FINANCES .OF INDIA.
I Parliamentary paper, moved for by Mr. Seymour, gives a very elaborate account of the revenues and expenditure of British India for the year ended the 30th April 1864. Some items may be selected to giie a.; general idea of --how we get money, in the East, and how we spend it.- Revenue.—The gross revenue derived from all the Presidencies, in the year 1853-'4, was 26,510,1851. Of this, Land Revenue formed 14,848,733!.; Tributes and Subsidies, 622,701/. • Customs, 1,283,455k - Salt, 2,574,740!.; Opium, 4,478,653/. Note the peculiarities of Indian. revenue—the greater portion of the taxes are drawn direct from the land, from a monopoly of so necessary an article as salt, and from the drug. opium. From the gross total of income there are' large deductions, for. collection, allowances, and a variety of payments ; and the net re- venue is reduced to 19,705,080/. Of the gross revenue, Bengal Presi- • dency contributes 10,519,774/. ; the Eastern Settlements, 72,1641.; Coorg, 19,717!.; Burmese Territory, 303,741!.; NortkWestern Pro- vinces, 7,002,1841. ; Punjaub and Trans-Indus Territoiy, 1,215,571!.; Madras Presidency, 4,674,970/. • Bombay Presidency, 4,313,257!.; S4nde, 230,103!.; and Battu-eh, 244,282/.
Expenditure.—While the net amount of the revenue of India, after deducting "repayments, allowances, and drawbacks," in the year ending 30th April 1854 was 26,375,197/., the expenditure was 28,419,314!.; showing a deficit of 2,044,1171. Some of the items of the expenditure may be noted : the Payments in Realization of the Revenue, including cost of Salt and Opium amounted to 4,243,986/. ; Allowances and Assign- ments, in accordance with treaties or other engagements, 1,305,914!.; Allowances to District and Village Officers, &c., 1,073,164!.; the other Charges in India were 18,486,9081., including Military Charges, 10,460,899/., Navy, 472,6961., Interest on Debt, 2,604,297/. ; the Charges in England were 3,262,289/.—Dividends to Proprietors ab- sorbed 632,970!.; Furlough and Retired Pay' to Army and Navy, 683,112/. •' Queen's Troops serving in India, (including a balance of 444193/. due lip to the 31st March, 1848,) 653,693/. ; General Charges, 495,648!.; Stores consigned to India, 420,529/.
Payments to Native Princes.—The former rulers of India, or their descendants, still draw a very respectable amount of revenue from the people of the country, and that without trouble responsibility, or risk of lofting it by expulsion from their dominions. ihe East India Company pays yearly to the Nizamut no less than 163,5141. the stipends and allowances ranging from the Newab Nazim's "personal allowance" of 68,677/. to allowances to chiefs not exceeding 5000 rupees yearly. The King of Delhi enjoys 95,740/., and other members of the Royal Family have large allowances : in the whole of the North-Western Provinces, the ,pensions and allowances amount to 319,046k, not including the Annexed Territory ; the Maharajah Dhuleep Singh gets some 12,000/. a year. Li the Madras Presidency, the Newab of the CarnatM receives 110,545!.; the families and dependents of late Newabs, 30,090/. The Rajah of Tanjore's income is 94,260/. The families of Hyder All Khan ànd Tippoo Sultan receive 65,626/. In Bombay, 77,682/. is paid in pensions and allowances. In Scinde, the ex-Ameers and others receive 45,5421. The payments for Sattarah are 24,1291. The total of the--• pensitaua, allowances; compensations, and so forth, for the year is no less than 1,305,914/. It strikes one in reading these accounts, that such - payments must constitute no mean support for the permanence of _British rule in India; the most influential families in Hindostan being pension- aries of our Government, receiving revenues dealt out with no niggard hand, while great numbers of petty chiefs receive smaller stipends.
Avila Debt. —The Public Debts of India amounted on the 30th April ./854 to 46,652,697/., on which 2,504,2971. was paid as interest. The debt mainly consisted of general "Loans," but some six millions • were made up of loans' in particular Presidencies, Treasury Notes, , Civil, • Military, and Naval Funds, &c. The interest on the great bulk-of the debt was at the rate of 4 percent. The Home Bond Debt was 3,899,500!.; the interest payable, 113,085/.
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