The Sun.
London, England, 1859-02-19 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 19, 1859.

stated various sources from which an increased income would
arise. He stated that 60 per cent. of the receipts was de-
rived from the land revenue, and he showed clearly enough
that there was no prospect of that being increased.
He stated that it had been increased by annexation and
by the cultivation of waste lands. Annexation he
stated had ceased, and he was exceedingly glad to hear
the noble lord say it was undesirable to annex
native states. When he was at the Board of Con-
trol he never suffered annexation to take place when a heir,
even by adoption, could' be found ; but there were certain
annexations made where there were no heirs. The house
would find that the increase of the land tax was almost
entirely by annexation. It had increased from £17,355,000
in 1851 to £19,863,000 in 1856-7 ; but the land revenue of
Nagpore and Oude was £1,500,000, and the increase was
almost entirely due to the annexation of those provinces. But
now annexation had ceased. And he did not think there was
possibility of its being increased in our own districts. He
thought, indeed, that in some cases it ought to be reduced,
and in the presidency of Madras Lord Harris did reduce it in
one province, but he chose one that was in circumstances
favourable to the experiment, and the revenue recovered
itself in two years. But that was an exceptional case. He
believed that on the whole there was as much prospect of a
decrease as of an increase in the land revenue. Then there
was the revenue from opium. Like'the noble lord, he saw
no more objection to raising a tax en opium than to raise a
tax on spirits. He did not think that the use of opium was
more injurious than the excessive use of spirits or wine, and
the mode in which the tax was raised was not open to the
objections that there existed to an excise duty. In 18.50-1
the revenue from opium was £3,500,000, in 1846 it had in-
creased to £4,697,000, in 1857-8 it was £6,443,000, and the
estimate for this year was £5,195,000. It rose £1,800,000
one year, and another year it fell £1,300,000. It was ob-
vious therefore that the revenue from opium was very pre-
carious. But there was another consideration. He was
afraid—at least he did not say he was afraid—but as far
as the Indian revenue went he was afraid, as far as the
Indian revenue was concerned, that the Chinese Govern-
ment, which had sanctioned the admission of opium, would
legalise its cultivation in that country, and if the export of
opium from India should cease the revenue from opium
would cease. Dr. Bowring, when in this country, told him
that if opium were cultivated in China we should still be
able to supply them on account of the superior quality of
the Indian opium, but at a much reduced cost. But in
that case there would not be the profit there was now, and
there would not therefore be exports to the same extent.
The next largest source of revenue was salt, and, in point
of fact, that was the only article of consumption on which
any duty was levied. But they could not expect any in-
crease on the duty on that article. The duty rose and fell
without any apparent reason, and it was more likely to
fall off than to increase. He now came to the expenditure.
The noble lord said truly that there was no likelihood
of any increase in the revenue, and that what they had
to look to was a decrease in the expenditure. He was
disappointed in the noble lord's statement in that respect,
and expected that he would have given them some clearer
notions of the mode by which he would decrease expendi-
ture than those which fell from him on Monday night. The
noble lord proposed to reduce the civil expenditure, and he
said he would do it by two measure ; first, by reducing the
salaries of the European agents, and next by the employ-
ment, in greater numbers, of native agents. With regard
to the reduction of the salaries of European servants, the
words had scarcely escaped the noble lord's lips when he
said he could scarcely find more candidates by competition
even than there were situations to fill, and that on one oc-
casion there were not so many candidates as places. Again,
they knew that even private merchants found it necessary
to give to the persons they employed in India much higher
salaries than they paid in this country, and higher than
the company's servants received. The noble lord had ex-
pressed a hope that there would be a reduction in the mili-
tary expenditure. Hd (the right hon. baronet) hoped and
trusted that there would ; but he also hoped that the noble
lord would have said something more than he had done
as to the mode in which that reduction might be
brought about. It might be true that there were now no
great native powers like Rinajeet Singh, or Scindiah ; but
many years ago when he (Sir C. Woodrpressed thenecessity
of reduction upon Lord Dalhousie, the noble lord gave him
the very same reasons which the noble lord opposite now
adduced why the military expenditure should be diminished
as reasons why it should be increased. He consulted Lord
Hardinge on the point, and by his advice he assented to the
creation of three new European regiments for India. At
that time he was in correspondence with Lord Hardinge
as to the substitution of irregular horse for regular
cavalry, which was a much more expensive, but not
more useful corps. And here he (the right honourable
taronet) could not help paying a tribute to the great ser-
vices of a very able officer who had recently died : he
meant General Jacob. (Hear, hear.) The noble lord
had given them no intimation as to how he thought the re-
duction of the army might be effected; but he (Sir C.
