The Sun.
London, England, 1862-07-23 00:00:00

...4d.
STAMPED ....sd.

£3,300,000 (including a balance of £300,000, to
complete the return of an extra £1,000,000 sent
from England in bullion).

"This was confirmed by finding that making
the Estimate for 1862-3 on exactly the same P ci
pie. the Accountant-General and I brought it tO
£3,727,732,. while a subsequent despatch from
England stated it at £3,700,000 ; it being cer-
tain that the claim for 18612 could not be nearly
as much as for 1862.3, inasmuch as the expenditure
in railway construction, which is virtually a remit-
tance, was larger.
" Moreover, I find in the account of home re-
ceipts and expenditure for 1861-2, which I now see
for the first time, but an estimate of which, as I
contend, ought to have been sent more than 12
months ago to India (Parliamentary Paper 245, of
the 15th of May, 1862, Account No. 2), that Sir C.
Wood's own statement to the House of Commons
shows the total cash disbursements in England for
India for the year to have been £9,540,881, as fol-
lows, viz.:

Total disbursements ..
Less—
Bonds paid off and covered by fresh
loans • • • • .. £1,301,600
Payments on account of rail-
way construction in England
covered by capital paid in by
companies • • • .. 1,612,608
Bullion shipped to India, since
returned • • • • .. 735,005

- .. .. £13,190,091

3,G49,213

:£9,540,851
While the Miscellaneous' Receipts on account of
India in England during the same time (all of
which, as I say, and many of which, as Sir C. Wood
himself must admit, are revenue), amounted to
£1,346,469 ; a most material fact, all knowledge of
which was withheld from the Government of India
at the critical time when they were obliged to incur
the grave responsibility of deciding on such a ques-
tion as whether a tax which would inevitably bring
home oppression and discontent to millions of their
Indian subjects ought or ought not to be proceeded
with.

" As the payments in India on account of Eng-
land for the year will exceed £6,000,000, it follows
that, according to Sir C. Wood's own way of stat-
ing the account, there cannot be £3,500,000, and
according to my way, which corresponds with the
English practice and with the actual cash require-
ments, not above £2,200,000 to deduct from my
Indian accumulation of £4,105,857, in order finally
to arrive at the real cash result of the year 1861-2.
" Sir C. Wood says this result shows a deficit of
£595,515 ; I say it shows a surplus of £600,000
even on his own way of stating the figures, and of
£1,900,000 on my way, which is the one which
corresponds with the reality, for the fact remains
uncontroverted and uncontrevertible, that in the
year 1861-2, in which I was charged 12 months ago
with having a deficit of £1,000,000, and now with
having a deficit of £595,515, the close of the year
shows, after paying every known claim of the year,
£1,900,000 more cash between the aggregate trea-
suries of India and England on April 30, 1862, than
there was on April 30, 1861, after deducting all
loans and after paying more than has been received
in all separate deposit accounts for which the State
is merely a trustee.

" This was and is my specific statement, and I
must say I think it was hardly fair for Sir C. Wood,
who had these figures in substance before him as my
statement of my case ever since May last, to lead
the House of Commons and the public to suppose
either that I had made blunders which were never
suspected till they were discovered at the India-
office, or that I had based my case on such a weak
and untenable ground as the mere general state-
ment that the increase of cash balances, of itself
and without any analysis, proved a surplus.
" However, let this pass, the real issue is, are the
figures which I have now reported substantially
correct or not, and can Sir C. Wood deny that, as

tested by real cash, India has a clear surplus ?
" Or is he prepared to say that if there is such a
surplus, I should have been right in adopting his
mode of stating the accounts, and counselling Lord
Canning, as I assuredly must have done if I had
accepted figures showing a deficit, to maintain the
10 per cent. import duty, and to impose the Income-
tax? " S. LAING.
" July 21, 1862."