1868 budget speech

8/13/2019 1868 Budget Speech

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HOUSE OF COMMONS

Tuuc ay, April 28, 1888The Speaker took the Chair at threeo clock.

ACCESSORIES AND ABETTORSOn a motion of SiI John Macdonald. theBill respecting accessories to and abe ttors ofcriminal offences was read a third time andpassed.

Collection Revenue Customs .Commutat.Jon and Remission Dutieson Impor ts for the use of Armyand Navy Inland Revenue .Post Office Public Works. Ontario and QuebecPublic Works, Nova Scotia .Public Works, New Brunswick Conection of Minor Revenues

488,26175,000

158 55751,000329,695240,000215,00012,000

211,312

THE ESTIMATES

602,700176,600245,733299,1489,7507,00038,8051,041,8071,45217,225

100,000107,00025,000120,000140,500129,600204,62237,00036,80075,00011,5506,0008,400100,00093,912 156,54150,000

1,250

219,250126,000105,00088,80023,00011,76843,00037,2112,4773,6755,000

3,132,607284,910303,62925,000

IN LONDOltInterest on Public Debt, OntarIoand Quebec Nova ScoUa New BrunswIck Intere9t on Current Account

N CAlfADAIntere9t on Public Debt Interest on Dominion Stock Interest on floating debt Bank ofMontreal In Nova Scotia, interest on Publ icDebt Do. on Savings Bank .In New Brunswick, Interest onPublic Debt Do. Savings Bank Charges of Managem.ent, Commission to Financial Agents Do. on Investment for Sinking FundAdvertising, telegrams, postage, andBtU stamps .Cost of Provincial Notes .Allowance to Bank of Montreal on

average of notes withdrawn fromcirculation Percentage on Provincial NotesCirculated Bank of Montreal for i n f t l t ~Provincial Notes

Total 7,901,855The detal led estlmatea are just laid onthe table.

ExpendIture authorized by SpecIalActs 10,059,057The following are the princIpal i tems otPublic Debt : -

A message was brought down from HisExcellency, transmitting estimates of theswns required for the public service for theyear ending 30th June, 1869.The following are the estimates for theyear ending June 30th, 1869, laId on the table

to-day:Civil Government Adm1n1stration of Jus ti ce PenItentiaries I.eg1slatlon Sc1entl1lc lnstltu tlons Arts, AJI iculture, and StaUstics Immlgration and Quarantine Militia and Gun-Boats .Pensions New MlllUa Pensions Railways (all of them being In Ma-ritime ProVinces> and Intercolon-ial Survey 1,850,000Canala 223,000Parliament and Departmental

BuUdings Rideau Hall Public Buildings Generally .Harbour Piers and Light-houses Other Public Works Ocean and Steam River Service Light-houses and Coast service Marine Hospitals FisherIes Culling Tlm ber RaIlway and Steamboat InspectionExpenses Seignorial Commission Indian annuIties, etc. . Miscellaneous including .Unforseen Expenses, etc. . Expenses connected withConfederation and ImperialLegislation thereon


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COMMONS DEBATES AprU 28, 1868

60,000874,600

2,4002,2401,00040,000247,713

l at e Pro vi nce of Canada an d 205,100 expenditure w hi ch w ou ld no t take place before 1s tJuly next and which would be struck outfrom the estimates before they w en t throughCommittee. Deducting these sums wouldreduce the gross expenditure of th year to 16,316,562 instead of 16,200,000 as estimatedi n December From this estimated total expenditure of 16,316,562 falls to be deductedfo r capital and redemption 1,863,498, alsoarrears of the l at e P ro vi nc e of Canada stilldependent on vote of th e House. He meantth e first to charitable institutions and thesums payable to th e townships on account ofthe Seignorial indemnity fund. These deductions left 14,321,380 as the ordinary expenditure of the year 1867-1868. Coming to theanticipated revenue judging trom t he e xp er ience of the nine months which we now had,he believe4, th e anticipations to be indulgedin in December would be tully realized andthat there would be a fair an d moderateexcess beyond the surplus be then. stated. Thegross receipts from customs to ~ l s t Decemberwere 5,318,063: Judililg from the receipt. ofJanuary February and March th e t ot al c us toms receipts for t he c ur re nt year he estimated at 9;000,000. Receipts from excise heestimated at 2,970,000, and those kom mis-cellaneous sources belonging to receipts of theyear 2 725 lSOO making a to tal re venu e of 14,695,500, a surplus over estimated.expend .,.ture on 30th June next of. 374,140; thetotal expenditure for which a vote w as a sk ed 17,326,000, there had been expended tool5thApril 9,542,000, leavin to b e e xp en de d .between this and 30th June 784,000. He didnot, however believe t he e xp en di tu re wouldbe so much. There had been purposely anover-estimate because under t h e stringentprovisions of the audit Act, it was impossiblet he G ov er nm en t could by any m ea ns s pe ndmore than ParlIament had a ctu all y a pp ro priated. The floating debt,: he stated in December to be 6,911,901, including th e amountthen in course of rem:ittance to the. financialagents in E ng lan d t o meet the January interest. There were two items not included,100,000 to Court o f C ha nc er y w hich hadbeen deposited at that time a n d a balance ons ub si dy accou nt to the various Provinces of 146,759, making a floating debt in Decemberof 7,158,676; deducting bank balances 01 3,303,869, there waS a floating debt in December of . 3,8M,e07. The balance due theEnglish agents had not been reduced to 510,503. There wa s due the Bank of Montreal 2,500,000 and to the various Provinces

