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472 THE LEAPEB. [No- 472, Apru, 3, " 1.8...
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INI>IA AND INDIAN PROGRESS.
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INDIAN FINANCE. In the last century, whe...
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NOTES ON INDIAN PROGRESS. The Commander-...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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472 The Leapeb. [No- 472, Apru, 3, " 1.8...
472 THE LEAPEB . [ No- 472 , Apru , 3 , " 1 . 859 .
Ini>Ia And Indian Progress.
INI > IA AND INDIAN PROGRESS .
Indian Finance. In The Last Century, Whe...
INDIAN FINANCE . In the last century , when the great French and English economists begun to consider systeniaticaltjr the functions of society , they found every variety of tax in operation in Europe , in the large and small states of which it was . composed . Indeed , the Fifth Book of Adam Smith ' s " ^ Wealth of Nations , " or about one quarter of his work , is devoted to tliis subject of finance . Then it was that the doctrines of political economy were ¦ made to bear upon , finance , and that intimate connexion was established between science and statesmanship which is now indissoluble . For nearly a
deficiency cannot be sought in reduction of expenditure ; because the necessities of India require the maintenance of a large European force , and of a large European civil staff ' . A large European force must be maintained instead of a native army ; but . pending the disbandment of the native army , and the establishment of a European militia in the hills and plains , and the enlistment of the lull tribes * the European field force must still be large , until the great number of rebels lately in ai-ms , arid those fostered in our ranks , become absorbed and nullified among the mass of the population . This will be a work often years at least . A large European civil staff' must be maintained to work out the new system of Government which a native establishment cannot effect , for the whole corrupt native staff of revenue officers , law officers , and police has to be abolished , and a new native staff to be reared , educated , and organised , free from the traditions , the prejudicesj the corruptions , the oppressions , and the tortures of the old class . The salaries of Europeans may be redistributed , the enormous endowments of the civil service will be
abolished , niany Europeans will be emp loyed at very moderate salaries , and many unpaid justices , honorary magistrates , and municipal officers will be supplied by the European residents in aid of the administration ; much of the increased charge will be borne from new municipal taxes ; but with the diminution pf centralisation . in India , new salaries and new officials will have to be created , new HeutenantrgovernorSj new secretaries , new judges ; and nO effective diminution of expenditure can be looked for . Then there is the demand for the education of two hundred millions of people , which is a growing one , enormous in its requirements , and which must be met .
We . cannot , therefore , look for an effective diminution of expenditure , except under the head of military expenditure , by abolishing native corps and reducing the pay of English troops in the hills , but we must look for the means of meeting ^ this expenditure by increased revenue ; still when we come to examine the present sources of revenue n India we find them much more likely to exhibit a decrease than an increase , as they are are present administered . The land tax , which combines all the evils of a rent and a tax , which has only theoretical
advantages , and is attended with gjrievous oppression to the taxpayerj is in Bengal fixed by the perpetual settlement , and in the other presidencies ia being brought under limited settlements , and must , therefore , oe regarded as practically inelastic . Xet the land-tax is at present the mainstay of the Indian exchequer . . The opium monopoly cannot be relied on as a permanent source of revenue , for the opinion of the civilised world is becoming strong in expression against its immorality ; and now that the management of the Indian treasury is
transferred to England , the opium monopoly cannot bo very long upheld on the plea that it is no more harmless for the Government to hold it than to raise a spirit duty , which is a tax on drunkards , and n discouragement of drinking . Moderate men may not be moved by wild zeal against the opium traffic , but moderate men do see that it cannot be maintained . The salt mpnopoly is doomed , and the necessities of the Government alone maintain it in a moderate and restricted form from year to year .
Custom duties afford only , a paltry x'oturn , for the import trade of India is restricted by the deficiencies of internal transit ; though suoh is the condition of industry , that largo quantities of cotton are exported from , India to England , brought back as cotton twist , and manufactured into cloth in India , naiajed with a local weft . When the trade of India extends beyond looal consumption , which is ao far localised in many districts that it is like sheep feeding off' turnips in a field , then wo shall have a customs revenue , —but this has to bo created . The incomja , property , and sucoosaion taxes , are looal , and of small amount ; the stamp duties aro already obnoxious and oppressive ; the waste land revenues give no return ; the excises are arbitrary and ill adjusted , and yield but Uttlo . 7
century these doctrines have been under discussion ,, and , for half a century they have been applied in Europe and America , till we have a very different system of finance in operation froni that of the last century . True it is , there are still remains of protective duties , of excises ^ of monopolies , and gabelles ; but on the whole , the management of the revenue is much simplified , and its sources are more certain and better understood . The public finances are no"W , in each civilised country of the world , brought under the dominion of public opinion , and they are no longer a mystery , ' unless where absolutist Governments , for some purpose of fraud , resort to mystification . . .. .
