Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-08-18 00:00:00

Ear INDIAN FINANCE,

So far as regards the immediate wants of the East India
Company, we learn from the speech of the Chancellor of
the Exchequer that there is no immediate necessity for
resorting to the imperial government for aid either by way
of loan or of guarantee ; and, looking to the fact that
parliament is about to sei-arate, iu all probability for six
months, there can be no doubt that both ou the part of
the government and of the East Indian authorities, the
possibility of any such assistance being required has
been maturely considered ; because if there was any
chance whatever of recourse being had to the governmen'
for aid, it could not be granted without the consent of
parliament, and the fact that no such application is
about to be made, is the beat guarantee it is not expected
that any such aid will be required at least before next
year, if at all. To say nothing of the usual means
which the East India Company has of recruiting its
home treasury by drafts upon India, which no doubt it
will be anxious to curtail to the smallest possible amou❑ t
at this time, it appears that on the Ist of May it possessed
funds in the shape of money, Exchequer bills and bonds,
and stuck in the public funds, all at is disposal,
amounting to £3,969,654, or close upon four millions ; and
we understand that the Company have an unexhausted
power of issuing bonds to the extent of £3,000,000 more.
Independent therefore of any reliance upon India at all.
the East India Company in this way may be considered
to have at its disposal a sum of about £7,000,000, or fully
double the amount usually required for meeting the
annual home charges.

If funds are required in India for the suppression of the
mutiny, it is probable, in the first place, that the public
works will be temporarily suspended, which step of itself
will place nearly £2,000,000 in the year at the disposal
of the government for other purposes. Again, if the East
India Company can, by falling back upon its resources a t
home, diminish its drafts by one half, that will place a
further sum of £1,600,000 at the disposal of the govern-
ment in India for local expenditure. And lastly, if it be
required further to recruit the finances in India in con-
sequence of some temporary decline in the land revenue
collections, there can be no doubt that the government
would be able to raise without any difficulty very large
sums by giving a sufficient rate of interest on the spot.
There probably wa3 never a time in the whole history
of India when there existed so large an amount of accu-
mulated and even of unemployed capital as at this moment.
So far, then, as regards the English money market, there
appear to be two distinct groundi upon which the un-
happy events in Julia are not likely to exercise any very
perceptible or prejudicial influence—first, the crisis in
India is not a financial, but a military difficulty ; and,
next, so far as Indian finances may be indirectly affected,
there are goad grounds for believing that the Indian
Government can safely rely upon its own resources on the
spot, without resorting to this country for aid or assist-
ance of that description.—Economist.