Hon. Mr . R Me in mavin that th e Houseresolve itsel1 into Co mm it tee of Supply saidthat in making h is p ro mi sed .financial ltatement as th e most c O l v e ~ i e n t way o f p resent in g the information- which he proposed to putth e House .in .possession of, be would state inthe first p1ace th e probable r e s u l t a f theoperations of the current year ending 30thJune 1868: He wowd next 8 ~ t e th e posjtionof .the ftoatini debt and . h r i ~ i i :it 'sinceDecember last when he made hi s previousfinancial statement. He w o ~ l d then say a fe wwords of explanation of t he a ct ua l position ofthe va riousProvinc ea towards th e Dominion;he would next state the requirements t theyear 1868 and 1869, an d the means by whichthe G o v e r n m e n t l ? r q l l o s ~ d to meet tllese requirements.In the .last place he would referto the anticipated a d d i t ~ o n s in future years tothe burdens. of th e country a n d t h e means bywhich they proposed to meet these additionalburdens. In December last he stated that theprobable exPenditure tor the year 1867-68,would be 1 6 , 2 2 6 , O Q ~ f which 1,92lS.000wa s on capital account, leavin as the anticipated ordinary expenditure of the year14,301,300. The estimates in detail laidbefore the House showed an estimated expenditure ot 17,22lS,019 to which had to beadded supplementary estimates 71,000- m a k i n g a total. o f 17,336,019, insteadof 16,226,00() s estimated in December.There wa s in reali ty h ow ev er no change tany consequence. There bad to 'be deductedas not properly belonging to service of theyear 814,327 a rr ea rs p ai d on account of the

Salaries of Provincial Note Com-missioners .Savings Bank N ov a S co tia Savings Banks N.B. Commission toSavings Bank Agents .Premium on Exchange .Sinking Fund .Redemption of Public Debt-bal-ance of Guaranteed Loan London 683,767Debentures to be redeemed inCanada .To redeem mutilated Notes, Nova

cotiCivil Government salaries-His Excellency th e Governor-General, B.N.A. Act 48,666The other items aresalar1es of judgesindemnity to members geological surveyspensions, ocean postal i l u b 8 i d Y ~ compensationto seigneurs 186,786, a n ~ seignorial indemni

to townships 45,402, and subsidies toProvinces.


