Lord George Hamilton announced one great improvement in the method
of keeping Indian accounts. Public Works Extra- ordinary, that is, works intended to be remunerative, are in future to be treated separately, to have a Debt of their own, and accounts of their own, showing the loss and gain on each work. All sums expended on them, whether borrowed or taken from the Treasury, will be treated as borrowed money, and be expected to yield interest, and the profit or loss will be made out for the nation, as if it were made out for shareholders. That is a good plan, provided the salaries of the Public Works staff are included in the expenses, and provided also that the account is not falsified by the addition of "indirect receipts." Anything can be made to pay, if they are added. We welcome also the assurance that new Public Works are not to be begun until the revenue can bear the expenditure, and should wel- come still more the announcement that a million sterling a year would be set aside systematically for the reduction of Debt. It is always growing.
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