Lord Salisbury on Friday se'nnight explained his immediate financial policy,
which is to take power to borrow ten millions at 4 per cent. on Indian account, he hoping, however, to do with much less. If the House of Commons liked to guarantee the loan, he could not interfere with their generosity, but he doubted if India would gain byit, as a special guarantee always discredited the loans not so guaranteed. (Of course, all the trust-money flows to the guaranteed bonds.) He defended the Viceroy for his non-pro- hibition of exports, and denied that he had severely applied the labour test, and read a despatch of February 13 to • that effect, which announces relaxation, but differs materially from Lord Northbrook's language at the Conference of November 10. Lord Salisbury, however, frankly admitted the delay in providing means of transport, the three millions who will " certainly " be on the hands of the State, the possibility of a much greater dis- tress yet, and the "existence of a law of nature by which the official mind cannot conceive the machinery it has to deal with cantle• wrong." The only defect of his speech was -the unusual
Previous page
