§ The result has been that my forecast of revenue, which amounted to £100,480,000, has been considerably exceeded. The revenue has produced £103,950,000, or an excess of £3,470,000. On this matter I have a little complaint against the right hon. Member for West Monmouthshire. He is never tired of pluming himself on his great surplus of this time last year. Well, whatever may be the credit or the discredit of having underestimated the revenue by over £5,800,000, it is his and not mine. However, I was very much obliged to him, and I still return him my thanks. But I deprecate his posing as the father of all future surpluses. [Laughter.] He told his constituents the other day that the surplus of the year just closed was due to proceedings which were taken before the present Government came into office. The right hon. Gentleman has never admitted his own obligation to the author of the income tax— [laughter, and Sir W. HARCOURT: "That was a long time ago"]—and I am afraid I must say that, whatever be the credit or discredit of the excess of revenue which I have just named, amounting to nearly £3,500,000, it rests with me and not with him. My estimate was a mistake, just as his was, and all I have to plead in extenuation is this—that my mistake was a very little one as compared with his, and that it was a mistake on the right side. I was bound to be cautious a year ago, and I am bound to be cautious still in my estimate, having regard to the storm cloud which 1252 has just broken in the East of Europe, with respect to which no man can tell how long it may last or how far it may extend. The total sum raised for the Imperial revenue last year was £112,199,000, as against £109,340,000 in 1895–96. Of the amount raised last year, £103,950,000 went to the Exchequer, an increase of £1,976,000 over the preceding year, and £8,249,000 went to the local taxation account, an increase of £883,000 over the preceding year—due, of course, mainly to the Agricultural Rating Act and kindred legislation. I will now explain the details of the revenue (£103,950.000) which went to the Exchequer last year as compared with the details of the revenue of the year 1895–96. The only fallings-off, the Committee will see, were a falling off of £95,000 in land tax, owing, of course, to the remission under the Finance Act of last year, and of £770,000 under the head of estate duty, owing, of course, to the interception of a large sum under the provisions of the Agricultural Rating and other Acts. All other heads showed an increase. The miscellaneous revenue showed an increase of £547,000, owing to greatly increased receipts from coinage and from fee and patent stamps. The gross Post Office receipts increased by £480,000, the gross telegraph receipts by £70,000, and the income tax receipts by £550,000.