to the interpretation of lawyers. The prelates who form a part of the Court have been judicious and prudent men, not incapable of emulating the impartiality of their colleagues; but it seemed to Mr. Hardy that judicial functions would be best discharged by professional Judges. The more turbulent members of the clerical body dislike a semblance of spiritual validity in judgments which they openly question as far as they are adverse to their respective theories. They consequently object to the participation of the heads of the Church in the deliberations of the Court of Appeal. But the prelates, whose authority was to be summarily superseded, naturally differed both from the ecclesiastical and the secular view. The remonstrances of the archbishops induced the Lord Chancellor to adopt the middle course of enabling a certain number of prelates to act as assessors to the Court of Appeal in ecclesiastical cases.

The schedule which regulates procedure, though necessarily technical, is by far the most important part of the Act. The combination of Equity pleadings with the method of determining issues of fact which has long been practised in the Courts of Common Law is sound in principle. Further experience will suggest many improvements, and perhaps the Superior Courts may ultimately find it possible to dispose of their business without delegating, as at present, some of their most important functions.

The Supreme Court of Appeal, therefore, under this Act, is to consist of the Lord Chancellor, the Chief Justices, the Chief Baron, the Master of the Rolls, the Lords Justices, the Peers who have held judicial office, and the permanent members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. By one of the most doubtful provisions of the Bill intermediate appeals are abolished; and the Supreme Court will exercise exclusive appellate jurisdiction in all English, Indian, and Colonial cases.

The other legal measures of the session were insignificant or unsuccessful. The Lord Chancellor contented himself with introducing a Bill for facilitating the transfer of land; and the Attorney-General introduced an abortive Jury Bill, which was generally disapproved both by the profession and the public.

The Judicature Bill alone redeems from insignificance the legislative performances of the Government. Mr. Stansfeld carried through the House of Commons an unpretending Bill for extending the area of ratability to certain kinds of property which had not been included in the original Act of Elizabeth. It was proposed that timber as well as salable underwood should be rated, and that mines of metal should be placed on the same footing with coal mines. The right of shooting, which is practically rated when it is held by the lessee of the land, was to be subject to the same burden if it were retained by the landlord as if it were separately let. None of the proposed changes were either important, or in theory objectionable, and Mr. Stansfeld showed a laudable desire to provide for the equitable assessment of the various subjects of taxation. The House of Lords, nevertheless, summarily rejected

the Bill on the ground of some alleged defects, which could not have been corrected in that House without a possible infringement of the privileges of the House of Commons. The Peers would have exercised a sounder judgment if they had submitted to the removal of a few anomalous exemptions which are at present allowed to landowners. It is evident that in all ordinary cases the judgment of the House of Commons ought to be regarded as final in all questions which belong to its exclusive competence. One of the objects of the Rating Bill was to evade or postpone compliance with the Resolution on Local Taxation which was carried two years ago by Sir Massey Lopes. The sweeping measure by which Mr. Goschen answered the challenge of the Opposition failed in the object of detaching the tenant farmers from their alliance with the landowners. Mr. Stansfeld's more moderate and more equitable Bill furnished the Government with an excuse for withholding for the present any contribution from the public resources in aid of the rates. Local taxation ought, it was said, to be equalized and extended before the necessity or amount of aid to be rendered by the State can be accurately estimated. The zeal of the House of Commons for the relief of the local taxpayers had in the meantime rapidly abated. Even when the Government, immediately after its resumption of office, was weakest, an ill-judged attempt of the Opposition to obtain a victory on the question of local taxation was easily defeated.

