Page:The Earl of Mayo.djvu/149

Rh and estimated for a small surplus of £48,263. It soon appeared, however, that no amount of caution would avail to prevent the falsification of the Budget estimates under the system upon which they were then made up. The first symptoms which caused Lord Mayo alarm was the discovery that the cash balances in the treasuries proved lower than had been estimated by his predecessor. Lord Mayo's anxiety increased as the actual facts of the financial year previous to his accession, 1868-69, became finally known. Item after item turned out worse than had been expected, until the deficit of £889,598, as estimated in March, 1869, grew to the vast sum of £2,542,861, as ascertained from the completed accounts a few months later.

Nor did the disastrous discrepancy appear only in the Actuals of 1868-69. Circumstances occurred to raise a suspicion in Lord Mayo's mind that the same fate might be in store for the finances of the current year, 1869-70. His inquiries led him to order a re-examination of the whole Budget estimates. These estimates, viewed in the light of the actual results of 1868-69, disclosed an inevitable deficit of £1,650,000 for the current year 1869-70, in place of the surplus of £48,263, as announced by the Budget in March. Lord Mayo's perplexities were increased by the circumstance that Sir Richard Temple, after duly delivering the Budget for 1869-70, had found himself compelled to proceed to England on six months' leave. Sir Richard's experience and knowledge were not there-