The Press.
London, England, 1854-03-11 00:00:00

MARcit 11, 1854.

to take off the whole of the taxes of India, it would still he
in a miserable state without irrigation, communication,
ports, &c. And to increase its income by 25 millions
sterling by means of these would be an incomparably
greater benefit to it than to take off the present 25 millions
of taxes. A complete system of communication through-
out India would undoubtedly increase the income of the
country by far more than 25 millions a year. Let us take
again the case of Tanjore ; suppose, instead of spending
40,000 rupees a year on improvements, the same amount
of taxes had been remitted, it would have had 40,000
rupees a year less to pay, but it would have been without
those works which have raised the value of its land 3 or 31
crores, indicating an increase of income of 1$ or 20 lace a
year. Ask a sick man which he would rather a doctor would
do for him, relieve him from a small part of his work, or
restore him to his full health, so that his labour would be a
pleasure to him ; can there be any question which he would
prefer? The present debt of India is utterly insigni•
flcant to a fertile country containing 100 millions of people
in a state of perfect peace, if only they had the means of
transit. It only amounts• to half a rupee per head per
annum. The improvement in the revenue of Tanjore
alone pays one•tenth of the interest, trifling as the works
are that have been executed there, and the increase of
private property there is equal to more than another tenth ;
if five districts out of the ninety or one hundred were thus
positively improved, it would be equal to the whole interest
of the debt.

The debt of India is nothing in itself—it is
felt as a burden because of the weakness of
the bearer. Relieve this weakness, and the
load will cease to be a subject of complaint.
Where a district is in arrears (often the case),
the remedy is to spend money upon it, not to
squeeze the inhabitants. The latter plan is,
however, the only one in use—a collector being
at full liberty to extort all he can by legal
means from pauperised debtors, but not at
liberty to employ the funds in his hands on
reproductive enterprises. The first fact want-
ing to be impressed on the popular mind is
this—that money invested is not expended,
in the same sense as the Governor-General's
salary is an expenditure of 25,0001. a year.
The railroad, the bridge, the canal, are property,
and very valuable property too, if, by a system
of tolls, they he made to pay as much as they
will yield without decrease of traffic from over
charge. But a Government carrying out such
works may remunerate itself better by indirect
than direct means. The growth of revenue
from untaxed trade is greater than the largest
amount of tolls that can possibly be levied.
In the case of irrigation, of course, an artificial
productiveness being thus given to the soil,
it is right that a corresponding increase of
rent or land tax should follow.
What are the real wants of India ? Taking
her total territorial area at one and a quarter
millions of square miles, we find that to open
up this extent of country by main or high
roads fifty miles apart would require fifty
thousand miles of such roads. Connecting
these with minor or byroads five miles apart,
we should require of this inferior class of com-
munication half a million of miles. The
actual means of transit are estimated as fol-
lows :
Milan

Sea navigation from mouths of Indus to
those of Ganges 3,500
River navigation . ...
Complete roads
Imperfectly-made roads, say lO,OOO

17,500

This is of course a mere rough approxima
tion ; and we must use the saine caution in
accepting Colonel Cotton's estimate that the
average cost of traffic is one shilling per
ton per mile (allowing for difference in the
value of money), while in England it is about
one-penny-halfpenny, or one-eighth as much.
But, remembering the immense distances of In-
dia as compared with those of this country—the
large proportion which in Hindostan raw
material of great bulk and small value bears
to all other kinds of goods—and also the want
of large dealers having capital to defray
beforehand expenses of transit—the ad valorem
tax on merchandise imposed by the badness
of roads is not to be measured by this standard
of comparison. Hypothetical statistics, founded
only on inference, are worth little ; yet Colonel
Cotton appears to have sound probable data
when he assumes the cost of transit in India
as equalling fifteen millions of pounds yearly,
and when he computes that, with proper
management, this sum mighi, be reduced by
four-fifths, or a saving of twelve millions
effected. This is but a small part of the total
gain; for, besides the trade now carried on at
heavy cost, and with profits thereby reduced