Wood) thought we should be utterly without justification if
we die{ not maintain a large European force in India than
we had yet done. (Hear, hear.) Let us have none but Eu-
ropean artillery ; let it be armed with the most efficient
possible weapons ; and let it be stationed in barracks in the
healthiest situations in the country. In that manner we
might perhaps be able to reduce the native army ; but a na-
tive army there always must be for purposes of police ; and
in order to do the ordinary work of the army. Anyhow, we
must have the expenditure within the income for India.
(Hear, hear.) The only other financial feature in the noble
lord's speech struck him as being most objectionable. He
referred to the guarantee proposed to be given to the Madras
Irrigation Company to the extent of a million, and to the
contemplated guarantees of some minor railways. The whole
system of guarantees was in truth most objectionable. It
might perhaps in the first instance have been necessary to
guarantee the great trunk lines ; but for the Government to
aid companies to compete with their own loan was about as
unwise a step as could be adopted. The policy of raising
funds for India in this country was at least questionable.
It should be our task to encourage native capitalists to invest
their money to as great an extent as possible; forthe moment
they lent their money to the Government their loyalty might
be implicitly depended upon. Accordingly, in the late crisis
the moneyed classes had proved themselves the mostfaithful
immtgrmit WWI Julfii. (Hea, Linn) The noble lord
of irrigation was certain and large. But surely, if that was
the case, there could be no necessity for offering a guarantee
on enterprises which were certain to yield a return of 26,
40, 100, and even more than cent, per cent. (Hear, hear.)
He strongly objected to this sort of partnership between the
Government and private individuals ; it was a connexion
from which the public might reap loss, but from which it
was impossible for it to enjoy any advantage. He trusted,
therefore, that the house would express its opinion in a
manner that would operate as a check upon the practice.
(Hear.) The liabilities of India according to the last returns
were 82 millions sterling, to which must be added the sum
borrowed in India, £8,700,000 ; making thus a total of
£90,700,000—an amount of liability which ought to make
the house unwilling to add to it another million. (Hear.)
Unless the expenditure of the Indian Government could be
brought within its income, there was danger not only of its
becoming a charge upon the imperial
exchequer, but of
serious complications arising in our Eastern territories
themselves. We had a great mission to perform in India ;
but the basis of all good administration lay in a wise and
economical system of finance. (Cheers.)
Sir E. PERRY said the right hon. baronet had just
stated what was the real question the house had to consider,
namely; how they were to restore the balance between the
revenue and the expenditure of India? The right hon.
gentleman had drawn a most gloomy picture of Indian
finance; and he had shown that many of the existing sources
of income could not be depended upon. Three years ago
he (Sir E. Perry) had himself pointed out that principles of
finance were being acted upon that must lead to national
insolvency, and principles of government that must bring
about national disaffection. He was then called a croaker ;
but now a Cabinet Minister, and an ex-Cabinet Minister
were agreed upon the precarious state of the revenue What
was the amount of the debt at the present moment? The
noble lord had stated it at £74,500,000 ; and the right hon.
