§ MR. HOWELL (Bethnal Green, N.E.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for India whether it is a fact that the Indian Salt Tax was mainly if not entirely imposed in consequence of the loss which the Indian Government sustained by the fall in the gold value of the rupee; and, if so, whether the Secretary of State for India will, in view of the rise in the gold price of silver which has now taken place, bring the matter under the notice of the Governor General in Council, with the object of securing that at least a corresponding reduction shall be made in the Salt Tax?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Sir J. GORST,) ChathamThe Secretary of State cannot admit that the increase of the Salt Tax in India was caused mainly, if not entirely, by the loss in exchange. That was one, but not the only one, of the causes which made the increase necessary. The Secretary of State and the Government of India are both anxious to reduce the Salt Tax to its former amount, so soon as it is possible to do so, but any statement at present would be premature.