The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-05 00:00:00

INDIA.

We have received papers from Bombay to April
11. The most important incident of the fortnight
is the publication of certain strictures of the Madras
Government upon Mr. Wilson's proposed financial
measures. The Bombay Times says :
In a minute remarkable for the quiet strength
which pervades it, Sir Charles Trevelyan records
his emphatic dissent from the measures now before
Government, and protests in common with Mr.
Maltby that the three tremendous taxes of which
the budget coneists are at once needless, and impos-
sible of exaction, but at the cost of another rebel-
lion. There is no man of our times so much entitled
to be heard with deference upon the subject of In-
dian finance as Sir Charles Trevelyan, and there is
no concealing the fact that the minute has already
brought the budget into wide discredit, and threat-
ens to unite all classes in opposition thereto. It is
beginning very generally to be felt that in our
haste to escape the incompetent administration of
the Legislative Council we have too readily accepted
the confident assurance of Mr. Wilson as sufficient
guarantee of the wisdom that was henceforth to
guide our finances. There is, of course, no greater
liking for "taxation in India than elsewhere ; but
with Sir Charles Trevelyan's warning in our hands,
that a revision of the estimates and reduction of the
native army is all that is required to make our in-
come equal our expenditure, while we avoid the
odium and disaffection that will arise from the im-
position of these new taxes, we may be pardoned
for giving this timely protest our cordial support.
Sir Charles Trevelyan points out very justly that
no plea of embarrassment can be urged in defence
of the present measures, while the cash balances in
the country amount to nearly £20,000,000 sterling,
and afford ample room to cover any deficit of the
coming year, though it should finally be found to
equal the £6,500,000 apprehended by Mr. Wilson.
But in point of fact the whole issue arises here.
The Madras Governor affirms confidently that,
under an effective revision, the present income of '
India will be found equal to its expenditure.
Owing to a radically faulty system, in which, from
the very first, the expenditure of the country has
♦irtually been without control or check, our mili-
tary expenditure has at last grown up to the enor-
mous amount of 20 millions sterling, according to
Mr. Wilson's rough figures. The annual expendi-
ture of so vast a sum, without previous estimate or
post revision of any effective kind, is a truly mon-
strous state of things; and the present period of
embarrassment suggests forcibly the propriety of
Sir C. Trevelyan's oft-reiterated demand, for let it
be remembered that this protest is but a repetition
of what the Madras Governor has over and over
again placed upon record, in so far as it treats of
the necessity of imitating the English system of
annual estimates. Instead of finding Mr. Wilson
alive to the importance of the demand we find him "
positively countenancing the loose and unsatisfac-
tory system that exists, and assuring us that he
himself has a dislike for prospective budgets.
Would he have ventured to say that in Parliament ?
What was the labour of Hume's lifetime but the
perfecting of proTeetive budgets, and eliminating
therefrom every shilling of unrevised and needless
expenditure ?
The other news is unimportant. The ryot dis-
turbances continued, but a bill had been introduced
into the Legislative Council for the summary en-
forcement of contracts for the present season. The
Viceroy's progress had terminated.

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.
(From the Bombay Times and Standard.)
BOMBAY, APRIL 10.

The tone of our market since the 26th ult. has
been decidedly dull, the improvement then noticed
in the inquiry for cotton piece goods having par-
tially subsided, and few transactions comparatively
being lately effected. The demand for metals also
has been languid, while in exports generally there
is little doing, in consequence of fewer arrivals of
produce than is usual at this season.
Money continues very easy, and the bank's rates
are still as we last quoted them, viz., 7 per cent. for
advances on the security of government paper, and
8 per cent. for the discount of short dated private
drafts.

The demand for government securities has con-
tinued good, and prices of all kinds have gradually
tended upwards, our present quotations being 861
per cent. for Four, 961 for Five, and 105 for Five-
and-a-Half per Cent. paper.
The freight market for homeward tonnage has
experienced considerable variation, and there has
lately been some difficulty in filling up the ships
chartered for Liverpool before their lay days ex-
pire, and much lower figures have in consequence
been accepted for the port. We now quote to
£2 15s. for cottoN, and £2 ss. for seeds per ton.
For London business has been done to some extent
at £3 to £3 55., but there is now little disengaged
room, and £3 10s. to £3 12s. 6d. is demanded for
light freight, and £3 for seeds. There has been
little variation in rates for China, which we now
quote at Rs. 23 to Rs. 24 per candy.
The decline in exchange upon London has con-

tinned, the scarcity of China and local drafts ena-
bling the banks to tighten their drawing rates. We
now quote bank and first-rate local drat ts at 2s.
and document bills 2s. ld. to 2s. Id. per rupee.
On Calcutta and Madras the rates at sight are 101:-.1,
per cent. and par respectively ; and on China at 60
days' sight Rs. 222 per 100 dols.