Sir gluiest, Cable, well known in the commercial world of
India, writes a letter to the 7Titnes of Monday on the very nteresting subject of the boarded wealth of India. His suggestion, which arises from the Report of the Committee op Indian Railway Finance, is that a definite attempt should be made to tap the secret supplies of money which lie idle. The Committee recommended that for a certain period the capital expenditure on railways should be increased from £10,000,000 to 42,500,000. They thought that normally India might provide £5,000,000, and that the remainder might be raised in England. Ent Sir Ernest Cable argues that this recommendation does not sufficiently take India into account as an investor. There is the boarded wealth, in fact, to draw upon, if only the natives can be persuaded to invest it. The late Mr. Dunning Macleod supposed that the hidden hoards amounted to `-i00,1:00,000. That estimate, as the Times points out, referred to gold alone. There are also said to be hoards of silver rupees and ornaments. The whole matter is rather mysterious, and the estimates of the wealth differ greatly. Sir Ernest Cable would like to see a Committee of Inquiry appointed ; but it would be a very clever or a very discreet Committee which could make adequate investigations without being unpleasantly inquisitorial, Education perhaps will teach the natives eventually to employ their money profitably. It is most desirable that they should have, in the old phrase, a " stake in the country," and thus be directly interested in its prosperity and stability.
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