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April 28. 1888 COMMONS DEBATES 571591,667. Total ftoating debt on the 15th of feeling existed to some degree in th e counApril 3,602,299; deduct bank balances, 1.- try that. the Government w as taking posses893,523, and there wa s left a net floating debt sian of too large an amount of money, whichof 1,708,776, instead of 3,854,807 as in De was needed for the commerce of t he c ou nt ry.cember lu t . The amount due the Engllah This was not th e case. He could assure theftscal agents had been reduced by sale of House the Government would watch anxiowsNova Scotia bon ds to the e xt en t of 1,002,153; ly and v i ~ y the e1fect w hi ch a ny of theirand the ftoating debt had allo been reduced operations-would have in wit hdrawing fromby sale of Dominion stock to the. extent of the banking institutioDa an d commercial in1,600,000. He congratulated the Houae and t er ests o f the country that capital which W81country that there had been such a sensible needed to carry on their operations. Therediminution of the floating debt, and hoped had been very l it tle with dr awn as yet. Verybefore six montha were over the GovernmeJilt little of the money invested in Dominionwould be under no obligations to the bankJ stock could be looked upon as so withdrawn,or the fiscal agents. The way in which th e and th e small savings deposited insavinglDominion stock had been taken up by the banka would have lain idle and unproductivec ou nt ry e xh ib it ed very gratifying features. i no t so invested. Th e inlurance depositsThere were 6 tenders under par, and 45 at would not be withdrawn from the commercialand above par. The most gratifying feature deposits of the country---on the contrary, theconnected with th e diatributlon of the stock greater portion of them would come fromwas, that it was not taken up by speculators abroad. He now came to explain the ftscaland capitalists, .but was diffused over the relations' between the Dominion and the varl-whole country in small sums held by trustees 0U 8 Provinces. T he d eb t of Nova Scotia on 1stand executors, charitable instltu.tions and by July last. wa s 7,435,285, being 564,715 leaindividuals who thus i n v e ~ d their small than the debt of eight millions with which itsavings. 'It had thua th e effect of giving the wa s entitled to enter th e Union-but beyond. public at large an interest in the permanency this it was found, that it s obligations amountand stability of the institution of th e country. ed to a very considerable sum in excess of rep rd ed the balance of the sum which .the eightmillioDa, being no less than 1,292,.had gone in diminution of the ftoating debt, 545, malting the tot al p re se nt .debt of thatthat raised by the sale of securities of the Province 9,292,545. Under the terma of theDomlnion or Nova. Scotia bonds, sold BJ Union Act the Dominion became responsiblesuch, i t was g ratlfy ln a to know that this first fOr all the engaaem ents of the Provinces, nofinancial operation of the Dominion had been matter whether they exceeded or not thevery successful- With regard to the portion of amount of debt with whichthey e nt ere d t hethe floating debt which still existed, he an- Union. T o meet the engag8{llents of Novaticipated that it would .very soon. be dis Scotia the Dominion had raisedcaShor othercharged by th e receipts from thevarioua wise provided.a sum of 3,019,628 since theservices which he had indicated in December, fint of JUl7 last. Thereceiptt from thatwhich could be realized gradually and with- Province in th e time were 1,159,288,out disturbance to the commerclal interests .showing excess of p ay ments o ver receipts ofof th e country. Some progress had been.made . 661,933. (Hear, hear . He mentioned thiI notin the negotiations with the Great Western with any secUogal object, but merely as a-Railway for realizing th e considerable in d eb -m atter account. The debt of New Bruntednesa that corporation. There had been, swi.ck at the time of the Union was 5,923,422,with a siinilar view, both legislative and leaving a balance of 1,076,578, to make itsexecutive action on the indebtedness o f the quota of seven mllllon.s of debt with which i tBank of Upper Canada. There wa s a measure was entitled to enter the Union, but th eno w before the House which would put estimated excess of its engagem ents beyondGovernment in possession of considerable .th e seven millions which had to. be providedsums an d deposits from insurance companies. 'tor b y the Dominion was 792,719. t follows.A considerable sum would be realized by t h e r e f o ~ t h a t the a mo un t a ltoge ther w hichthe post office savings banks. The Govern- .the Dominion had. to finance for to make goodm en t h ad so far confined themselves to estab- the obligation of that Province, was 2,788,lishlng th e post office s ~ p banks, and unW 859, which had to be met in cash or at shortthey had some practical experience of these, .dates, and now in course o f payment.deferred establishing the proposed Govern- The receipu, frQm New Brunswick in thement savings banks. He was informed that. a same t im e w er e 780,868.which was the cash


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576 COMMONS DEBATES April a8. 1868on hand at the time of the Union, made a public works, railways and o th er o pe ra ti oI atotal of 1,036,216 showing an excess of pay- now going on, th e swn of 2,456,000. Withment on behalf of th e Province over the reference to the am ount of t he D ep ar tm en t.receipts of 357,730.


