Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/797

773 ADMINISTRATION.] INDIA 773 at his death. But the Hindu village organization had been greatly broken up under Mughal rule. The modern municipal committee is a body appointed by Government, on the nomination of the collector, to assist iiiin in the discharge of his local duties, and to assess new modes of taxation. Police, roads, and sanitation arc the three main objects for which a municipality is constituted. Outside a munici pality these objects are (in different provinces) the care of the col lector, of some member of his subordinate staff, or of a local fund board. Within municipal limits they are delegated to a committee, who practically derive their authority from the collector s sanction, implied or expressed. Except in the groat towns, the municipalities cannot be said to enjoy any of the attributes of corporate life. How ever, as education advances, and with it the desire and capacity of self-government, the municipal committee will doubtless form the germ from which free local institutions will in the future be de veloped. In 1876-77, excluding the three presidency capitals, there were altogether 894 municipalities in British India, with 12,381,059 inhabitants, or just 7 per cent, of the total population. Out of an aggregate number of 7519 members of municipal committees con cerning whom information is available, 1794 were Europeans and 5725 natives; 1863 were ex-ojficio, 4512 nominated, and 1144 elected, the last class being almost confined to the North- Western and Central Provinces. The financial statistics of these municipali ties are given in a subsequent section. 3 ince. Imperial Finance. It is impossible to present a concise view of Indian finance, such as shall be at once accurate and intelligible. In the first place, the aggregate figures of revenue and expenditure are officially returned according to a system which, though necessary for purposes of account, usually misleads the English financier. T.ie whole system of administration is based upon the view that the British power is a paternal despotism, which owns, in a certain sense, the entire soil of the country, and whose duty it is to perform the various functions of a wealthy and enlightened proprietor. In addition, it takes on itself the business of a manufacturer and trader on a grand scale, as in the case of opium and salt. All these con siderations tend to swell the totals on both sides of the balance-sheet with large items, which, on strict analysis, ought to be eliminated as mere matters of account. The actual taxation on the people of British India for 1878, as will be shown below, was 34| millions, or under 3s. 8d. per head of the population. In the second place, the methods of keeping the public accounts have been subjected to frequent changes during recent years, to such an extent as to render comparative statements of totals valueless. The following table, which has been compiled from the Par liamentary Abstract for 1877-78, exhibits the gross imperial revenue and expenditure of India for that year, according to the system of accounts adopted at the time. For the reasons already given, it is practically impossible to analyse these statements in such a way as to show the actual amount raised by taxation, and the actual amount returned in protection to person and property. It is equally impossible to compare the totals with those for previous years. The only profitable plan is to take some of the items and explain their real meaning. Gross Revenue. Land revenue 20,02(5,036 Tributes and contributions... 075.120 Forest C64.102 Excise 2,457,075 Assessed taxes 86,110 Provincial rates 238.504 Customs 2.622.2:10 Salt 64f&amp;gt;0.082 Opium St. 1,82, 722 Stumps 2,1I9:!,483 Hint Post office Telegraph Law and justice Public works (ordinary) .... Inigation .&quot; State railways (iuarantecd railways (net). Miscellaneous 44:5, 59 847,094 358,430 813,221 371,539 495,142 548,528 C.I 29,7 05 3,555,593 Grofs Expenditure. Collection Land 2,531.325 Salt 539,858 Opium 2,661,2(16 Miscellaneous.... 2,330,902 Allowances under treaties .... 1,646.093 Interest on debt 5,028.318 Administration 1,805,308 Law and justice 3,319.673 Mai ine mid inland aa-rigation 542,202 Ecclesiastical 158,039 Mcdi.-al 611,819 Political agencies 468,975 Police 2,158,237 Education 738,020 Stationery and piin ing 425,644 Loss by exchange 1.653,377 Army 16,639,701 Famine relief 5,345,775 Provincial payments 247,034 Public works (ordinary) 3,670,274 Pioductive public works Maintenance 791.601 Interest and surplus profits 6,572,955 Miscellaneous 2.619,872 Total 58,969 301 Deficiency of gross revenue as compared with gross expenditure 3,543,087 ,.Totul62,512,388 Revenue. It will be seen from the above statement that the larger portion of the gross revenue is not derived from taxation at all. Public works, including railways, alone yield about 7i millions sterling, or nearly ]3 per cent, of the total. If we add the items of post office and telegraphs, which also represent payment for work done or services supplied, the proportion rises to nearly 14 per cent. Then the sum of 9 millions gross, or 6| millions net, derived from opium, being somewhat more than an additional 15 per cent, of the gross revenue, is admitted to be no charge upon the native tax-payer, but a voluntary contribution to the Indian exchequer by the Chinese consumer of the drug. Nearly one-third of the total gross revenue is thus accounted for. The land revenue, amounting to just 20 millions in an exceptionally bad year, cannot be passed over so