§ But my present concern is with the expenditure of £142,880,000 on Supply and Consolidated Fund services, and the question to which I now invite the attention of the Committee is, upon how much revenue can I count, on the present basis of taxation, towards meeting this liability Customs should yield £33,900,000. That is an increase of only £50,000 over the yield of last year. I have to allow for decreases on several articles of consumption and for the loss of the £100,000, which were the net proceeds of the corn tax last year. On the other hand, tobacco should give me some increase, and the sugar duty will be free from the disturbance, to which I have already referred, caused by the introduction in the middle of last year of the system of refining in bond. Excise I pat at £31,500,000, a decrease 558 of £50,000 from the receipts of last year, in order to allow for a further fall in spirits. Death duties I take at £13,000,000, the figure of last year. Stamps I put at £7,550,000. That is an increase of £50,000 over last year, but is still far below the yield of l902–3. I am not sure that I am not putting the figure too low; but stamps are, of all sources of revenue, perhaps the most difficult to estimate. They react very quickly to any rise or fall in Stock Exchange business. I think that there are already signs that the extreme depression of the past twelve months is passing away, and that we may look forward to better things this year. At the same time, warned by the disappointments of the past, I think it is better that if I err at all I should err on the side of moderation, and I accordingly take a figure which my advisers and I myself, after hearing all they have to say, think a safe figure. Land tax and house duty I take at £2,650,000, the same as last year, Then I come to income-tax. I have to allow for a further loss of £2,000,000 in consequence of the reduction of the tax last year, because the arrears remaining over into this year will be collected at the lower figure. But I have also to make a further allowance, because, in the three years average on which the profits assessable under Schedule D are computed, a bad year takes the place of a very good one. I therefore put the total yield of the income-tax at £28,000,000 which is £2,800,000 less than last year. This makes a total tax revenue of £116,600,000. From the Post Office I anticipate £15,950,000, an increase of £500,000; from the telegraphs, which include the telephones, I expect £3,750,000. Telegraphs have not done well in the past year, and but for the telephones would have done very much worse. That was in part due to the absence of a certain class of Stock Exchange business, and in part due to the super session of the telegraph by the telephone. From Crown lands I expect £450,000, from Suez Canal shares £960,000, and from miscellaneous revenue £1,350,000, making a total non tax revenue of £22,460,000, and a total revenue from all sources of £139,060,000. against a total expenditure of £142,880,000.