Note 119:1 — Chapter V

It is noteworthy that from 1858 to 1895 the amount of money raised by taxation for national purposes was never less than £2 4s. 5d. and never more than £2 9s. 11d. per head of population. Of late years it has shown a steady tendency to increase. In 1899, the year before the war, it was £2 13s. 6d.; and in 1902 it was £3 8s. 8d., the expenditure being £4 13s. 11d. Between 1857 and 1900 the national debt was reduced by gradual payments from £837,144,597 to £628,978,783. In 1902 it had increased in consequence of the South African War to £747,911,107.