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April 18. 1868 COMMONS DEBATES anof the public service. a sample of what ed by a high tadtr from entering thehad been done by the Government in tm. American markets. Provincial grains anddirection he would mention the audit meas- fisheries shared the same fate. All these conme introduced last session, which he believed siderations had been borne in mind by thea truly important measure---one which pro- Government; but they felt that anything likevided that every shilling of the public moneys a retaliatory or restrictive policy at the presvoted and not spent, on July 1st, should be ent moment would not be conducive to theput back into the Treasury, to be obtainable best interests of the country. Hear, hear).trom thence only by a new vote. Then the The honourable gentleman alluded next tonew Civil Service Bill was also a step in the the recent removal of one of the great obstasame direction, and so was the Bill with cles to free intercourse between the Doreference to Contingencies. Compared with minion and the United States, he meant thethe estimates of 1867-68, it would seen almost entire sweeping away of all the taxesthat there was a considerable reduction this on internal manufacture. in the States. Thatyear. The Government thought they could see indicated a desire on the part of the people oftheir way clearly to a reduction of between the United States to adopt a more liberal30,000 and 40,000 under the provisions of policy. Besides, the feelin g of Congress apthe two Bills last mentioned. He now came to peared to e undergoing a change in favour ofindicate the sources from which he proposed a renewal of reciprocity and the informationto derive revenue, and the principles which that tha t body had caused to be procured andhad guided the Government in the matter. laid before them still further showed themBefore .proceeding further he desired to ap- the folly of the abolition of that treaty andpeal to the forbearance and patriotism of the benefit flowing from unrestrained intermembers representing the various localities, course with the .provinces. It was a matte r o fhe appealed to them not to ask at the hands fact that the great gas interests in Boston,of the Government, at the present time, ap- New York and the Atlantic cities were clampropriations for new works. Clearly it was of orous for a repeal of the duty on coal; andthe best importance to the credit of the other large interests were also lamentmg theDominion that they should not start with pressure occasioned by the restrictive policyanything like a deficiency, but that their in force. The honourable gentleman went onincome should be more than sufficient to meet to show that the exclusion of the products oftheir expenditure. Another reason which the Canada from United States markets had DotGovernment could not lose sight of in fram- been an unmitigated evil, inasmuch as ining their taxation in the manner in which he consequence of it the people of the provinceswas about to indicate was, that the duty of had been forced into other and more remuthe present hour was the consolidation of the nerative markets. One of these was the WestUnion not to impose any burdens which were Indies, and he .believed ftnnly as he stoodnot pressingly necessary. They felt that every there, that the splendid trade of that sectionnew tax was liable to be misrepresented and might be grasped by the people of this counmisunderstood, and as t here were some por- try. The total trade of that section with thetions of the Dominion not yet entirely recon- United States had reached 34,400,000, anddIed to Union, he believed the policy which this trade consisted mainly of articles whichhe had alluded to would commend itself to the provinces produced and had for export.the coun try generally. This Government had Without trespassing further on the time andalso to bear in mind their position with attention of the House to explain the motivesrelation to the United States. The Ministry and policy of the Government, he would addwere not insensible to the trying circum- that their desire was to make as few changesstances in which the country had been placed as possible, and that these should be in tin consequence of the repeal of the Recip- direction of conciliating their friends in therocity Treaty and the unwise restrictive legls- Maritime Provinces, and also that they shouldlat ion adopted by the Americans . The Gov- not be such as further to restrict intercourseernment could not lose sight of the fact that with the United States. He then referred tomany of the great products of the Provinces the tariff changes. He said Government in-had been prohibited from United States mar- tended to take the duty off flour, meal grain,kets, and that in consequence the coal trade com and bread stuffS of all kinds.


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COMMONS DEBATES AprU 28,1881revive sugar duties, a class with ,which therewas great diffi.culty in dealing, especially to

~ t the views of importers and r e f l n e r s ~ Between these two arose great interest' of encouraging direct trade with the West Indies.One of the great objections to the presentt riff was the inequality of it s operation. twas a purely specific rate graduated, accordingto a certain scale as near as possible to theEnglish standard. In England, however, therewere only ' four or five ports at which sugarwas imported, and with experienced men atthese, there was little difficulty in having therate of duty collected exactly according to thenwnber and quali ty of the sugar. The operation of specific duty there wascomparativeIyeasy, but the case was very difterentwith thenumber of ports in the Dominion. Government,therefore, having due regard for the interestof cOllBumer nd purpose of revenue , came tothe conclusion to recommend mixed, v lo-Tem and spec1llc rate, viz., 25 per cent advalOTem and 1 per cent per pound on sugar above number 9 Dutch standard and 25ad valo1'em,and f ,of a cent per pound onsugars below No.9 D.S. They also proposedto reduce molasses to 24 per cent ad v lor m-Melado, 25 ad valOTem and of a cent specillc duty on molasses for refining purposes,would' remain as at present. The duty onwhich wu to be 20 per cent, ad t1alO1 em and10 cents per gallon, whether in bottle orwood; also 10 per cent ad valO1 em on beerand porter, in addit ion to specific duties nowcollected, and 5 per cent on some articles ofiron. A small export duty would be hnposedon pine lop and shingle'boards. On animalsthere would be a specific duty instead of dv lor m as at present, there would be 15 onhorses, 10 on cattle, 2 on swine, and 1 onsheep. t is also, proposed in the way of exciseto impose a small additional rate on spiritsequivalent to remission on corn. t 11 alsoproposed to place excise duty of 5 cents perbarrel on ref ined petroleum, all of whichwould be SUbjected to inspection. Instead ofpermitting articles, such as tea, coffee, wine,etc., to be impor ted free for the use of HerMajesty's troops, an equivalent money payment was provided for in the estimates, considerable ditIlculty and abuse having arisenfrom this cause. And went on to say the condition of the trade of the country was a subjectupon which Government had bestowed muchconsideration, in estimating the probable reve-'nue for 1868-69, and the conclusion at whichthey came was that it would not be safe to calculate upon a larger revenue than during the

