THE CONTROL OIF MONEY 163

jpend, though services must be maintained. The Committee on
Supply therefore passes a "Vote on Account"—a grant of money
:o maintain the Government for a few months. Then another
Committee of the Whole House—the Ways and Means
Committee—proceeds to empower the Government to raise
taxes and loans, and to draw from the Consolidated Fund. The
decisions of this Committee are reported to the House and
made law as a Consolidated Fund Act before April ist; on the
strength of this Act the Government can borrow what it needs
for the time. The Committee on Supply then finishes the
Estimates. Sometimes the Government finds that it will require
more money than was first supposed* and a Supplementary
Estimate is laid before the Committee. All the votes on the
Estimates are assembled in the Appropriation Act which becomes
law, under the usual Money Bill procedure, just before the
Summer Recess; the Government's powers to borrow and spend
are thus prolonged for the rest of the financial year.

THE BUDGET.

While the Committee ou Supply does the bulk of its work
between February and Easter, the third part of the Session is
largely occupied by the Ways and Means Committee, to which,
near the end of April, the Chancellor of the Exchequer makes
his Budget Speech. This is the longest speech that Parliament
hears, and lasts nearly two hours. The Chancellor first explains
to the Committee the accounts of the year which has just ended,
showing how the actual figures differ from the Estimates
presented a year before. This forms a basis for general conclusions
about the country's prosperity. If Income Tax has yielded more
than was hoped, this is a sign that more work has been done and
more wealth produced; if the consumption of taxed articles—
beer, tea, amusements—has risen, not only does the Exchequer
benefit, but there is evidence that the people have more money
to spend. If the yield from taxation has been disappointing the
Chancellor endeavours to find some explanation not discredit-