The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-13 00:00:00

THE INDIA BUDGET.

On the motion for going into committee on the Indian
Budget,
Mr. AYIITON rose to move the following, resolutions:
—" That the Governor-Gene..al of India should be em-
powered, with the sanction of her Majesty's Secretary
of State for India, to conduct the business of each de-
partment of Government in concert with ono or more
members of his Council instead of the whole Council ;
that, in order to insure better attention to 'the affairs of
trade and agriculture, an additional member of the Go-
vernor General's Council in India should. be appointed
to superintend those affairs ; that the Government
of Bengal should be placed upon the same footing as
the Government of Bombay ; that one nominated and one
elected member of the Council of the Secretary of State
for India should cease to hold office at the end of each
year; that the millibars of the Council should retire
in rotation according to their length of service, whether
as members of the Council or as East ludia Directors;
that the existing practice of recording by resolutions of
this house certain financial facts relating to India should
be discontinued ; and that, instead thereof, the estimates
for all expenditure in Europe of her Majesty's Secretary of
State for ledhi in Council- should be approved by a
vote of this house before the same is incurred."
The hon.. member took the opportunity of entering into
the mode of managing railways in India, and contended
generally that matters were badly managed, so much so
that where profit ought to arise a deficit invariably oc-
curred, and all this was occasioned because persons of
high intelligence were not employed.
Mr. LAING was not blind to the defects which character-
ised the administration of tho India Government, but could
not allow that the change should be a sweeping one. On
the whole the system had been a splendid success, not-
withstanding that the recent melancholy events in Orissa
were clearly traceable to the mismanagement of the local
government, upon whose report alone the Governor-Gene-
ral was enabled to act on the occasion, Enunierating
several of the faults of the system of government, the right
hon. gentleman adverted particularly to the Board of Re-
venue in connection with the Orissa famine, and urged
that that department, which was a more wheel within a
wheel, and a real incumbrance, should at once be sup-
pressed.
After some observations from Mr. 11. SEYMOUR and Col.
SYKES,

Lerd CRANBORNE held that the Government of India,
so far from being an egregious failure, as was asserted by
Mr. Ayrton, had proved a brilliant Success. With regard
to the question of irrigation, however, the hon. member
was correct. What ladle, was suffering from was the
tendervy to centralisation, which required to be rigidly
controlled, for pers.-nal responsibility was the key to the
government of India.
_ _

Mr. MILL could not consent to undervalue the use and

importance of councils, and stated that no administrative
act was ever done in India but the reasons for it were fully
stated in writing. He agreed in what Mr. Ayrton had said
respecting the government of Bengal. He himself had
seen stupid, careless, idle, and frivolous mon in the go-
vernment of the Presidencies, who were so utterly unfit
for the duty that but for their councils he did not know
how the administration of these presidencies could have
been conducted.

Mr. J. B. SMITH followed with a few remarks upon
the necessity of encouraging the culture of the cotton
plant in India, and opening up the river communication,
especially that by the ehanne
of
histhe Godavery ; and then,
Mr. Ayrton having withdrawnresolutions, the house
having gone into committee Sir
. Stafford Northcote made
his annual exposition as Ind.= Secretary of the State
of Indian finance. In doing so, the right hon.
baronet referred to the satisfactory condition
su
f increase
s o of
the
o f t e
people of India, as tested by the enormous
revenueerblae from salt, which showed that there was a consi-
dclasses. consuming power on the part of the labouring
consequence of the deficiency in the revenue
for 1865-CC, however, the Government had looked with
somei anxiety into the Indian accounts, in order to ascer-
tain whether there were any considerations which should
lead them to take measures for bringing about a better
state of the finances. The question was, could the expen-
diture of the country be reduced ? And first, as to the
military expenditure, ho found that the expenditure on that
account in India somewhat exceeded that for the whole
of the United Kingdom, and so far as he could see be was
not sanguine in being able to effect any large reduction.
In like manner an examination of the charges for estab-
lishments was as little encouraging, for the cost of living
and all other expanses were augmenting, and an increase
was tc be looked for rather than a diminution in the pay of
the army. Again, it would not be possible to economise
the cost of the collection of revenue, or the administration
of police, law, or education. Then, with regard to the
interest on the debt, it had increased to a certain extent,
though not in a greater proportion than tho re
esvenue
whilst he was happy to say that Indian securiti main-
tained their position in comparison with Consols. In the
next place, Mr. Massey set down the demands
wetssh eahe
ry
for irrigation works at £700,000; in
proposed to make an advance of one million to the
God
-
vernment of Bombay against the land sales, which ha
been deferred in consequenco 'of the late financial difficul-
ties in that presidency, and a further advance of £325,000
to Calcutta for water works, both of these latter sums to
be repaid. These sums came together to about .£2,000,000,
which would have to be raised by loan. Exclusive of
that, however, the expenditure for the
current year was
calculated at £17,340,000, whilst the revenue would be
£46,283,003 ; thus showing a deficiency of £1,057,000. To
meet this deficiency Mr. Massey proposed to levy licence
tax, which he calculated to produce a half million, leaving
rovided for. Then, to make his ba-
£537,000 still to be p further to taxa-
lance right, he would not add anything
tion, but remove a portion of the expenditure to debt.
Two millions had been called for for barracenksti re inly the pre-
sent year, and instead of providing for it out of
the revenue, he proposed to raise one-half of it by way of
loan, to be paid off within a short and definite period.
Thus it would be incumbent on the Indian Government to
keep up a considerable surplus of income over expenditure
for several years after the expenditure on the barracks
should have ceased, in order to clear off the debt so con-
usual.- In conclusion, the right hon. baronet moved the
formal resolutions declaratory of the state of the re-

