The Indian Budget was presented to the Legislative Council on
Saturday, but the summaries of it sent over by cable are almost unintelligible. The receipts for 1870-71, for instance, are stated at £51,414,000, but this includes a loan of £1,160,000 expended on public works. The account for 1871-72 shows a revenue of £49,976,000, and an expenditure of £47,276,000, while the esti- mate for the year 1872-73 is £48,771,000 against an expenditure- of £48,534,000, leaving a surplus of 1237,000. This expendi- ture is, however, independent of an outlay of £2,615,000 on pub- lic works, which must be met by loan, while the revenue includes an income-tax of 1 per cent., which a portion of the Council is most unwilling to grant. It will be well to wait for details, but the summary looks as if Sir R. Temple intended to increase the ordinary expenditure for next year by more than a million sterling, in addition to raising £2,600,000 by loan.
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