Some comment will, of course, be made on an item
of /10,088, which appears in the Indian Home accounts as the cost of the pre- sents made by the Duke of Edinburgh to Indian Princes. We ob- jected to a similar grant from Imperial funds for presents made in the colonies, but this one is quite fair. It was imperative on the Duke to make large presents to the Princes, and as he was for- bidden to receive any in return it was fair that the State should pay for them, the more so as the ultimate taxpayer, the native of India, decidedly approved of the visit. It is a minor mis- fortune of our system that the grace is taken out of every cere- monial of this kind by the necessary publication of the bill. We ask a man to dinner, and then are compelled, not indeed to send him the bill, bat to show him the one the butler has sent us.
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