§ The closed accounts of 1895–96 can be dismissed in a few sentences; they were not affected by plague or famine, but they do include the whole cost of the Chitral campaign—namely, Rx. 1,670,000. Notwithstanding this war expenditure, they give a realised surplus of Rx. 1,533,998. This result is all the more remarkable inasmuch as, in addition to the Chitral expenditure, in the course of the year a considerable sum was added to famine insurance, a remission of taxation occurred, and a much larger grant was made for provincial purposes to the local Governments than was budgeted for originally. These sums amounted in the aggregate to about Rx. 1,200,000, making, with the Chitral expenditure, a sum of about Rx.2,870,000, of which Rx.2,725,000 was unprovided for in the original estimates of expenditure, and had to be added to them. Yet, notwithstanding these extra charges, the closed accounts of the year showed a surplus of Rx.1,534,000 as against a Budget Estimate of Rx.46,000. I mention these facts to show that there is in our Indian system of finance considerable elasticity, more than sufficient to meet the growth of ordinary wants, and it is due to this steady enhancement of almost every branch of revenue that we are able to show, in a triennial period such as that with which I am dealing, deficits very much less than the extraordinary expenditure thrust upon us.