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A FINANCIAL RETROSPECT, 1861-19°1 309
country without appearing in the ordinary budget at
all." This was an. arran~ementcommencing about 1887,
when some services hitherto charged on the Imperial
Budgot were handed over to the local authorities along
with certain revenues. Clearly in a fair comparison
with a former period the expenditure on such services
ought still to be shown. The total money thus collected
for the local authorities and handed over to them now
amounts however to close lIIpon 10 million £, which the
Iqtperial Government really pays, although it is not
seen in the ordinary budget. In putting the current
expenditure at a very high figure, therefore, compared
with 1861 and 1871, and disregarding a good deal the
special explanation of war, we are acting safely. There
must be a very high figure when normal conditions are
established.
Before analysing the growth of expenditure and
revenue in detail, we may inquire generally as to the re-
lation of the new burden to the resources of the country.
The first table shows that the aggregate expenditure
per head of population, after falling from £2 lOS. 8d.
10 1861 to £2 4s. 3d. in 1871, and then rising slightly
to £2 6s. 4d. and £2 6s. 6d. in 1881 and 1891, has all
at once jumped up to £4 8s. 6d. and £4 12S. 2d. per
head, not including the extra 10 million £ of expendi-
ture which has dropped out of the Imperial Budget.
A natural presumption from these figures would seem
to be that the national resources are more severely
drawn on than they were, as is undoubtedly the case
when we make comparison with a recent date, such as
189 I. The matter will be discussed more fully after-
wards; but it may be useful to point out, even at this
early stage. that the maintenance of a low figure of
expenditure per head for so long a period as from 1861
to 1891 itself implies an enormous reduction of the
burden of Government in proportion to the resources
of the people. The period, as we all know, was one of
great and continuous prosperity, the wealth of the com-
munity increasing fast. I t is quite possible, therefore,