§ Order read, for resuming Adjourned Debate on Amendment proposed to Question [17th August],"That Mr. Speaker do now leave the Chair."
§
And which Amendment was,
To leave out from the word "That" to the end of the Question, in order to add the words "the public expenditure in India and the charges on the Indian Revenues defrayed in England are excessive; and that, in the interests of the people of India, it is desirable to effect a prompt and large diminution of such expenditure,"—(Mr. Otway,)
—instead thereof.
§ Question again proposed, "That the words proposed to be left out stand part of the Question."
§ Debate resumed.
§ GENERAL SIR. GEORGE BALFOURsaid, he wished to say a few words on the subject of Indian finance, as one who had passed many years of his life in the service of India, and naturally felt great interest in India. There had been great alarm created in this country in consequence of the blunders in the Estimates and Charges of the War beyond the Frontiers, and arising from supposed defects in the mode of keeping account of the finances of India. Having been formerly employed in connection with the Military Accounts of India, as the head of the whole of the military finance, and having, in some degree, established a system of account in that country which had been maintained more or less accurately up to the present day, he thought it now his duty to state, unhesitatingly, that whatever defects might have been discovered in the amounts of the Estimates, or in the charges actually brought into the books of the year, he distinctly asserted that these errors were in the mode of performing the duties of supervision and not in the system itself. Twenty years ago the military finance of India was in great disorder owing to the Mutiny; the Estimates were loosely prepared, and the disbursements as well as vouchers greatly in arrear; but there was no serious difficulty in ascertaining the military expenditure of India, from the cash issued by the Civil Treasuries for the military pay and charges; and he, therefore, submitted that what was 1333 done 20 years ago might very well be done now. He was exceedingly sorry that the debate on the Indian Budget had been delayed so long, to within two days of the end of the Session, as that fact prevented his bringing the matter more fully under the consideration of the House. He felt so entirely the inconvenience of prolonging the present Saturday Sitting that, although he was most anxious to make a full statement on the subject of Indian finance, he, knowing that Members needed rest, would, of his own accord, at once conclude his observations.
THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTONsaid, he could assure his hon. and gallant Friend that he greatly regretted it was not possible to bring on this question earlier in the Session. He was deeply indebted to his hon. and gallant Friend for the important evidence he had given before the Committee now sitting at the India Office, and he would take care that although his statement had not been made in the House his views should receive the fullest consideration.
§ Question put, and agreed to.
§ Matter considered in Committee.
§ (In the Committee.)
§ Resolved, That it appears by the Accounts laid before this House that the Ordinary Revenue of India for the year ending the 31st day of March 1879 was £58,624,372; the Revenue from Productive Public Works, including the Net Traffic Receipts from Guaranteed Companies, was £6,575,230, making the total Revenue of India for that year £65,199,602; that the Ordinary Expenditure in India and in England, including Charges for the Collection of the Revenue, for Ordinary Public Works, and for Interest on Debt exclusive of that for Productive Public Works, was £54,990,433; the Expenditure on Productive Public Works (Working Expenses and Interest), including the payments to Guaranteed Companies for Interest and Surplus Profits, was £8,174,923, making a total Charge for that year of £63,165,356; that there was an excess of Income over Expenditure in that year amounting to £2,034,246; and that the Capital Expenditure on Productive Public Works in the same year was £4,381,898.
§ House resumed.
§ Resolution to be reported upon Tuesday next.