list of which has not been added to for very many years, and the taxation on which, with the exception of the taxation on beer and wine and spirits, has not been increased at all since the year 1878. I wish to put before the Committee the present condition of our financial system. I wish to ask them to consider at their leisure what the position may be of the Chancellor of the Exchequer who in some future year may have to meet a continuing enormous increase of expenditure under this system of taxation, and I wish to ask them whether they are quite sure that in such circumstances our present financial policy can be maintained. I do not answer that question to-night, but I think I should have failed in my duty if, on a matter of this vast importance to the country, I had not done my best, in view of the increased expenditure of the present year, even in this time of prosperity, to place before the Committee what I think to be a cause of great anxiety. ["Hear, hear!"] Sir, I hope the Committee will not be of opinion that I have detained them unnecessarily—[cheers]—on these matters.