against 64,087,1977. in the previous year. The total expenditure in connection with the relief of the poor in the kingdom was 11,722,7341.; police, sanitary, and other public works absorbed 32,882,9677., and School Boards, 6,385,2071. National Debt.-The expenditure on account of National Debt is now nearly six times the amount paid in 1775, at the beginning of the War of Independence of the United States. The total charge for interest and management was then only a little over 4 millions sterling; but at the end of the war it had risen to 9 millions. The twenty-two years' warfare with France, from 1793 to 1815, added 23 millions sterling to the annual charge of the debt, making it over 32 millions, decreased by slightly more than a million in 1817, the year of consolidation of the English and Irish exchequer. Since this date, the capital of the debt has on the whole been steadily decreasing, excepting for the years of the Russian war. The annual charge for interest, &c., after increasing to nearly 30 millions in 1883, is now less than in 1857, at the close of that war, by 592,0167. The following table exhibits the growth of the debt from its origin to the year 1887 at various periods: The net total of the National Debt is 700,846,4651., after deducting assets and balances. The capital of the National Debt varied as follows during the ten years, ending March 31, from 1878 to 1887 : : In the financial year 1883-84, 70,241,9087. 3 per cent. stock was converted into terminable annuities under the provisions of the National Debt Act, 1883. The unfunded debt was inclusive of Suez Canal bonds to the amount of 4,000,000l. in 1876, decreasing annually to 3,275,900l. in 1887. The charge of the Sinking Fund for the financial year ending March 31, 1876, was fixed at 27,400,000l.; for the year 1876-77 at 27,700,000l.; and for every subsequent year at 28,000,0002., though there have since been small temporary additions. A Treasury Minute of May 25, 1887, proposes, by a permanent or fixed charge' of 26,000,000l., to redeem the funded debt in about 52 years, and the whole of the National Debt in about 56 years. The whole of the debt amounts to only 106,423,000l. more than the gross annual value of property and profits assessed to income tax, is somewhat more than half of the estimated national income, and 117,748,000l. more than the total value of British imports and exports for 1886. It is about 197. 178. per head of the present population, and the annual charge is 15s. 1d. per head. Army and Navy. The maintenance of a standing army, in time of peace, without the consent of Parliament, is prohibited by the Bill of Rights of 1690. From that time to the present, the number of troops which the security of the kingdom and its possessions rendered it necessary to maintain, as well as the cost of the different branches of the service in detail, have been sanctioned by an annual vote of the House of Commons. The Secretary of State for War frames the Army Estimates,' or detailed accounts of the strength and cost of the army, which are submitted in 'votes '-25 in the estimates of 1887-88 -to the approval of the House of Commons. เ Parliament exercises another important means of control over the army, viz. by passing at the commencement of every session an Act called the Army (Annual) Bill,' investing the Crown with large powers to inake regulations for the good government of the army, and to frame the Articles of War, which form the military code. According to the army estimates laid before the House of Commons in the session of 1887, the regular army of the United Kingdomexclusive of India during the year ending March 31, 1888, is to consist of 7,388 commissioned officers, 1,126 warrant officers, 15,459 sergeants, 3,659 drummers, trumpeters, &c., and 121,759 rank and file, a total of 149,391 men of all ranks, being a total decrease of 2,476 over the previous year. This force is to be composed of the following staff, regiments, and miscellaneous establishments : The total number of horses for this establishment in 1886-87 was 12,669, and of field guns, 300. The following table exhibits, after official returns, the number of officers, rank and file, maintained for service in the United Kingdom at decennial periods since the year 1800 up to 1870, and during the last two years, on the 1st of January in every The following is the official return of the number and distribution of the effectives of the British Army (exclusive of staff of auxiliary forces) in the beginning of 1887: The troops here enumerated do not constitute the whole armed force of the United Kingdom; but the army estimates for the year ending March 31, 1888, as well as former years, contained votes of money for four classes of reserve, or auxiliary forces-namely, the Militia, the Yeomanry Cavalry, the Volunteer corps, and the Army Reserve force. The following is the official return of the number of men in the regimental establishments of the various forces, with the effectives, for 1887-88 : R |