§ MR. WEIR (Ross and Cromarty)To ask the Secretary of State for India if he will arrange to bring forward the Budget Statement at an earlier period of the session than on former occasions; and can he see his way to arrange for details of accounts to be quoted in pounds sterling as well as in rupees.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Brodrick.) I am not at present able to give information as to the date in the present session on which the usual Resolution concerning the revenue and expenditure of India will be moved. It has been the practice for some years to present to the House statements showing in sterling all the important figures in the Indian Accounts and Estimates. The Secretary of State's Explanatory Memorandum and the Return of Net Income and Expenditure for eleven years are prepared in sterling. In the tables accompanying the Financial Statement, which is prepared in India, the practice is (as the hon. Member will observe on referring to pages 83–99 of last year's Statement) to show some figures in sterling only and some in rupees and sterling. As this Statement and the accompanying tables are primarily prepared to be considered and discussed in the Governor-General's Council in India it would be inconvenient
§ details as to the vacant places are roughly as follows:—
§ to make any considerable alteration in its form, but I will ask the Government of India whether they can without inconvenience arrange to give, in the body of the Statement, the sterling equivalent of some of the figures which are now quoted there in rupees only.