Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/615

* INDIA. 539 INDIA. <;ism because of the practical monopoly exer- cised by the English over the higlier oflices, and the excessive salaries attached to them. A few English officers receive an aggregate remunera- tion considerably greater than that given to tl'.e numerous native minor ollicials. The control of the opium, customs, post-office and telegraph, tributes, mint and currency, receipts and the ex- penditure midcr tlie heads of army and military works, political relations, public debt, and cer- tain trunk railways, is retained by the Central Government. The management of all provincial revenues and some of the Imperial revenues is delegated to the local governments. The following table gives a statement of the average annual expenditure for the two decades indicated and the year 1001: £5.000,000. and other obligations assumed in India for savings banks, departmental and judi- cial deposits, etc., which brought the total liabili- ties up to £22.3,84.3,244 in 1001. The total interest for that year, amounting to £7,430,97-3, was distributed as follows: Railways, £4,376,- 600; irrigation. £021.328; ordinarv debt, £1,776,- 40fi; and other obligations. £302..540. CrRKE.NCY. In British India accounts are kept in rupees, annas, and pies — 10 annas making one rupee, and 12 pies making one anna. Beginning with the early seventies the rupee was subject to great fluctuation in value, with a general downward tendency. Tlie burden of taxation was greatly increased in consequence of the great fall in the value of silver, the Indian revenues being raised in silver, while the amount spent Direct demand on revenue £9, Interest 4 Salaries and expenses of civil service ' 12 1881-90 1891-1900 1901 Miscellaneous civil charges, Pamine relief and insurance (excluding charges on account of protective railways) Buildings and roads Army services Special defense works Construction of railways (charged against Revenue in addition to that of Fam- ine Insurance) Post-office, telegraph, and mint Railway revenue account Irrigat ion ,198.111 60(l,.546 277.556 597.045 931,379 279,111 ,484,591 275,255 199,942 ,126.871 ,953,786 ,380,082 £6,797,206 2.4.80,488 9,916,049 4,441,431 1,141,481 3.862,520 15,585,835 152,685 41,373 1,736,072 14,487,566 2.025,011 £7,.5S2,341 2,1.38,946 10.971.622 3.987,370 4.156.344 4.068,721 15,082,799 6,864 5,157,660 17.968,505 2,320,327 The total average in round numbers for each decade is, respectively, £70,300,000 and £02,600,- 000. The total for 1901 is £73,400,000. The following table shows the average annual revenues for each of the three decades indicated and for the year 1001: in Great Britain on account of India was paid in gold. This sum is disbursed in the payment of fixed charges, such as salaries and pensions of civil and military officers. The dill'erence between the exchange value and the market value of the rupee became so great that the number of DETAILS Land revenue Opium Salt Stamps Excise Customs Interest Receipts by civil departments .... Miscellaneous Building and roads Receipts by military departments. Provincial rat es Assessed taxes Forest Tributes from native States Registration Post-office, telegraph, and mint. . Railways I rrigat ion 1871-80 100.7.59 936,068 ,383,315 ,802,489 ,463,086 ,558,202 520,793 981,740 457,045 575,946 527,345 594,910 720,079 ,278,0.55 519.049 552,189 1881-90 1891-1900 £22,496.636 9,176,138 6,885,891 3,043,720 4,088,094 1,504,890 792,203 1,468,413 1,076.180 605.741 1.762.080 2.948.487 905.669 1.071,281 721,006 300,133 1.911.061 12.997.363 1,677,791 £16,869,344 4,-591.820 5.764.241 3,063,493 3,638.876 2,283,491 608.327 1,115,376 525,298 447,953 603,187 2,426,251 1,198.645 1,115,425 552,748 284,843 1.951,095 13,922,181 1.838.804 1901 £17.503,031 5.102.242 5.967,034 3,342.948 3.937.202 3,371.597 651,479 1,243,076 529,492 458,470 817,274 2,502,713 1,322,094 1.297,863 577,823 312,558 5,425,847 18,293,629 2,555,919 The total average for the decade 1871-80 was £,';.5,000,000 ; for 1881-90, £75.000.000; and for lSOl-1000. £62.800.000. The total for the year 1001 was £75,200.000. Dkbt. The permanent debt of India graduallv increased from £33.577.414 in 1842 to £.M..3i27,058 in IS'u. when it rapidly grew in consequence of the Indian mutinv, and stood in 1S62 at £97.- 037.0(52, and graduallv increased to £205.323.315 in 1001. Of this last amount, £70,887,036 was held in India and £128.435.370 in England. The greater part of the debt in India bears interest at the rate of 3t{; per cent., and about one-half the debt in England bears interest at Ihe same rate, the remainder paying interest at the rate of 3, Sy^. and 2J/j per cent. Besides the above there were an unfunded debt in England of Vol. x— :)5. rupees raised by the Government had to be increased by one-half. The financial embarrass- ment thus caused led the Government in 1892, when the exchange value of the rupee sank to Is. Id., to consider a plan for the closing of the Indian mints to the coining of silver. In June, 1803, a law to this effect was passed, and the rate of Is. 4d. for the rupee was established as the gold price of silver, provision being made that wlicn the rupee rose to this value the mints should lie reopened to the coinage of silver. Tha value of the rupee gradually rose. and. so far as the Government was concerned, the financial conditions gieatly improved. But complaint was made that the native growers and the European planters in India were sutTering severely froia the change. It was argued that these classes