baronet at £90,000,000. He (Sir E. Perry) would now give
his estimate of it. From the published parliamentary
papers he took the debt at £82,000,000, but to that must be
added £10,000,000 of debt which did not bear interest, but
which the Government might at any moment be called on
to repay. Then, £12,000,000 must be added to represent
the £630,000 payable annually to the proprietors of the East
India stock. A sum had been set apart to accumulate at
compound interest, in order to defray that charge; but till
1874 there would be a charge equal to the interest of 12
millions. These items together made a total of £103,776,565
to which must be added the new loan of seven millions,
making thus a total dedt of £110,776,565. They had been
told that the debt of India did not much exceed two years'
revenue ; but in making a comparison of that kind he main-
tained that they ought to take not the gross, but the net
income, which was £23,000,000 a year. Thus the total
amount of the debt was equivalentto more than four years'
revenue. (Hear.) That might not seem to be a very
heavy burden when compared with some European debts ;
but when the inelastic character of Indian finances was taken
into consideration it would be seen that it was in reality very
onerous. The interest paid yearly was made up. of the fol-
lowing sums :—payable in India, £3,500,000 ; in London,
£1,230,000; temporary loans, £45,000; civil service an-
nuities, &c., £1,439,003; total, £6,217,000. He need not
dwell on these figures, for it was admitted that the finanses
of India were alarming. (Hear.) Though it was said that
no imperial guarantee would be given for the new debt, the
house must not be deluded by such an announcement. The
holders of East India paper had in reality, a better security
than was enjoyed by any public creditor in Europe. The
holders of bonds could not sue the government ; but the
holders of India paper might sue the secretary and council,
and might sell the India-house, or the new India-office,
which he hoped Mr. Scott was not going to build in the
Gothic style. (Hear, hear.) If ever matters came to that
pass, this country would either have to pay the money or to
give up India. If he agreed with the right hon. baronet
(Sir C. Wood) he should say that in a pecuniary sense it
would be better to take the latter course. He was not of
course speaking of the moral claims which a country pos-
sessed upon us after we had deposed every native ruler and
made self-government impossible ; but on other grounds
he could not coincide with the right hon. gentleman. He
thought that they ought to lay down a strict rule that the
expenditure should be kept within the income ; and if an
emergency like that through which we had just passed
occurred, this country ought to take the extra charge upon
herself. Much as it might shock the moneyed circles to
propose an addition of £30,000,000 to the burdens of this
country, he ventured to think that if they contrasted the
wars for which we had expended hundreds of millions with
what India might be made worth to us, the balance would
be found vastly in favour of a war for the maintenance of
our Eastern possessions. The borrowing system ought,
however, to be put an end to. To give an example of the
improvident manner in which loans had been resorted to, it
was estimated that there would be a deficit upon the year
1856-7 of two millions sterling ; but it turned out that the
real deficiency was only £143,000. Nevertheless, the/4 was
a loan of a million and a half. (Hear, hear.):He should haie
been glad if the noble lord had explained where the interest
of the new loan was to come from. He agreed with the
noble lord rather than with the right hon. gentleman as to
the feasibility of reducing the civil expenditure ; for he was
convinced that the Government of India could not be satis
factorily carried on unless the natives were allowed to take
a large share in it. (Hear, hear.) Much had been said
in the last 20 months of the increased strength gained by
the successes of our arms. It was said we might disregard
the prejudices of the natives, employ more Europeans in
office, introduce our Bible into our schools, and even disre-
gard caste. That seemed to be the opinion of the right
hon. baronet, who said that a greater number of English
officials would now be introduced. Such was not the advice
of the committee who sat on the affairs of India. The first
thing to be done to increase the revenue was to rely on
native co-operation, and call forth the abilitids of native
statesmen, many of whom had rendered us good service in
the late rebellion. Another mode of developing the re-
sources of India was to facilitate titles to land, and so
induce European or native capitalists to become holders of
land. In every country the land was the source of the
wealth of the country, wherever land was at all improved.
He knew that the process of dealing with land in India was
extremely slow ; let it be improved. Hitherto he had viewed
with admiration the steps taken by the noble lord, especially
in the matter of the royal proclamation. T,lfis was now
Pthated OYarY achool400k; but the gatiTel Waxe apt to