Page:The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India.djvu/31



Whatever may have been the merits of the Imperial System of Government from the military, political, legislative, or administrative points of view, it is a melancholy fact that as a system of finance it proved unequal to the strain imposed upon it. From its very start it suffered from the fatall disease of financial inadequacy, and it was only occasionally that the efforts of the Finance Ministers were successful in restoring an equilibrium and staving off the hour of crisis. How chronic the deficits were may be seen from the following figures:—

Anyone who ponders upon this pitiable story of India Finance as revealed by these deficits can hardly fail to