What  has  so  far  been  said  in  criticism  of  this  system  applies
to  the  principles  upon  which  it  is  based.  Were  these  princi-
ples rigidly  and  consistently  adhered  to  something  might  be
said  in  its  favor.  Unfortunately  this  is  not  the  case.  By
no  means  all  incidental  receipts  of  the  spending  departments
are  applied  to  meeting  their  expenditures  in  the  way  of  appro-
priations in  aid.  There  are  many  classes  of  receipts,  which,


on  account  of  their  amount,  their  casual  character,  or  for  some  Departed
other  reason,  are  not  so  appropriated.  All  receipts  of  the  de-
partments that  are  paid  through  the  affixing  and  canceling  of
stamps  are  automatically  carried  into  the  Exchequer  and  thus
are  not  available  for  appropriation  in  aid.  Finally,  there  are
the  cases  where  receipts  exceed  estimates.  In  these  cases
we  have  the  added  complication  of  part  of  the  receipts  from
a  given  source  being  treated  as  an  appropriation  in  aid  and  part
as  a  Treasury  receipt.
These  theoretical  objections  do  not  seem  to  be  overcome  in

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BRITISH  FINANCIAL  ADMINISTRATION

inconsistent,    practice ;  in  fact,  study  of  the  system  in  operation  confirms  the

Nlogics  conclusion  that    it  is  inconsistent,   illogical  and  misleading.
Misleading     Many  of  the  seeming  inconsistencies  have  been  pointed  out.
Among  those  who  have  attacked  the  system  is  Mr.  Harold

Cox,1  from  whose  criticism  the  following  is  taken :

In  the  annual  estimates  presented  to  Parliament  ab-
solutely no  attempt  at  consistency  is  made.  The  same
department  will  treat  some  receipts  as  Appropriations  in
Aid  of  expenditure;  others,  identical  in  character,  are
treated  as  additions  to  revenue.  A  few  examples  will
enable  the  reader  to  better  appreciate  the  hopeless  con-
fusion which  exists  in  the  only  accounts  formally  pre-
sented to  the  House  of  Commons.
