MR. H. ROBERTS (Denbighshire, W.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether he will state how much of the Rx.9,850,500, entered in the Revised Estimate of the Indian Budget as capital expenditure on Railways and Irrigation Works during the year 1898–9, was taken from cash balances, and how much from loans; whether he will also state how much of The Rx.10,433,600 of capital expenditure proposed to be spent in, 1899–1900 for similar public works will be raised from loans, and how much from current revenues; and what sum of this large capital outlay will be allocated for water storage and irrigation purposes?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIAThe estimates show, as regards railways, a reduction of the deficiency from Rx.2,660,000 in 1896–91 and Rx.1,432,000 in 1897–98 to Rx.878,100 in 1898–99 and Rx.880,600 in 1899–1900. The honourable Member is, of course, aware that the variations In the deficiency are mainly dependent 1299 on the rate of exchange at which the payments in England are made. In India the profit on the working of the railways was 5.20 per cent. in 1896, 5.08 in 1897 (when the famine and plague affected the returns), and 5.30 in 1898. In respect of irrigation the estimates show a profit of Rx.239,600 in 1898–99 and of Rx.116,300 in 1899–1900.