An alteration introduced by Mr. Forster into the law of elementary education is not of primary importance. By an Act which bore the name of the late Speaker, Guardians were prohibited from making the education of the children of paupers a condition of outdoor relief. The law is now reversed, and Mr. Forster's Bill has transferred from the School Boards to the Guardians the duty of determining whether the fees of indigent children shall be paid out of the rates. When the intention of the Government was made public, some Boards of Guardians remonstrated against the change; and opponents raised the sentimental objection that parents would be pauperized by a receipt of aid which would, in fact, prove that they were paupers. Mr. Forster yielded to the pressure; but he steadily refused to comply with the demand of the Birmingham League, that fees should not be paid out of the rates to denominational schools. Mr. Fawcett, in one of the most powerful speeches of the session, denounced the narrow intolerance of the League, although he is himself an advocate of Secular Education. Mr. Forster's Bill, in its curtailed form, was finally passed by a majority of nearly four to one, though Mr. Torrens, on behalf of the ratepayers, combined his forces with the thoroughgoing sectarians represented by Mr. Richard. "The

The Budget of the year was not of an ambitious order. financial year, which has just come to a close," said Mr. Lowe, in introducing it, "has been by no means exempt from incidents and vicissitudes. We have had what I fear must be characterized as an

unfavourable harvest. Two of the States which, together with us, form the barrier of Europe against the Atlantic are at this moment provisionally governed, and one of them seems to be in the throes of a civil war. If we turn in another direction, we find that the monetary world has been very much agitated and excited by the very large remittances which have been made from France to Germany, and in addition to that we have had at home the self-inflicted misery of strikes to contend with, besides a great rise in the price of all the necessaries of life, more especially in that greatest necessary in our cold and damp climate-coal. But I think that any one who attends to the narrative which I am about to lay before the House will not be able to trace the slightest vestige of any ill effect which those different vicissitudes and misfortunes have had upon the revenue and finances of the country. Things which in former years would have produced the most active effect seem now almost powerless. It really looks as though the winds that could bow the sapling were harmless against the oak-as if our finances, our business, our commerce, our trade, by the immense expansion which has taken place, have gained in solidity, and are more difficult to be moved, just because they are larger than before. I trust it will prove so. At any rate, my task is a very gratifying one-namely, to detail the financial results of a year of almost unexampled prosperity.

"The first point I would draw attention to is a comparison of the expenditure of the year which has just elapsed-1872-3-with the total grants within that year. By the words 'total grants' I understand the grants which were made in the Appropriation Act, together with the supplemental estimates which were granted in the current year. Now the total grant of the year 1872-3 amounted to 71,881,0007., and the actual expenditure of the year amounted to 70,714,000%, so that the actual expenditure is less than the actual grants by a sum of 1,167,000l., and less than the amount granted in the Appropriation Act by 949,000l., and less than the total original estimate in the budget by 599,000l. I now proceed to mention some of the principal items of this saving. The first is a sum of 205,0007. unexpended money-charges on the Consolidated Fund. That arises in this manner:-By the Act of 1869, by which the Chancery and Bankruptcy balances were transferred and paid into the Exchequer, provision was contained to the effect that, in case the funds fell below a certain sum, a grant should be made in aid of them from the Consolidated Fund. We have had to make such a grant since the Act was passed, and a sum of 100,000l. was put down for that purpose. Happily, however, the fund has been sufficient, and the grant has not, therefore, been called on. Another cause is somewhat similar in its nature. By the Telegraph Act, also of 1869, it was enacted that if the telegraph revenue should show a profit, that profit should be expended in the purchase of stock, and 100,000l. was put down to meet such an expenditure. In point of fact, however, the expenditure had not to be incurred, and the total saving on these heads has been 205,000l. Again, the

