LORD KITCHENER 13 



Eloquent and incisive, he would be a great 

 orator but for a pedagogue's tone and manner. 

 His speech covered thirteen foolscap pages of close 

 print, and he traversed the whole field of Indian 

 affairs. I cannot complain of his treatment of me 

 or of my financial proposals. 



The speech which constituted the chief interest 

 of the Budget debate was Kitchener's. 



Lord Kitchener detests speaking in public and 

 is an unusually bad speaker, but as the speech had 

 been carefully prepared, and as he read every word 

 of it, the effect was good. It will be his last speech 

 in the Council of India. 



It is a speech calculated to render me, quite 

 unintentionally, very great service, for it lays 

 down the principle that the Commander-in-Chief 

 is solely answerable for the Army vote and for the 

 proper expenditure under it. 



In his opening sentence he said: 



1 The present Budget is, in several respects, 

 exceptional, marking something of an epoch in 

 military finance. In the first place, it is the only 

 military Budget framed since I have been in India 

 under circumstances of general financial strin- 

 gency. In previous years the revenues of this 

 country have been in such a prosperous condition 

 that it was wise to place, out of our abundance, a 

 certain amount to reserve by improving our mili- 

 tary security. But, just as strongly as I hold that 

 to have been a wise policy, so I consider that, under 

 the present straitened circumstances, military 

 expenditure should be kept as low as possible 

 whilst duly providing for the maintenance of the 

 present state of efficiency in the Army." 



