THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [July 1, 1898. 
per cout. At the end o£ tVie ten months the posi- 
tion had bftcome worse, the percentages of decline 
being about 44 per cent, and 714 per cent, rea- 
pectively. Sir James Weitland and Lord GeorKe 
Hamilton may not unreasonably be invited to give 
Bome atteulioii to these impressive tigurea." 
Next he conies to remedies : — 
It, asiii I think fjeuorally allowed, the artitioial rupee 
has been inimical to India's prosperity; if the Mints 
ought to be re-opened, and exchant{e allowod to fall 
to its natural level ; how, it will be asked, is tne 
Government to meet the then increased rupee cost 
of its homo remittanceK? I fear it may seem pre- 
sumptuous to aay so, but in this I do not see, and 
have never saen, a iy difficulty. The obvious course 
is surely that which is resorted to by all ci/iliscl 
Governments when in need — namely, to increase the 
Customs duties. I will now endeavour to show that 
this is perfectly feasiljle. 
The Indian Finance Minister has budgeted for 
£16,000,000 Council liill drawings for current year, 
at an exchange of Is. Sgd. per rupee. On this basis 
he estimates for a snrplns of K8, 914,000. Let us 
now suppose that the Mints were open, and exchange 
4d. per rupee below liudgct estimate— that is to say, 
llgd. instead of Is ,-iiJd. per rnpee — the extra rupee 
cost of the £lC,0f 0,000 home remittances would tlien 
be R87,820,32.). How, then, to provide for this extra 
cost? Here is a rough estimate of ways and means: — 
Extra cost of Home Remittances .. R87,82C,320 
Do Compensation to the 
Services (?) ., .. .. 2 .=)00,000 
R90,320,320 
LenD Amount budgeted for continuation 
of the Frontier "War now ended .. R14,815,000 
Net extra Revenue required 
R75,511,320 
riiovxiioN 
Increase of Import Duties to 10 per cent. R45,005,000 
Duty on imported Yarns at 7J per cent. 1,881, .525 
Increase of Excise Duties on Indian 
Cotton Goods to 10 per cent. 
Excise Duty on Indian Yarn at 7 J percent. 7,031,250 
Recovery ef Opium Revenue . . l.'j, 000,000 
Seignorage on resumed Coining of 
Silver (as per last return) .. 1,604.000 
Import Duty on Gold at 5 per cent. . . 2,225,000 
R75 960,775 
Thus leaving the Budget surplus untouched. If it be 
argued that niy estimate of an 11 §d. exchange with 
open Mints may prove too high, I would reply that 
the foregoing sugge.^tions of ways and means do not 
exhaust the possible provision. 
And we cannot lielp quoi iuc his defence of the 
proposed increase in taxation : — 
iNcanAsi! OF Ijipjbt Duties. — Tlie objection taken to 
this will probably bo upon the following grounds: — 
1. Its divergence from our modern &iC::\ principles. 
2. Its oppression upon an already overtaxed people. 
3. Its injury to home manufacturing interests. 
None of these objections can, in my opinion, be 
made good. (1.) la reply to academical objection 0!r 
this ground, I would first of all point out that nearly 
one-half of the rexeuue of the United Kingdom is 
derived from Customs and Excise duties. Tea ia 
taxed to the amount of about 40 per cent, ef its value 
and tobacco to the amount of about 200 per cent. In 
India considerably less than one-fouith of the revenue 
is so raised. 
