The British and Indian Governments have come to a rather
weak compromise upon the cotton-duties. The duty on yarns is abolished, and the duty on woven cottons reduced to 31 per cent., imposed not only on the imported article, but on the local manufacture if made by machinery. The output of hand-looms is, of course, left untaxed, as levying the tax on workmen scattered over so vast an area would cost more than the revenue produced. It would, moreover, be regarded ae an outrageous oppression. We question if this will contest Lancashire, while it deprives the Indian Treasury of half a million of revenue. It would have been simpler to abolish the tax, and put it on some article like copper, which is a luxury in India of the comparatively well-to-do. As it is, the native mill-owners will declare that they are taxed solely for the benefit of Lancashire, while the Treasury will not be filled.
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