to.
The Contagious Diseases (Animals) Bill was considered
in committee. Several clauses were agreed to, and the
Chairman was ordered to report progress.
The Appropriation Bill was read a second time.
A message was received from the Lords stating that their
lordships did not disagree with the Commons' amend-
ments, with two exceptions; and, on a motion of the
CITANCELOR of the EXC4EQUEII., a resolution was agreed
to declaring that the Commons did not insist upon their
own view in those particulars.
Some other orders were forwarded a stage, and the
houso adjourned at five minutes to three o'clock.

In noticing a 'pamphlet last week of Messrs.
BELLOT DES MINIERES; BROTHERS, of Greglaani-
house, London, we promised to discuss more fully
the advantages of American railways over those of
Europe. Most of these advantages are natural
gifts; some arise from the state of society, but
many are due to the administration. A rail Way is
but the highest development of a track —the means
devised by science and ingenuity fur obtaining the
ends which the Red Men achieved when in tile they
moved along by a path through the primeval forest,
striking rivers where they were fordable, and moun-
tain ranges by the easiest passes. Before the
country has wasted its energies by a general
construction over its surface of macadamised
roads, it was in the highest degree important
that the great discovery of the locomotive should
be made. That discovery came in the happiest
time to advance the interests of the United States,
and has been a powerful means of promoting immi-
gration and spreading population over the wide
prairies of the great Central States. It would have
been manifestly impossible for the first inhabitants
of a settlement to construct lines of rails as they are
built in England or France. lf a more simple and
inexpensive mode had not been practicable, railroads
could not have been the pioneers of emigration but
the luxuries and necessities of a high civilisation.
Fortunately however, for the United States, a
system of construction was devised adapted for
the traffic required, which cost less than a
third of the average sum paid for lines in
Europe. But this did not represent the main
advantage offered to the enterprising capital-
ists who undertook to form these highways.
Exe,6pt in ill) older. States the right of way was
the gift of the Government, and therefore the line
became possessed of the freehold of the ground
over which they ran, either for nothing, or 'at a
comparatively trifling charge. It will be found
that these two points involve the essence of Railway
Success. If the right of way costs nothing, and
construction and equipment the least sum for
which the road can be so substantially built as to
bear in safety the traffic that will pass over it, it
must pay, unless its termini and course be such
as none but the insane would select. An in-
vestigation would prove that every great railway
failure is owing to a wasteful expenditure,
either in construction, parliamentary or other
bribery, or in wreckless purchases of a right of
way. It must be borne in mind that financing is a
mere term, signifying the manner in which the funds
have been raised. We deal with the sum actually
expended on the line, for it would be manifestly
absurd to charge against the capital of the railway
the gross sum of the stock estimated at £lOO per
share, if £25 only of that £lOO had been paid.
If £2 be annually pail on stock so raised, although
it might appear that the line was. only yielding 2
per cent., 8 would be the true figure. With
such attempts to delude the unwary that they are
obtaining bargains, we have nothing to do. The
real question is to ascertain the exact sum ex-
pended on the road, and the net returns given.
When, after such a calculation, the railways
of the United States arc compared with those of
Europe it will be seen how amirably te mode
adopted in the Union has been admirably the mode
adopted in the Union has been to'secure for inves-
tors the greatest advantage. A few of the
.best
paying lines have been selected to give an idea of
the enormous profit reaped in America, where the
full benefits of the two points we have noticed have
been obtained for the owners.