When the import dutiss on cotton goods and yarn 
were re.Tiittcd ia"l87.S and subsequent years, the sacri- 
fice of revenue was comment.-'rl upou as follows by 
that pi's -siniuenl f reo-tradi^r, Mr, Glar'stone : — 
" With regard to the remi <.^ion of import duties, 
there seems to me to l)e something distinctly repugnant 
in the way it has been done in the time of India's 
distress and difficulty The Governor- 
Gcn'ral says be cannot see that financial difficalty 
can in any way oe pleaded fts a raasoD agaiast nh&t be 
calls fiscal reform. If that be a true principle of 
government, it has been discovered for the first time 
by the present Viceioy. There hiH not been a Free 
Trade Government in this or nny country which baa 
uot fully admitted that the state of the revenue is an 
easential clement in thu consideration of the applica- 
tion even of the best ijrincjples free trado." I 
will c<ll iu one other autnoiity to uiy aid. that of a 
distinguished ludidQ admiui^Ualor, whom I am glad 
to see uuon tlie preuent Committee. In IBSo Sir 
Charles Crosthwaite thus wrote in Tlu Timtt: — 'The 
[silver] question ie purely one ol taxation. The 
general effect upon the country is good, but the cquili- 
biium of the liudget is upset. Jf no other remedy 
can be found, the re-inipusition of the duties and 
taxes remitted in 1882 will probably be effective. " 
If any Indian precedent be required it is afiorded by 
the legislation of the po^t-Mudny period, when the 
Import duties were raised to 10 per cent. The finan- 
cial urgrucy IS greater now. 
(2.) If an increase of import duties were to constitute 
a proportionate burden, or any burden at all, to the 
people cf India, I would be the last to propobe it. I 
think, however. I can show that, comoiubd with a 
restoration of the currency to its natural condition, 
the cflf-ct wonld be not to increase the burden, but to 
lighten it. Upon this, in fact, my argument stanls or 
fails. To ascertain this we must go back to tbe period 
prior to the closing of the Mints, and see what was 
the condition of the Indian ryot then, for that ia the 
condition to which he would be restored by tbe re- 
opening of the Mints. 
From this it will be seen that whilst then (as com- 
pared with fifteen years previously) pnying 20 per 
cent, less for his imported necess.).riei>, the Indian ryot 
was obtaining 30 per cent, more for his produce. It is 
obvious, therefore, that he could well have afiorded to 
pay the higher Import duties necessary to produce 
an equilibrium in the Budget ; that such duties would 
have imposed upon him no undue harden, but would 
have merely taken from him a moderate and equitable 
portion of his increased earnings. 
Finally, " H.F.ii." feels sure thai to save Indian 
Agriculture from further chock, nothin<^ will be 
etiicacious save the re-opening of the Mints : — 
The temporary stimulus now being given to the 
export cf certain articles by war, aud grain scarcity, 
will postpone, but cannot avert, thp evil day. With 
sterling exchange in t'hina at the equivalent of about 
lOd. per rupee, and in the South American Kepublics 
at i bont Is. to GJd. per rnpee, it is impossible to 
suppose that India (witli a Is. 4d. rupee) can compete 
in the export to gold standard countries of those 
articles which can be laid down by her rivals at 
such immense differences of cost in the selling markets. 
To re-open the Mint", and thus place India, as an 
exporting country, on equal terms with its rivals 
seems therefore not merely an advantage bat a neces- 
sity for the Indian ryot, by which he would be 
recouped threefold for his contribution, in higher 
Import duties, to the necessities of the (iovernnient. 
A duty on Imports is the least objectionable form 
of taxation in India, and, even on a larger scale 
than I have estimated, would be uanotired and un- 
kr.own to the bulk of the population. Moreover, it 
has the special advantage of bringing under contri- 
bution the Independent Native States, with a 
population of about 70 millions, whose pockets are 
otherwise so difficult to reach, 
(3.) That home manufactuiing interests would be 
injured by the mensures I have proposed is, in my 
btlief, a complete delusion. On the contrary, of all 
those who would be thereby affected none would 
probably benefit more than the Lancashire manu- 
facturers. During the whole period of fa'ling ex- 
change, down to the closure of the ^'a^ts, it was a 
particularly noticeable feature that the Import trade 
on cotton goods increased pari passu with the Export 
trade. With the currency restored to its natural 
condition, the Indian consumer would be mnch better 