lightly. Whether it should be properly regarded as a tax, or only as rent, is an abstruse problem for political economists to settle ; but, in any case, it is paid without question, as an im memorial perquisite of the state. It yields 34 per cent., or more than one-third of the gross revenue. The importance of the land ta.t from the point of view of administration has been considered in a previous section. Setting aside provincial rates and assessed taxes as insignificant in their amount and variable in their incidence, we are left with four principal headings, excise, customs, salt, and stamps, which together constitute the indisputable taxation of the people. The total amount yielded by these four items is just 14^ millions, being nearly 25 per cent., or one-fourth of the whole. Salt alone yields 6^ millions, or 11 per cent. On the total popula tion of 191 millions, the gross revenue of 59 millions shows an in cidence of 6s. 2^d. per head. The land tax alone shows an incidence of 2s. ld. per head, the four taxes proper of Is. 6|d. per head. The whole revenue of British India of the nature ot actual taxa tion, including land revenue, excise, assessed taxes, provincial rates, customs, salt, and stamps, amounted in 1878 to 34,883,586, or 3s. 7f d. per head. The rate was about 4s. per head in 1880. Of the four items, excise and stamps are both almost entirely creations of British rule. Excise is simply a tax upon intoxicating liquors and deleterious drugs, levied both on the manufacture and on the sale, according to different systems in different provinces. Like the corresponding duty in England, it is voluntarily incurred, and presses hardest upon the lowest classes. But, unlike the English excise, it can hardly be called an elastic source of revenue, for the rate is intentionally kept so high as to discourage consump tion. No duty whatever is levied upon tobacco. Stamps, as in England, is an ambiguous item. The greater part is derived from fees on litigation, and only a comparatively trilling amount from stamps proper on deeds of transfer, &c. Customs are divided into import and export duties, both of which have been so greatly lightened in recent years that their permanent maintenance must be considered doubtful. At the present time (1881) import duties, usually at the rate of 5 per cent, ad valorem, are levied upon a comparatively long list of commodities, of which the chief are cotton goods above a certain degree of fineness. All duties on ex ports have now been removed, with the single exception of that on rice, which brings in about .500,000 a year. That is levied at the rate of 3 dnnds&maund, or about 6d. per cwt., being equivalent to an ad valorem rate of about 10 per cent. India, including Burrnah, possesses a practical monopoly of the supply of rice to Europe, and therefore the tax falls upon the consumer rather than, upon the native producer. The salt tax is a matter of more import ance and of greater difficulty. As an impost upon an article of prime necessity, and as falling with greatest severity upon the lowest classes, it violates the elementary rules of political economy. On the other hand, it may be urged that this tax is familiar to the people, and levied in a manner which arouses no discontent, and that it is the only means available of spreading taxation proper over the community. Eecent reforms have tended to equalize the incidence of the salt tax over the entire country, with the immediate result of abolishing arbitrary and vexatious customs lines, and with a view to its ultimate reduction. Expenditure^ Putting aside the cost of collection and civil Expen- administration, which explain themselves, the most important items diture. of expenditure are army, interest on debt, famine relief, loss by exchange, and public works, to which may be added the complex item of payments in England. Military expenditure averages fully 16 millions a year, being thus considerably more than the whols amount obtained from taxation proper. Of this total, about 12 millions represent payments in India, and 4 millions payments in England. On non-effective services nearly 2 millions are expended in England and less than 700,000 in India. Regimental pay accounts for nearly 7 millions, the commissariat for about 2 millions in India, and stores for another million in England. In 1877-78 the total capital of the Indian debt was returned at over 146J millions sterling, being just 15s. 4d. per head of the population. The total charge for interest was 5 millions, being at the rate of 3, 14s. 4d. per cent. ; but this excludes the interest to be credited against expenditure on reproductive public works, which is entered under another heading. In 1840 the debt amounted to only 30 millions, but it gradually increased to 52 millions in 1857. Then came the Mutiny, which added 42 millions of debt in four years. The rate of increase was again gradual but slow till about 1874, when famine relief conspired with public works to cause a rapid augmentation, which has continued to the present time. The most significant feature in that augmentation is the larger proportion of debt contracted in England. During the hist ten years the silver debt has risen only 10 millions, whereas the gold debt has risen 28 millions. No charge has recently pressed harder upon the Indian exchequer than that of famine relief. Apart from loss by reduced revenue, the two famines of 1874 and 1877-78 have caused a direct expenditure one haritable and relief works, amounting in the aggre gate to nearly 15 millions. Loss by exchange is an item which lias