The Sun.
London, England, 1854-08-09 00:00:00

BILL.

This bill, as amended, was considered ; the third
reading to be taken this day.
MR. O'FL AH ERTY'S APPOINTMENT.

Mr. LUCAS called the attention of the house to circum•
stances connected with the appointment of persons en-
trusted with the collection of the revenue, and referred to
the case of the special commissioner of income tax in Ire-
land, who was said to have quitted that country in conse-
quence of having committed forgeries. As he believed the
appointment to be in the Chancellor of the Exchequer, he
had communicated privately with him in order that he
might be present on that occasion. The right hon. gentle-
man had asked him to postpone his motion, but unless
some reason could be alleged for his doing so he should
feel it his duty to proceed. These rumours respecting the
income tax commissioner were current for weeks, and he
could not conceive how it was possible that the Chancellor
of the Exchequer should not inquire into the means by
which he was misled as to the character of the man whom
he had appointed to an office so important.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said he had
no wish upon the subject, though he was anything but pre-
pared with the requisite information.
Mr. LUCAS then brought the case of Mr. E. O'Flaherty
before the house, and demanded some explanation upon
the subject.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said he had
made the appointment on the recommendation of Sir J.
Young, but the functions of Mr. O'Flaherty as income tax
commissioner had ceased long before those rumours got
into circulation. There had been no defalcations on the
part of Mr. O'Flaherty, and whatever rumours prevailed
against him were applicable to his private conduct after he
had ceased his official duties.
Mr. DISRAELI regretted that Lord Naas was not pre-
sent, and reminded the house of the case of Mr. Keogh, in
which Mr. O'Flaherty's testimony was adduced in contra-
vention of the statement of his noble friend with respect
to Mr. Keogh's appointment. His noble friend had. at the
time a letter in his pocket which would have at once neu-
tralised the testimony of Mr. O'Flaherty, and shown that
he was not a person who ought to have been appointed to
the office which he subsequently obtained.
Colonel DUNNE said that on the occasion in question
Lord Naas had in his possession a letter which contained
the most damning. proof of the unfitness of Mr, O'Flaherty,
by reason of hie • antecedents, to hold any position under
Government, but a feeling of delicacy restrained him from
using it.

The "subject then dropped.
INDIAN FLNANCE.

The house then resolved itself into a committee for the
purpose of receiving a statement from Sir Charles Wood,
on the subject of the Indian revenue accounts, there not
being more than a dozen members present during the earlier
part of the proceedings.

Sir C. WOOD proceeded to address the committee, as
near as. we were enabled to collect, in the following terms;
for the low conversational tone in which a large portion of
the introductory remarks of the right honourable baronet
were delivered rendered them for the most part, either
partially inaudible or totally unintelligible in the gallery :
I rise, sir, in performance of a promise made last year, to
lay before the house a statement with respect to the
finances of India, and at the same time to submit to the
house a general statement of the progress which has been
made since that subject was last under discussion in this
house. I propose, in order to enable me to do this the
more clearly, to follow the precedent set in former years—
for it is only two years short of half a century since an
Indian budget was submitted to the House of Commons=
of submitting to the house a series of resolutions on the
subject of the finances of India. The resolutions will be,
relative to the commercial aspect of the country, similar

