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A FINANCIAL RETROSPECT, 1861-1901 325
to Civil Service expenditure, which has increased a few
miUions only, apart from education, while the expendi-
ture of Customs and Excise has hardly increased at
aU. 'The increase (or education, however, is nearly
12 million £.
4. A large part of the increase is due to the Post
Office department, the outlay for which has risen from
3 to 131 million £, in consequence, it is obvious, of
the additional services wnich the department conducts
for the benefit of the public as compared with what it
formerly managed, and in consequence of the extensive
growth of the older services themselves.
5. The main increase of expenditure is, however,
due to Army and Navy, on which we spent in 1900-01
over 121 million £ as compared with little more than
30 million £ in 1861, and about 22 million £ only in
1871. Although 70 million £ of this increase is set
down in the budget as for war, the ordinary growth of
Army and Navy being set down as no more than about
30 million £, reasons are given for the opinion that
the expenditure for armaments is not permanently re-
ducible by so large a figure as the amount set down for
war. A total permanent outlay of at least 150 million
£ is considered to be highly probable, of which 80
million £ or over will be for Army and Navy.
6. The revenue has also increased greatly since
1861, viz., from about 70 to 130 million £ in 1900-01,
and to an estimated figure of 142!- million £ in the
current year.
7. I t is considered, however, that notwithstanding
the increase of burden, the country is as well able to
bear this load as it was to bear the smaller sum of 70
million £ levied in 1861 and 1871. It is pointed out
that the population of Great Britain has increased 60
per cent. since 1861, and that with a very small increase
of wealth per head, so large an increase of the pro-
gressive part of the population implies ihe"'doubling,
and more than doubling, of the resources of the
country.