[Mr . Rose (HunUnldon) ,J

past .year. The estimated revenue was--fromcustoms, 9,100,000; excise, including duty onpetroleum, 3,540,000; miscellaneous, 2,500,;000; total revenue, 15,140,000, against a totalestimated ordinary expenditure of 14,042,161,showing a surplus of 1,071,839. He did notconsider this an over-estimate. the countryenjoyed average prosperity, he had no reasonto doubt that this amount of revenue wouldfall short. He had used the term ordinaryexpenditure as distinguished from extraordinary . Under extraordinary expenditure he included the sum of 348,700 to bespent in Ontario and Quebec; Nova Scotiarailways, lighthouses, etc ., 690,000; NewBnmswick railways, lighthouses, etc., 1,237,000; Intercolonial Rai lway, $180,300 a total to the capital account of2,456,000, to which might be added twosums on account of redemption of publicdebt. amounting to 1,618,267. This was exclusive fortl11cations. The honourable lentleman then went on to speak of the effect ofthe proposed changes in the tarit on therevenue.

After recess,HOIl. Mr. ROM resumed. He said he felt hiSwork would be only half performed i he did

not say a few words with reference to thefuture he had indicated, and the state of theirexisting obligations. The necessity for constructing the Intercolonial Rallway wasknowledged on ll hands. Without i t therecould have been no Union, and thereforeregarding that expenditure no observationwould be necessary, and in consider in l thei rrelations with other countries much needednot to be said as to the duty of taking theirfair share towards the defence of the Do-.minion, and doing that without which alltheir expenditure for militia purposes wouldhave been rendered useless. He would therefore proceed at once to state the extremelimit of the annual charge for the Intercolonial Railroad and fo r fortifications. Thegross amount of outlay for the IntercolonialRailway, for fortifications and fo r the sinkingfund would be for the tlrst year, 309,033; thesecond year it might be assumed at 618,066;third year, 927,100; fourth year, 1,236,133;fifth year, 1,289,666. This last year the maximum arumal charge both for interest andsinking fund had been reached, there wouldbe provided a sinldnl fund of 1 per cent toprovide repayment of the debt in a givennumber of years, and in 38 or 41 years,


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April 2.8. 1868 COMMONS DEB TES 57 'according as the sinking fund was invested at possible limas and' to promote by every5 or 6 per cent, the. debt WOuld. be extin- means in its power the public wealth.


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580 COMMONS DEBATES April 28. 1888increased the funded debt more than he haddecreased the unfunded debt. Th.l8 increasehad gone to meet the ordinary expenses ofcountry, and the re fore the surplus on whichbe o ~ t u l t e d the House could have nore l existence. Referring to the remarks ofthe Finance Minister about the indebtednessof the several provinces, he could not understand how the representatives of Nova Scotiawho took part in framing the Union Actcould have been so utterly out of their reckoning as the statement of the Finance Min-ister to-night showed that they had been. tappeared that the debt of Nova Scotia wasalready lar,ely in exceB8 of what she waspermitted to take into the Union, and thisexcess must go in abatement of her subsidyand diminish pro rata her resources for theordinary purposes of Government. The samewas true also, though ot to the same extent,with reference to New Brunswick. Mr. lfoltonproceeded to express his regret that the Finance Minister should have adhered to theold fallacy of distinguishing between ordinaryand extraordinary expenditureundet cover ofwhich for 7 or 8 years, the late Minister ofFinance had left a large deAelt at the end ofeach year s operations. The honourable, gentleman had said a good deal about the advantages of establishing a West India trade. He

1868 budget speech

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