§ I now turn to Excise. The yield of Excise was even more disappointing than the yield of Customs. It was only £31,550,000, against an estimate of £32,700,000, or a deficiency of the enormous sum of £1,150,000. The beer duty was expected to yield £13,400,000. It produced only £13,100,000. Spirits show an even greater falling off. They yielded only 548 £17,750,000—that is to say, £850,000 less than the Budget estimate. Thus, taking Customs and Excise together, beer and spirits combined fell short of the Budget estimate by nearly £1,500,000. To what are we to attribute this great deficiency? The beer revenue was affected by the cold summer. I am told that that makes a very considerable difference in the consumption of beer. I remember on one occasion, some years ago, when I was walking in the Lake Country, coming on a cold summer afternoon upon a shanty in the hills, where I asked if I could have a cup of tea. The proprietor replied, "Yes, I thought you would be wanting tea. I have got the kettle boiling. It is not bottle weather." Last summer was not bottle weather. I believe that this decrease in the consumption of beer, which was due to the cold, wet summer, has been paralleled by a similar decrease in the consumption of temperance beverages such as ginger-beer and herb-beer. But if the cold summer was injurious to the revenue, the mild winter was equally harmful, because, if the cold summer decreases the consumption of beer, the mild winter checks the consumption of spirits. Then, also, the Licensing Act. of 1902 had, I am advised, some influence upon the consumption of these drinks. It can hardly be a coincidence that the marked falling off in the duty began from the date when the Act came into force. I am told that it has had a discouraging effect upon those who are not only heavy drinkers themselves, but the cause of heavy drinking in others. But when all allowance is made for each of these factors, I am afraid that some part of the falling off in the consumption is to be put down to the fact that people have had less to spend, and must be taken as evidence of the decreased prosperity of the country.