Lord Lytton has issued (August 5) a resolution giving a
picture of Indian finance far less favourable than that of Lord G. Hamilton. He states that the loss by exchange will render necessary a loan of £4,000,000 in Great Britain, that the expenses in the opium department will be £,500,000 more than usual, and that a most unfavourable effect will be exercised on the Customs revenue by the condition of the silver market. He therefore directs that all expenditure on Public Works which can be stopped without disproportionate loss shall be stopped, forbids applications for loans from the State, and earnestly requests all heads of de- partments to enforce the strictest economy. These are the orders usually issued in India during a great war, and they involve so much loss and so much official discontent that the Government of India must take a grave view of the situation, and believe at heart that the silver difficulty will last for a considerable time. It is possible, however, that opinion at Simla is a good deal in:Mewed by opinion in Calcutta, where something like a panic boa been reigning.
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