Civil Service estimates show a very large reduction indeed, amounting to no less than 766,000. This arises principally on two heads -the one Education, the other Public Buildings. In respect of the first, the Education Department seem to have believed that the Act would come more rapidly into effect than it has done, and they made provision accordingly, which has not been called upon. That, I must say, is only in accordance with my own experience. An error which people are very likely to fall into is this-that because a change is made, the change which is expected and desired can be at once brought about. According to my experience, it is a matter of time, labour, and care to bring a new system of any kind to maturity. Twenty years of excessive labour were devoted by able men to the old system, and I think we must not be too sanguine in expecting that the new scheme shall arrive at the point we should like to see it attain until, at any rate, several years have elapsed. (Hear.) Thus there has been a considerable saving on the Works Vote, class 1, amounting in round numbers to about 300,0007. On this subject the Committee on Public Accounts have made a very valuable suggestion. They point out that very large surrenders are often made in this department-amounting in 1869 to 240,000/., in 1870 to 270,000l., in 1871 to 243,0007., and in 1872 to 305,000l. They point out how this has happened, and suggest that, when the sum taken for a particular work has not been expended, a system of transfer should be adopted similar to that which exists in the case of the army and navy. This suggestion was well worthy of consideration. In the Post Office there was an excess of 24,000l., and in the Telegraph department of 172,000l. I think that in future it would be better that supplemental estimates should be moved for any excesses of this kind than that they should be allowed to run on to the end of the year. (Hear, hear.) I have now compared the actual expenditure of the past year-1872-3-with the grants of the year, and it may be worth while to compare the expenditure of 1872-3 with that of 1871-2. The expenditure of 1871-2 was 71,490,0007.; that of 1872-3 was 70,714,0007.; showing a decrease of 776,000l. in the expenditure of last year as compared with the year preceding it. There was a decrease of expenditure on the army of 1,055,000.; the navy, 358,000l.; the Civil Service, 187,000%.; the Consolidated Fund charges, 222,0007.; and on the debt of 34,0007.; making in all 1,856,000l. There has been an increase of expenditure in only two items-namely, for the abolition of purchase 606,000., and in the revenue department 575,0007., arising from the great extension of the Post Office and Telegraph departments; making the net decrease 675,0007.

"I now proceed to compare the revenue of the year 1872-3 with the estimate of that year. The estimate was 71,846,000l. The actual revenue for the year has been 76,608,770%., so that there was an increase of revenue over estimate of 4,781,770%. The expenditure, as I have stated, for the year was 70,714,7707., and, subtracting one of these amounts from the other, we found a surplus of income over

expenditure for the year which has just expired of 5,894,0007. (Hear, hear.) Of this revenue there were derived from sources other than taxes-from the Post Office, Telegraphs, Crown Lands, and Miscellaneous-10,191,000/., so that the residue alone was derived from taxation. The Customs have, I find, increased by a very large amount; in fact, there has been an increase in every item of Customs' revenue with the exception of coffee, chicory, and molasses. Coffee produced in the financial year to March 31, 1872, 362,000. The loss on coffee has been only 157,000l. On the reduction of the duty in May there was an enormous increase of consumption, and every month except September shows an increase over the corresponding month of the previous year. The returns are very gratifying, because it had always been said that coffee was an article which it was no use relieving from taxation, since the English could not make it, and did not like the trouble of it; and, in point of fact, it was not a national beverage. The result has shown the contrary. The increase in consumption has been seven per cent. in coffee and eight per cent. in chicory, whereas in the previous year there was a decrease of eleven per cent. The loss on coffee was estimated at 165,000, but it has only been 157,000. The result of the change of duty had been that while the revenue from coffee and chicory in 1871-2 was 479,000%., as compared with an estimated revenue of 495,000, the revenue in 1872-3 was 273,000/., as compared with an estimated revenue of 265,000l. It is pretty plain, therefore, that I was right in thinking that coffee was over-taxed with respect to tea, and that it only required to be placed on a level with it for the consumption to increase. The increase in Customs' duties has been-in spirits, 357,000l.; in tobacco, 253,000l.; in tea, 129,0007.; in wine, 37,0007.; and in sugar and molasses, 85,000. I now turn to the Excise. The revenue from Excise in the year just expired has been 2,475,000. in excess of the estimate, spirits showing an increase over the previous year of 1,330,0007., making the total receipts from spirits 13,600,000. The increased consumption has continued throughout the year, and at the rate of 25,000l. per week. During the six months, April to September, it was at the rate of 30,000l. per week; and in the last six months it was at the rate of 20,000l. per week. It is impossible to make such a statement as this without very mixed feelings. On the one hand, we cannot help thinking to what much better use the greatest part of the money-only a small portion of which is represented by these enormous totals-might have been put; on the other hand, we cannot but in some degree rejoice that the state of the working classes has enabled them to make this expenditure, although they might have spent the money is so much better a way. I now come to malt, the increase on which is also very large. The increase of revenue in 1872-3 over 1871-2 is 866,000l., but of this 400,0007. is due to exceptional circumstances. It arises from a late malting in 1872 and an early malting in 1873. The real increase in the quantity of malt made is represented by the respect