238 TAXATION. 



tofore have been burdensome and oppressive in 

 the last degree. Lord Canning has attemj)ted 

 to introduce certain partial remedies, productive 

 of little benefit to the State, and which have 

 caused profound irritation, from the unfairness 

 with which the screw has been applied. The 

 Government had become so embarrassed that it 

 was absolutely necessary to adopt some means 

 for recruiting its finances ; and those who pro- 

 jected the obnoxious license bill seem to have 

 carefully guarded against its pressure, in"any 

 way, on that section of the community best 

 able to contribute to the necessities of the 

 State. There can be but one opinion on the 

 injustice of a tax so partial in its operation, 

 and the public of each Presidency has unmis- 

 takably exhibited its feeling on the subject. 

 The state of the finances has now arrived at 

 such a pitch of deficit and bankruptcy, that 

 the matter can be blinked no longer. The 

 wasteful expenditure of the Government hereto- 

 fore must at once cease ; the first step to be 

 taken should be the immediate reduction of the 

 monstrous salaries of the Civil Service, some of 

 which are equal in amount to those of Her 

 Majesty's Ministers in England. The higher 



