494 



INDIA. 



showed a revenue of 71,727,000, and an ex- 

 penditure of 70,340,000. The revised esti- 

 mates for 1884-'85 stated the revenue at 69,- 

 992,000, and the expenditure at 70,702,000, 

 the expenditure being greater than the budget 

 estimate by 461,000, and the revenue less by 

 568,000, owing to trade depression, the fall- 

 ing off in the rice exports from Burmah, and 

 the low price of wheat. Eailway receipts con- 

 sequently fell below the estimate 755,000. 

 The opium-crop was abnormally large, neces- 

 sitating a larger expenditure ; but the opium 

 receipts for the year were better than the esti- 

 mate, owing to a rise in the price. Irrigation 

 receipts exceeded the estimate. The political 

 charges were enlarged by the expenses of the 

 Boundary Commission. The loss by exchange 

 was 285,000 less than the preceding year. 

 The interest on the debt was increased by 

 242,000, including 184,000 discount on the 

 new loan of 3,000,000 at 3 per cent. The 

 revenue for 1885-'86 was estimated by Sir 

 Auckland Colvin, in March, 1885, at 72,090,- 

 000, and the expenditure at 71,582,000. The 

 war preparations threw the budget into con- 

 fusion, and defeated the calculations for carry- 

 ing on reforms and famine-relief works. The 

 Government prepared two army corps at a 

 cost of 2,600,000, ordered ordnance from 

 England to the amount of 450,000, gave the 

 Ameer an extra subsidy of 250,000, and ap- 

 propriated 1,180,000 for expediting the con- 

 struction of the Sinde-Pishin Railway. Another 

 unexpectedly large opium-crop necessitated an 

 expenditure of 600,000 above the estimates, 

 which did not provide either for the 508,000 

 discount on the last 3,000,000 loan, nor for 

 75,000 expended on the Persian Gulf ca- 

 ble. The extraordinary military expenditures 

 amounted to 4,480,000, but of this sum the 

 budget was relieved of 700,000 by diverting 

 the money borrowed for famine-relief railways 

 to the construction of the Quettah strategic 

 railway. With this deduction the military ex- 

 penditures and other unanticipated charges not 

 provided for in the budget amounted to 4,- 

 963,000. The Government economized on the 

 budget estimates of expenditure to the extent 

 of 454,000, while improved railway receipts 

 allowed the revenue from this source to be es- 

 timated 500,000 higher, and the reduction of 

 drawings on India effected a saving in exchange 

 of 400,000, thus bringing the estimated deficit 

 down to 3,101,000. By diverting 643,000 

 of provincial expenditures, which som is sup- 

 posed to be repaid at some time by the Impe- 

 rial Government, by increasing the loan to be 

 raised ostensibly for irrigation and famine-re- 

 lief railways from the nominal amount of 2,- 

 225,000 to that of 3,500,000, producing an 

 additional sum of 767,000, and by drawing 

 on the balances, already reduced from the nor- 

 mal amount of 16,500,000 to 11,500,000, the 

 difficulty was tided over. In Lord Randolph 

 Churchill's budget statement about one half of 

 the deficit was charged upon the receipts of 



the year, while 1,500,000 was carried over to 

 1886-'87. The famine-insurance fund of 1,- 

 500,000 a year, which it was determined in 

 1881 to provide out of the revenues, one half 

 to be applied to relief-works and one half to 

 reducing the debt, was swallowed up by the 

 extraordinary charges. Famines, the fall in 

 silver, the Russian advance, and the opium 

 question are perplexing conditions, which leave 

 Indian finances in chronic confusion. The 

 Conservative Government planned to meet the 

 difficulty created by the Russian advance by 

 greatly strengthening the military defenses of 

 India. Frontier railways were provided for 

 by a loan bill for 5,000,000, but not the pro- 

 posed fortifications on the northwest frontier, 

 nor additional railroads in connection with 

 them, which will require 3,000,000, exclusive 

 of the armament of the fortresses. It was de- 

 cided also to create a native army reserve, to 

 increase the British force in India proportion- 

 ately, and to provide gunboats and torpedoes 

 for coast-defense. The proposed augmentation 

 in the military defenses of the empire would 

 entail an additional expenditure of 2,000,000 

 a year. This extra expenditure could not well 

 be met by loans. The 3,000,000 loan at 3 

 per cent, raised in 1884 was issued at 94, but 

 for the loan for the same amount issued in 

 1885 the best price that could be obtained was 

 85. Fresh taxation, the abrogation of the 

 provincial contracts, and the appropriation of 

 the famine fund were doubtful expedients, yet 

 the Government had no other resource. The 

 new opium agreement with China, it was esti- 

 mated, will result in a loss of 250,000 a year 

 in the Indian revenue, while the Chinese Gov- 

 ernment will obtain an additional revenue of 

 1,000,000 a year. 



The consolidated debt, on March 31, 1884, 

 amounted to 161,300,221, and the floating 

 debt to 10,277,724. Of the consolidated debt, 

 93,191,384 was payable in India, and $68,108,- 

 837 in England. 



The Army. The British force in India pro- 

 vided for in the army estimate for 1885-'86 

 consists of 9 regiments of cavalry, 77 batteries 

 of artillery, 3 companies of engineers, and 50 

 battalions of infantry, numbering altogether 

 61,597 officers and men. There were with the 

 colors, in the beginning of 1885, 58,753 men of 

 all ranks, with 9,679 horses and 300 cannon. 

 The imperial native army had 42 regiments of 

 cavalry and 143 of infantry, and numbered 

 3,212 English officers and 117,670 native offi- 

 cers and men, a total force of 120,882 men, 

 with 21,870 horses. The armies of the feu- 

 datory states aggregate 350,000 men, with an 

 artillery of 4,237 guns. Their cannon are, 

 however, worthless, antiquated pieces, and nine 

 tenths of the troops are ill-armed and undis- 

 ciplined. The recent British policy toward 

 the native states has not been, as formerly, 

 one of encroachment and absorption. 



Lord Ripon's Administration, When the M 

 quis of Ripon succeeded Lord Lytton in 1880, 