What the finance of France or the German empire was then—a subject of perplexity and difficulty—Indian finance is now ; for Indian finance is in much the same condition as that of the Western kingdoms in former days . It presents all the evils and anomalies which are to be recognised wherever -there is a disregard of economical science , taxes weighing upon industry , and taxes rigid and incapable of expansion , to meet the wants of the Government , a chronic deficit , and a relatively small public debt , niade dangerous because the public credit has been tampered with , To find corresponding examples of this state of affairs in the west now we must refer to countries
In fact , industry , the true basis of taxation in India , has to be created and fostered , and until this be done , India , as a poor country , which it now is , cannot yield an expansive revenue ; and as private enterprise has not been fostered by the Government , on the Government still rests the burthen of providing for the wants of India . Private enterprise has to be called into action , and this is the work of years ; municipal institutions , the handmaidens of a strong central government , have to be created , and tliis is the work
of years . None of these things can be brought into sudden action by imperial decrees , acts of parliament , or proclamations . The forms of private enterprise and of municipal action are to be seen , but as yet little that is effectual has been done . India requires a large administration , not an administration for Bengal , one for Madras , and one for Bombay , but a whole cabinet , besides the President of the Council . India requires a , responsible and effective minister of the treasury , a
minister of war , a minister of public works , a commissioner of public lands and emigration , a president of the board of trade , a president of the board of agriculture , and a president of the board of education . True it is there are functionaries of this nature in each Presidency , but until a public is formed in India , and a responsible parliamentary Government , the central -administration must be forined in England , and not in India , and in India itself local Government must be extended and distributed so as to ensure real efficiency .
One great error in Indian adminis ' . ration has been to place the Government in the central authorities , leaving the local authorities without power . ' Where the contrary course has been followed , 'as in the Punjab , a strong Government has grown up , and good officials have been trained , while the central Government lias continued to show weakness , because it has gone beyond its functions . Thus the Indian army has been
an opprobrium , Indian Finance is an opprobrium ; the public -works have been neglected , and English settlement has been discouraged . The functions of the central authorities should be simply consultative and supervising , leaving as much liberty Of action as possible to tlio local Governor . In England Indian finance must be reconstructed , the army reorganised , and the administration placed on a new basis , but by the Indian oihcials must the country be governed .
of the lowest character , to Spain or Portugal , to Buenos Ayres , or New Granada . Here we may seek the mysteries of Indian finance , and find them , for they are only mysteries to those who choose to disregard facts , for the laws of science did not alter between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries , they do not alter in their application to Europe and America ; nor are they susceptible of modification by the climate of the East , for they are immutable , being the teachings of truth . '
The English public may be afraid of dealing with the public worship arid social institutions of the people of India ; but they need have no fear in forming an opinion on English finance . Do we want an . example of any tax , however oppressive , chronicled by Adam Smithj as formerly in existence in India , we shall find it , crushing land taxes , the salt monopoly or gabelle , the poll tax , propei'ty taxes , income taxes , the alcabala , license duties of all kinds , * import , export ^ and transit duties , general and local , river dues , octroi , accompanied with every personal and administrative oppression that
the brutality of savages , the ingenuity of Arabs , or the pcrversencss . of doctrinaires can invent . After alt Spain , Portugal , Rome , New Granada , and Buenos Ayres cannot afford parallels for the practical operation of the fiscal system of India , on the zemindar , enamdar , or ryot ; for , notwithstanding the benevolence find gjood intentions of the Supreme Government , bad is the condition of the population , and we must go to Egypt , and seek in the fellah a being as miserable as the Indian ryot . Good intentions we make small account of ; and
must proceed unflinchingly to ascertain the existing evils , and to remedy them by tb , e application of a reasonable system of finance , which will result in the remodelling of the whole revenue of India , a work of many years , attended with heavy deficits , requiring much sacrifice , and a large outlay , while the rofns of Government must be firmly hold , fortunately , in consequence of the revolt , the double Government has been abolished , and a responsible administration has been established . That is now practicable and safe which before was aamreroue . Tfno means of meeting the present and futuro
Notes On Indian Progress. The Commander-...
NOTES ON INDIAN PROGRESS . The Commander-in-Chief of Madras , with Colonel A . Cotton , Chief Engineer , and other authoritioB , proceeded from Powlaisliweram to Bison ilia to . survey it as a sanitary post . It is stated tnat Samulcottah will be recommended as a sanitary station for . Europeans , adding another station to the resources of the MadrasJPresidoncy . It ism we Vizagapatam district . , , „ , Leave has been given for the NeiUrliernos ana Bangalore to Mr . Frederick Orroo , ltogwtrar ot Madras , to Mr . E . K . Puokle , and Caut . IJ . i 3 . Herbortj Capt . W . J . Cobke , 8 th Madras N . I ., anu Lieut . H . A . Graham , 2 nd European L . I , A marriage lias taken place at Coonoor , between Mr . Lc Mesurier and Miss 0 . W . West . The wife of Capt . J . Gerrard died in that town on the Htft February . . f Lieut . J . F . Sherer is appointed Commandant ot the Kooky Levy , and assistant to the Sunenntoadent of Ca ' char . , , Major J . Drysdale , of tlio 42 nd Hltf l » lftn « 0 ™» " appointed Commandant of Nynoo T » l Convalescent J & eut . G . V . Younghuaband ia appointed to command the 4 op 6 t of the 60 th or Goorlcu Light Iiu «»* try at Almornh . , , . ^ | nf i At Deyrah , Mr , A . 8 . Iloatlicoto has boon marrloa to Miss Mary II . Thompson . , . Lieut . Grove , 82 nd Madras N . I ., Is appointed to command the detachment at Olumdwami , wluuiw likely to become of importance as a sanitary 8 ™ " ° "' Ten thousand pounds is to bo epont on now barracks at Kawul Pindco . - Lord Olydo has gone to Simla , and tlio U > ra roander-m-Chief of Bombay to MahabulosUwftr . Allahabad , the new capital of tho North-west , u now occupied Iby all tho publip offices oxcont tw
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 9, 1859, page 24, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_09041859/page/24/
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