remission of Bengal's contribution. With the additional 1 crores set aside now, we shall have reduced our reliance on the Provinces by 4:38 crores in all, which is not very far short of half the total. The Provinces whom fortune and the Devolution Rules favour this year are (apart from Bengal) the same as those which obtained the biggest benefit a year ago. But the turn of the other Provinces will come. They are all brought much nearer fruition by the events of the last two years and will no longer feel that the prospect of remission does not interest them. Meanwhile the taxpayers if not the Government of the Province of Bombay in particular and of other Provinces in a lesser degree secure the benefit of the repeal of the Cotton Excise Duty, the relief given in this budget being divided between the Central taxpayer and the Provincial Governments. 73. At an earlier stage in my speech, the approaching end of the life of this Assembly tempted me to compare the figures of India's debt now with those of three years ago. Before closing let me indulge in a further glance backwards and a glimpse into the future. The first Assembly was burdened with the ungrateful task of imposing extra taxation in order to bridge the yawning gap between revenue and expenditure, a task that at one time seemed well-nigh hopeless. The Budget of 1924-25 which coincided with the first session of this House signalised our definite escape from the era of deficits and brought the Salt tax back from Rs. 2-8 a maund to the present rate of Rs. 1-4. For this reduction, though no doubt it had the assent of the majority, only the minority in this House who voted for the second reading of the Finance Bill can claim to share the credit with the Government and the Council of State, and the Government did not conceal their view that a higher rate, which might have enabled us by now to have achieved the complete extinction of the Provincial contributions, had much to commend it. But, if this House dealt in a step-motherly way with the Budget of 1924-25, it placed to its credit six months later the convention in regard to the separation of railway finance from general finance, a reform which I regard as the greatest financial achievement of the years under review. We have made other advances in our financial machinery during this period, such as the establishment of the Provincial Loans Fund and the formulation of a clear policy of reduction and avoidance of debt. and we have paved the way for other advances, as for instance, the separation of Accounts and Audit, and the reform of the Indian currency system. We have moreover greatly improved the mechanism of the Assembly's financial control. But the new arrangement for dealing with our Railway Budget remains the outstanding feature. It has cleared the path for a continuous programme of railway construction and rehabilitation, and is the direct parent of the proposals for progressive reduction of rates and fares which has now been put in hand, while it has relieved our general finances of an intolerable burden of uncertainty. The Delhi session of 1925 found the Government and the Assembly working together, as you, Sir. will remember, to put the finishing touches to our Debt Redemption plans and to make a substantial beginning of the remission of Provincial contributions. To-day we are continuing last year's work while at the same time celebrating the happy extinction of the notorious (even if sometimes maligned) Cotton Excise Duty. 74. I ask those who profess unending dissatisfaction with the Reforms and denounce them as a sham and the Government as insincere and unresponsive, does the financial story of these three short years justify depression or despondency? In that brief space we have immensely improved our financial machinery and have progressed nearly half-way on the road to extinction of the Provincial contributions, and we have reduced the Salt tax and abolished the Cotton Excise Duty. For five years the Reformed Legislatures have been at work in India. It is true that weather conditions have on the whole favoured us and that the level of taxation is still high in comparison with 1914, though not in comparison with other countries. But to me it seems undeniable that the association of chosen representatives of the people of India with the Executive Government and their constant interaction the one upon the other in the Assembly and the Council. of State have enabled India to win through the inevitable discomforts of the period following the war with a measure of success that makes her financial position the envy of other nations and could scarcely have been possible without the Reformed Constitution. The members of this House appear to me sometimes to fix their attention so earnestly on what are called political questions as to overlook the steady advance towards the goal of constitutional self-government which is being registered day by day in administration and in finance. Mr. Coates, the present Prime Minister of New Zealand, made a confession of faith in a speech delivered last May soon after he succeeded to the Premiership, which deserves, I think, the careful consideration of those who are working for India's future. "It may seem", he said, that I have unduly stressed the financial and administrative aspect of Government. My six years of Ministerial service, however, have convinced me that intensive application of the principles of sound finance to every function of Government is ever essential in the public interest. It is from that solid foundation created that we can build the structure of our public services and enable the development of our country to proceed. Only by judicious care and foresight in setting our financial foundations is it possible to devote the necessary attention to all our citizens ". 75. The Government of India and this Assembly have not always seen eye to eye on financial questions, but the record shows that we have worked together, not without reward, to establish a foundation of financial stability far more firmly based than when we began. We leave to the next Assembly the task of building on those foundations with the firm assurance that, though all the difficulties are not surmounted and though new anxieties may arise, they will not have to complain of our work of preparation and will find their financial heritage a source of strength in advancing to the solution of the political and constitutional tasks which await them. BASIL P. BLACKETT. The 1st March 1926. Statement comparing the actual Revenue and Expenditure of the Central Government (Imperial Revenue and Expenditure before the Reforms) with the Revised Estimates for each year from 1915-16 to 1924-25. PAGE. II. GENERAL STATEMENT of the RECEIPTS and DISBURSEMENTS of the CENTRAL 142-143 A.-STATEMENT of the REVENUE of the CENTRAL GOVERNMENT in INDIA and in ENGLAND 144-147 B.-STATEMENT of the EXPENDITURE charged to the REVENUES of the CENTRAL 148-151 C.-STATEMENT of RECEIPTS and DISBURSEMENTS of the CENTRAL GOVERNMENT in INDIA 152-163 D. ABSTRACT STATEMENT of the RECEIPTS and DISBURSEMENTS of the CENTRAL 164-165 |