54
THE BltlTISH EMfIRE: — UNITEP KINGDOM
Periods
Principal
Annual Charge
1 Debt in 1857
Decrease since the Crimean War .
' Pebt oil March 31, 1898 , ,
£ 837,144,597 202,708,893
£ 28,898,651 3,898,651
634,435,704
25,000,000
The following statement shows the total amount of the Gross Liabilities and the Assets of the State on March 31, 1898.
Liabilities :
Funded Debt _ .
Estimated Capital of Tenuinable Annuities Unfunded Debt . . , . ,
Other Capital Liabilities :
Russian Dutch Loan Aot, 1891 Iroperial Defence Act, 1888 . Barracks Act, 1890 Telegraph Act, 1892 XJganda Railway Act, 1896
Total Gfoss Liabilities Assets : Suez Canal Shares, market value Qthpr Assets
585,787,624
40,515,080
8,133,000
346,554 277,756 2,134,385 926,206 145,877
24,435,000 806,799
634,435,704
Exchequer Balances at the Banks of England and Iceland ........
3,830,778 638,266,482
25,241,799 10,9J8,422
The whole of the debt is about 62,000,000/. less than the gross annual value of property and profits assessed to income tax, and 107,000,000/. less than the total value of British imports and pxports for 1897. It is about 15/. 17s. 6d. per head of the present pqpulation, and the annual charge is 125. 5d. per head. The national wealth, public and private, of the United Kingdom was pst-i^nated by Sir R. Giffen in 1885 at 10,037,436,000/.
IV. Local Taxation.
The total amount raised for local expenditure was as follows in the three divisions of the United Kingdom in 1895-96, the last year for which accounts are published :—