to those of former years. Other resolutions will also be

plapedjin your hands, sir, on the subject of the revenue
and expenditure of the several presidencies; on the subject
of India generally ; and lastly, of those charges which are
paid in this country, showing the ultimate surplus after
defraying the whole of the Indian charges which are payable
out of the Indian revenue. The resolutions which I shall
submit to you are, in truth, as on former occasions, little
more than mere assertions of matters of fact. Former acts
of Parliament provided a form in which those resolutions
should be framed, but a later act requires the form in
which the resolutions and accounts are now framed. The
principal advantage which I anticipate from the course
which the committee .is • now about to adopt, is not so
much eliciting any opinion on the subject of the finances
• of India as to enable me to lay befOre the house a general
view of the subject of the state of that country, and to
enable hon. members to make those observations which
they think requisite thereupon, or to elicit any farther
information, so far as I am enabled to give it, upon matters
of great and absorbing interest in connection with this im-
portant subject. By the last act of ParliaMent, the ac-
counts, framed in a particular manner, are annually laid
upon the table of the house; but I did not think, from the
little time that I have had to turn my attention to this
subject, that those accounts are so explicit as it was desi-
rable they should be made. Accordingly, I desired the
accounts to be framed very much upon the model of the
finance accounts of this country, giving very full informa-
tion on the subject of revenue, income, expenditure,
charge upon Indian revenue, and other subjects upon
which hon. members might be desirous of expressing an
opinion or forming a judgment. Those accounts have been
framed with very great care byMr.Key (as we understood)
of the East India Company. These accounts, so prepared,
have been submitted to Mr. Anderson (as we also under-
stood), the late deputy paymaster-general, and having un-
dergone a most careful revision they have been considered
satisfactory, so far as the information which they afford is
concerned. I was anxious to lay upon the table of the
house on this occasion the trade and navigation returns of
India, but found that it would not be possible to have
these returns made up to a recent period in sufficient time
to present them with the other returns. With respect to
the period to which these returns have been made up, I
greatly regret that I am unable to lay before the house
complete accounts down to a later period than the 30th of
April, 1852. Adopting, as I have already said, the prece-
dent of former years, I propose in the first instance to put
into your hands the income and charges of each separate
presidency, the general income and charges payable in
India, the home charges, and the difference, which is of
course the ultimate surplus of Indian revenue. The com-
mittee must, however, bear in mind, that there is great
difficulty in apportioning to the respective presidencies the
precise amount of charges which ought to be placed to the
credit of each. The revenues of Bengal, for instance, aro
chargeable for the payments for suppressing piracy,
" batta" is chargeable on the Madras revenue, and the
India mail on the Bombay revenue. The charges on each
presidency., do rot, therefore, correctly represent the
actual charges, and whether or not it may be desirable to
separate them accurately in future is a subject to which I
shall devote my attention in the next session. Again,
with respect to the home payment, the furlough charges
and the pay of the whole army is from a general sum,
though obviously it must be divided between the three
presidencies. Ido not know whether it would be worth
while taking the trouble to divide the payment between
Bombay, Bengal, and Madras. I merely state this in order
that the committee may understand that in the resolutions to
be submitted to it, it will not have the separate charge of
the respective presidencies, nor indeed the general charges
of the Indian Government as accuratley distinguished from
that of the local go'vernteenta. The statements which I.
am about to make are founded mainly upon papers 12, 13,
and 29 in this general return (the right hon. baronet did
not particula.riso more precisely the return alluded to).
These papers represent the accounts of receipts and dis-
barsements, especially "29," where, at page 45, will be
found a very full account of the whole. The first resolu-
tions which I shall put into your hands are with respect to
t_het. revenue. of the presidency of Bengal, including the
local charges therun, exclusive of the army. I shall state
at,. the same time the revenues and expenditure. of the
north
ee-western provinces,portn in order to afford to the coal-
portions. I shall then iy of comparing them with other
add to them the charge for
state the total charges of both, and
ofr the army. The first resolution
states that the r
gal. in the year ending the
30th of April was aafollo 11'3"
Revenna . :
Local charges yia . • ............ ......... Z 7,534,4 5
'"'reipon ........ . 1,936,362
Leaving surplus
The revenue and 6xPendit.n ..... . ..
th.e. . n-o-142115-'w6elsBie°r7n3 pro-
vinces were as follows :--
- Revenue ......... :. ,•
Local charges ~..

1,402,238

Leaving surplus .... • 1
The military charges of Bengal . ''' ''' ",266,417
vioces form, as might be expected north-western pro-
the le
the whole military expenditure of India, largest portion of
less than 5,412,230/. ' The net revenue' aimo,rting to not
the net revepue, after deducting charge, ofaZlaiPeaking of
other charges of that description—of Bengal and "d
western provinces was 13,225,150/. ; the charges north
sum, including Military charges, was 8,770,3?30/. (lcena7is
a surplus revenue from the Bengal and north-western
provinces applicable to the general charges of India, inciud.
fug the debt, of 4,
to 434,320/. The next resolution is one
the presidency of Madras, and will be
which will apply
as follows :

Revenue

23,704,048
3,204,273

Local charges

Surplus .............................. 2499,775
With respect to Bombay, the account stands as follows:
Revenue ................................. £2,868,293
2 847
Local charges ........................... ~392

£20,906
Surplus
The total net revenue of the several presidencies amounts
to 19,827,496/., and the total charges, exclusive of the army,
to 14,822,4951.
El, leaving a total surplus available for the pay-
.atißenkkitthe debt and home charges of 5,005,001/. The ie-
ILlere the India debt, payable in India, exclusive of local
:'' - Pc!iec.ry debt, was at that time 1,967,.3591. ; the
tite
~.i.i't Fit ~, fr ed in England were 2506,37 V.
44,,., ..-el „,„PS Indian revenue therefore beyond what I
;ft4avu arremaY 1 ention a ~ ...s.v.
The total
••. 'lig,for thEi.,,io. s 1851-2 e , amount to 4,473,7361., thus lt,
..
.cittr64:sBl% . ; a surplus of income over expell,ll-
-- ' 'rren.cliding with the figures stated at the
,it page of the returnalready referred to. That ,
~,_, -,stateeicit: hi,II ant happy to say,
....-;e•--4--=for the t vms'Preceding year a satisfactory one, and
liad 1/ , pot quite, so large as for years has been a surplus, though
there was a surplus of 351,e3.3Drrious year. In 1.849-5'J r,
415,8661., and in 1851-2 a surplus " in• 1850-1: a surplus of :
s.of 531,2651., which is the
latest period for which I can give a complete statement.

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