The Sun.
London, England, 1860-02-06 00:00:00

INDIAN FINANCE.

The circumstances of the financial operation very
indistinctly described by Sir Charles Wood in the
House of Commons on Friday appear to be as fol-
lows :—The Council of India, as is well known,
have held in reserve a sum of £2,000,000 of Indian
Four per Cent. Debentures, dated 1859, which were
not placed upon the occasion of the last negotiation
of those securities. The act which authorised the
Indian Five per Cent. Stock, of 1859 gave the In-
dian Secretary power to issue more stock against
any debentures which may fall due. By issuing
for a brief period the Reserved amount of Four
per Cent. Debentures above specified to the Bank
of England (perhaps in lieu of Indian Bonds held
by that establishment as security for former ad-
vances made to the Council of India) the deben-
tures are made due, and are then converted
into the Indian Five per Cent. ktock of 1859.
At that very time the Canadian Government,
which has just raised a loan of £2,800,000, is
in want of a Government security wherein to
invest, for the satisfaction of the Imperial Go-
vernment, the sum required for the sinking
fund on the Old Canada Loan guaranteed by the
Imperial Government. The Canadian Govern-
ment accordingly takes £1,300,000 of the Indian
Five per Cent. Stock of 1859 created by these
means, and Sir Charles Wood descants upon the
advantageous character of the whole operation.
Very possibly he is right in doing so, but the
public would like to know the terms upon which
these somewhat peculiar transactions have been
arranged. The Council of India do not appear to
have been in any immediate want of money, and
this circumstance renders it less easy to understand
the selection of the present juncture for issuing the
Four per Cent. Debentures. On the other hand,
it is satisfactory to know that the reserved balance
of the debentures is placed. There is another
point of iaterest to the holders of the Indian Five
per Cent. Stock of 1839: the act of Parliament
authorising the Canadian Loan with the Imperial
guarantee stipulated that the sinking fund should
be invested in Government securities, and with the
special consent of the Imperial Government. Does
the British Government, therefore, recognise the
Indian Five per Cent. Stock of 1859 as a Govern-
ment security ?—Daily News.

We announced a week or two since that the in-
tention of Government was to add about 22,000 men to the
regular army, disbanding the militia at the same time, and
bringing home several regiments from India. We have
reason to believe that the spirit of economy has, since
ITetcneenn-
stepped in, and that the proposed augmentation will
siderably less than that originally proposed, and
officially settled at the time of our announcement.
view to reduction, and they will • be laid before the House
army estimates are understood to have. been revised with a
a l
l The
to the Guards alto-
getherWe expect to find the proposed increa
of Commons in their new shape in thesecourse of next week.
A statements continue
contemporaries respecting new
abandoned, and that of the Royal Artillery and the
Line very considerably nsodifioendiem
to be made by some of ourbc
be well for. us to repecoantsewqhuaetnwtlye
and Nat,
mthaeyincrease in the Line will be made
battalions,hai have
b an. epsearlhda,ptshiatt
tinhatthne
no new
boaftatanliaodndsitwioilnitobeeacfohrnicoendip_aar::
Y
mYimpression
Gazette.
THE BUDGET.—In consequence of
prevalent among the spirit merchants of Glasgow that Mr.
Gladstone intends in his Budget to propose an increase in
the duties on spirits, the excise duties paid in that city dur-
ing last weak have largely increased. Up to Friday after-
noon the extra duties paid amounted to upwards of 00,000.
The greatest excitement was experienced on Friday, when
between £20,000 and £30,000 above the average amount of
duties was paid.