The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-05 00:00:00

INDIA.

SIR CHARLES TREVELYAN'S BUDGET.
By the arrival of the Bombay mail we have ad-
vices from Bombay to May 14, and from Calcutta to
May a.
The financial statement of the Indian Chancellor
of the Exchequer for 1863-64 was delivered by Sir
Charles Trevelyan on the 30th April in the " Coun-
cil of the Governor-General for making Laws and
Regulations." According to the Minister the state-
ment was based on " an outside estimate of expen-
diture and en inside estimate of revenue." The fol-
lowing is a summary of this document :
" The total gross revenue of 1862-3 is £45,106,700,
which is £2,134,500 more than the budget estimate,
and £1,276,288 more than the actual receipts of
1861-62. It is a favourable indication of the pro-
gress of India that the revenue is I abitually under-
estimated. The growth is so rapid as to outstrip
every calculation which it is considered safe to
make. The total expenditure in India in 1862-3
is £37,228,900 against an estimated sum of
£36,329,400, but to this last must be added
£366,300 for loss by exchange, which was not
provided for, and the real comparison, therefore,
stands as follows :
I Budget estimate ...................... £36,329,400
Add loss by exchange .................. 366,300

Regular estimate ........ 36,695,700............ 37,228,900

Excess of expenditure over the budget
estimate ....................... .... 533,200
The total expenditure
estimatingin India in 1861.62 was
.£37,245,756, and there is therefore a decrease of
expenditure in 1862.63,
compared with the preced-
ing Year, of £16,856. These results are satisfac-
tory,
h
inasmuchte
they
as show improved accuracy in
expenditure and the absence of any
increase in it. The net expenditure in England is
£5,292,397, which is less than Mr. Laing's esti-
mate corrected by the additions which Sir C. Wood
directed to be made (making a total sum of
£5,461,432) by £199,035. This arises from reduced
expenditure at home. The sum paid at home for
guaranteed interest on railwiiy capital, less net
traffic receipts, is £1,647,478, against a budget esti-
mate of £1,500,000. The gross expenditure in
India, added to the net expenditure in England,
including railways, amounts to £44,168,775 ; and
deducting this from £45,105,700, the gross revenue
of India, there remains a net surplus of £936,925 of
income over expenditure for the year 1862-63. This
result is more favourable than that shown in the
regular estimate, because, as has been already
stated, information was subsequently received of
reductions having been made in the home charges
and guaranteed interest.

The
total amount of revenue estimated by me for
;
1863.61
'8 £45,306,200, which is only £200,500
ESTIMATED REVENUE OF 1863-64.
more than, according to the regular estimate, will
be actually
realised in 1862-63. Indeed, when the
increased receipts from opium, of which information
has since been received, are taken into account, my
estimate of the revenue of next year is less than the
actual receipts of this year. In the absence of any
extraordinary unexpected check before the end of
April, 1864, there must be a progressive increase of
the public revenue taken as a whole which will carry
the receipts beyond the figure at which they have
been taken. It
---°v? much reason there is to expect a
sustained progress will be seen from the following
statement of the
annual revenue since the mutiny:—
1858 59, £36,060,788 •
1859.60, £39,705,822 ;
1860 61, £42,903,234; 'lB i 1.62, £42,829,472 ; re-
gular estimate for 1862-63, £45,105,700. From
these it
increase in 1862.63
Will be seen :-1. That the
over 1858-
59 is £9,044.912.
2. That the average revenue of the three
last years exceeds that of the three first
years by £4,382,520. 3. That the aggregate
increase in four years upon the income of 1858-59 is
£27,301,076; and 4. That there has been an ave
rage annual increase in each succeeding year of
£2,730,107.

ESTIMATED
EXPENDITURE FOR 1863-64.
the total estimated expenditure in India for
18b3 64 is £37,525,300, which is £296,400 more
than the regular estimate for 1862-63, and £279,544
more than the actual expenditure for 1861-62. The
estimate for 1863-64 exceeds the estimate for 1862.
63 by a larger amount, but the true comparison is,
not with the expectation which the budget estimate
of 1862-63 held out, but with the near approxima-
to actual fact afforded by the regular estimate of the
same year. The increased expenditure in 1863-64 is
caused by additional appropriations for public
works, the greater
part of which are of a nature of
a highly reproductive investment. In other respects
the expenditure has been kept below its previous
level. The net expenditure in Eugland is estimated
by the Secretary of State at £5,347,300, which is
more than the expenditure of 1862-63 by £54,903.
This is caused by increased payments for the Persian
Gulf Telegraph, and for the site and construction of
the is estimated that the home mili-
India-office. It

tary charges will be £134,000 less in 1863-64 than
in 1862-63,including a diminished payment of 50,000
to the Imperial Government for her Mbjesty's troops
serving in India. The guaranteed interest on rail-
way capital, less net traffic receipts, is estimated by
the Secretary of State at £1,617,825, which is
£117,825 more than the budget estimate of 1862.63,
and £192,745 more than the actual charge for 1861-
62. The total expenditure which has to be pro-
vided for in 1863.64 is therefore £44,490,425; and
as the total estimated revenue is £45,306,200, the
estimated surplus is £815,775.
Sir Charles Trevelyan disposes of part of his
surplus by taking off the duty on iron, substituting
for it a registration fee of one per cent. The duty
on beer, " the most wholesome of stimulants, and
the best suited to this climate," to quote the words
of the budget, is reduced to one anna (lid.) per
gallon; the duty on wine is reduced to one rupee
(25.) per gallon ; and the income tax is to be re-
duced to 3 per cent. the Ist of next August. These
deductions made, the final surplus is estimated at
£480,775.

The Times of India maintains that the real sur-
plus ought to be stated at nearly £8,000,000, inas-
much as £7,000,000 of the expenditure is for public
works. It says :—" We do not quarrel with Sir
Charles Trevelyan's appropriation of the surplus,
but we do quarrel with and protest against the
practice of smuggling an immense expenditure upon
public works through the accounts, as though we
were ashamed of letting the world know that we
had encountered it. Does Sir Charles Trevelyan
think that it would injure our credit amongst Eng-
lish capitalists were he to tell them that so easy are
the circumstances of the country, that after defray-
ing all the expenses of the State he is able gratui-
tously to devote seven millions sterling to works of
public improvement P Is it not certain that the
avowal of such a surplus would indefinitely enhance
Indian credit with the whole capitalist class of
Europe, and encourage them to invest their gold
freely amongst us ? Of course any man may get
the facts out of these budget statements for himself.
But the accounts ought not to be presented in a
shape that renders it necessary to seek for them.
They should lie ready to every man's hand, and the
annual Indian surplus of £7,000,000 should be a
household word' upon every stock exchange in the
world. Mr. Laing admitted the error that was
being committed, when he told us that our large
expenditure on public works is really a sinking
fund admirably invested.' Of course it is; and be-
cause it is a mere investment of surplus funds, the
accounts should show the fact so plainly that he
who runs may read it."