Thursday was given up to the explanation of Mr. Lowe
and to the Indian Budget. Mr. Grant Duffs statement was, on the whole, very satisfactory. In the " year of actuals "—that is the year ending 31st March, 1872—the receipts of India had been £50,110,000, and the ordinary expenditures £46,986,000, giving a surplus of more than £3,100,000. In the year ending 31st March, 1873, the income, omitting a few unsettled accounts, of which too much is always made, was £49,914,000, and the ordi- nary expenditure £48,422,000, while in the year to come the India House expect a surplus of £140,000. That last, how- ever, is but a dreamy prophecy, which a day's sale of opium may upset. This surplus is calculated after the surrender of the Income Tax, an act which Mr. Grant Duff evidently does not like, though it had been proposed by Lord Northbrook and sanctioned by the Duke of Argyll. He thought it would be reimposed within ten years, but he will find, if the necessity arises, that betel-nut and tobacco will have the preference. The Government had a cash balance of £19,000,000 in India, so they proposed to reduce it by paying for all remunerative works out of it, amounting this year to £4,000,000, a decision which does not signify while India can borrow from England at a day's notice, ut which otherwise is most inexpedient. India ought to keep s 'months' expenses in hand, instead of which she is to keep less tour. Between 1860 and 1873 the Government of India '1 a profit of £324,000, which Mr. Grant Duff suggested shoe i of good financial management.
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