Dividends
Per Cent•

Railways.
Naugatuck R.R. (Connecticut) paying .................. ... 23
. 27
Macon and Western R.R. (Georgia) ... . ....................
20
South Western R.R. (Georgia) ............................
Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy R.R. (Illinois) .........
........ . 20
27
Terre Haute and Indiana R.R. (Indiana) .........
Camden and Amboy, R.R. (New Jersey) .................. 43
Island R.R (New York) ........................... . ..... 20
Long R.R. (Ohio) .....................
Cincinnati and Hamilton ... . 26
Cleveland and Columbus KR. (Ohio) . . ...................... 22
Cleveland and Painesville, R.R. (Ohio) ..................... 42
o,:durnbus and Kenio .................................. 37
Little Miami R.R. .................. ......................... . 37
Delaware, Lackawna, and Western lt.R.(Pennsylvania) 22
Pittsburg-, Fort Wayne, and Chicagoß.R, (Pennsylvania) 20
N.T. Providenc3 and Boston R.ll. (Ithode Island) ..• •• 20
And there are a.-great tinny more that, de, not,. pay
less than 18 per cent., with every requirement necei-
sary to increase this revenue.
Although it would be impossible to secure such
results in England, yet scarcely a line has been
constructed even there that would not have Paid
a satisfactory dividend had the common rules
of prudence been observed. The cheapness of
the right of way in the States was an adven-
titious circumstance arising from the sparsely
peopled districts ; and the cheapness of construc-
tion was in a measure forced upon the people
by their inability to obtain the gigantic sums
in which English directors have been wallowing.
The legal and financial system, however, pursued
in America shows the shrewder and keener judg-
ment of the people. The bonds are of longer date,
and better provision is therefore made against large
sums falling due in a period of panic or severe depres-
sion. The American law concedes to these bondholders
the indisputable right of selling any line that does
not pay the interest promised, and at the same time
facilitates the exercise of this right by every
available means. Thus giving, not only a nominal
power, but encouraging the exercise of it by a simple
and inexpensive mode of procedure. This circum-
stance of itself accounts for the superiority of rail-
way management and finance in the United States.
English directors acted with the security that they
could not be dispossessed though they failed to meet
their obligations, and •it is as little encouraging
to the public invited to advance money as to pre-
ference holders when bills are introduced into Par-
liament, with the object of cresting Pre-Preference
Stock. A railway in America grows from small
beginnings into a great line. Its increase in
magnitude is in proportion to the increase
o
be easf
population. A frail line may run tween
stations placed widely apart from each other,
the trains moving at distant intervals of time.
Bat the way becomes more solid as the weight of
traffic increases ; other stations are erected as
localities along the road become peopled; greater
travel demands more frequent communication, a
the
nd
thus it keeps pace with the requirements of
inhabitants, fulfilling all the necessary functions,
until, from a mere tramway to an isolated settle-
ment, it has grown into a main link of a Grand
Trunk road. The go-ahead spirit of the American
is, perhaps, more stroegly exemplified in his iron
roads than in aught else. It is not generally known
that the length of railways laid down in the United
States exceeds that of the United Kingdom in a pro-
portion little less than 3 to 1, while to France it is
more than 4 to 1, being, indeed, 38 per cent., or
over one-third of the whole mileage of the world.
Very few of these lines are double. The engineers-
are not tied to wide curves and gentle gradients.
Of the former, 500 feet radius, and even less, are
enrta,
taenadscoefnttl.te ITathtee rcoonste, ftohoetreifnorae,huonfdredis
farecimoude
earth-
work bridges and viaducts is much reduced, the line
maintaining its place on the natural surface. T rails
are laid on cross ties or sleepers about two feet
apart. The bridges are generally of wood, and it is
only in the thickly peopled districts that the way is
fenced. An American locomotive looks strange
to an English ey s, guarded by its • wedge-
shaped iron framework, called ".a cowcatcher,"
its open-mouthed funnel, and the hoarse scream
of its whistle sounds strangely to an ear accus-
tomed to the shrillness of an English engine.
The tariffs of the American roads are higher than
in Europe, the people travel more and consume
more, therefore in proportion to population they
furnish their road with a greater weight of traffic.
The average estimate of cost per mile isbut £7,000,
while on the prairies that average is reduced to
£4,000. The field in the United States is immense,
and there is no other country that offers such in-
ducements for placing money in this branch of in-
vestment. It is, however, essential that the
American system of construction, and not the
English, should be adopted. If the latter system
fails to pay in Great Britain, it is madness to sup-
pose it would pay elsewhere,: and the Grand Trunk
and other railways of Canada—so built--furnish
abundant proof of the folly of introducing it into
America.—Angto-American Times.