§ I shall not compare the Budget Estimate of this year with the Budget Estimate of last year, which is the usual practice, for such a comparison would be a mere waste of time, The Budget of last year was prepared before the likelihood of a famine was known, and famine has entirely upset the Budget calculations. I take, therefore, the revised Estimates of 1890–97, which are famine Estimates, and compare them with the Budget Estimates of 1897–98, which are similarly disorganised. The revenue this year is taken at Rx.59,629,700, and the expenditure is taken at Rx. 62,093,700. The deficit is thus Rx.2,464,000, or Rx. 477,100 more than last year. This increase in the deficit is mainly due to the increase in the expenditure on famine relief outweighing the augmentation hoped for in the revenue. The revenue, taking the hind tax, the salt tax, and various other things, is increased by Rx.2,485,300. On the other hand, there are certain deductions to be made on account of a falling off from other sources of revenue, with the details of which I will not trouble 421 the House, amounting to Rx.889,800. Therefore the net revenue is better by Rx. 1,595,500. The increase in expenditure on the famine account is Rx. 1,653,300; and other charges are slightly in excess of last year by the sum of Rx.419,300, giving a total increase over last year's estimate of Rx.2,072,600. Therefore, summing up the three years, we have a surplus in the first of Rx. 1,534,000, a deficit in the second of Rx.1,593,000, and an estimated deficit in the third of Rx.2,464,000, making a total excess of expenditure over income for the three years of Rx.2,523,000. Since then I have learnt by telegraph that the charges for this year will be increased by Rx.400,000 for famine charges, the railway loan by Rx.150,000, that the discount on the sterling loan is Rx.180,000, that the Tochi expedition is estimated to cost Rx.330,000, and that the cost of the Malakand expeditionary force will be Rx.400,000, making a total of Rx.1,460,000. Against this may be put a rise in exchange and more promising harvest prospects, so that I am hopeful that at the close of the year's account the ultimate deficiency will not be much in excess of that budgeted for at the beginning of the year. In order to meet the extraordinary expenditure of the famine and to carry out the railway programme, it was estimated in the Budget that a loan of four crores at 3 per cent. would be raised in India, and loans to the extent of £4,500,000 would be raised in this country. We have been compelled somewhat to alter this proportion; three crores only will be raised in India at 3½ per cent., in place of four at 3 per cent., and the loans in this country will be raised pro tanto to make good the difference. Before I part with the revenue and expenditure for 1897–98, there is an item on each side to which I should like to call attention. The opium revenue this year is taken at a less figure than in any preceding Budget statement. There were many of us who, although we had no objection from a moral point of view, to the Indian Government deriving a certain portion of its income from opium, yet, felt, considering how precarious is the nature of that revenue, that it formed too large a percentage of the total net revenue of India. It has greatly fallen of recent years. In 1883–84 it formed 19 422 per cent. of the total net revenue of India, and this year it only represents 5 per cent. It is, therefore, satisfactory to note that, whilst Indian revenue generally is increasing, this precarious source of income is forming a less proportion of the permanent income upon which the Indian Government can rely. ["Hear, hear!"]