| The export trade is | Rs. x | 111,179,196 |
|---|---|---|
| The import trade is | Rs. x | 84,155,045 |
| Net excess exports of total trade | Rs. x | 27,305,233 |
[66] I observe that one of the witnesses calculates the export tax thus proposed to be levied by forcing up the exchange to 1s. 6d. at 20 per cent., but I have obtained my figures from a highly competent authority, and I have no doubt they are substantially correct. I may add that the "Times" correspondent, telegraphing from Calcutta on October 23rd, says, "Exports cannot be profitably financed. The currency legislation alone is equivalent to 20 per cent. tax upon them."
[67] As a set-off against the charges complained of, it should be remembered—a point which I did not take into account when formerly writing on the subject—that England bears the cost of the naval protection of India.
[68] I have since ascertained, on good authority, that, though the coffee of Brazil has not as yet come into competition with Indian coffee (as people used to the latter do not care for the former, and would not use it unless there was a very great difference in the value), the coffee from Costa Rica, Columbia, Guatemala, and Mexico (all silver-using countries) does so to a very considerable extent.
[69] It might be imagined from this statement that a low rate of exchange had been already setting back, or at least arresting, the hand of progress, and I therefore quote the following passage from p. 40 of the, "Report of the Currency Committee."
"The following facts relating to the recent progress of India are taken from a paper read by Sir W. Hunter (one of the greatest existing authorities on the subject) at the Society of Arts, on the 16th of February, 1892.
"Between 1881 and 1891 the whole number of the Army had been raised from 170,000 to 220,000, and the number of British soldiers in it from 60,000 to 71,000, or, including reserves, volunteers, etc., to very much more. Many large and costly defensive works had been constructed, both on the north-west frontier and on the coast. In recent years almost all the public buildings have been reconstructed on a large scale.
"Railways, both military and commercial, have been greatly extended. Notwithstanding these extraordinary expenses, there were, during the twenty-five years which followed 1862, fourteen years of surplus and eleven years of deficit, yielding a net surplus of Rs. × 4,000,000. In 1889 the public debt of India, exclusive of capital invested in railways, showed a reduction since the mutiny period of Rs. × 26,000,000. The rate at which India can borrow has been reduced from 4 or 5 per cent. to a little over 3 per cent. The revenue of India, exclusive of railways and municipal funds, has grown between 1856-57 and 1886-87 from Rs. × 33,378,000 to Rs. × 62,859,000, and in 1891 it had increased to Rs. × 64,000,000, or, including railway and migration receipts, to Rs. × 85,750,000; and this increase is due to the growth of old revenue rather than to new taxation. Further, whilst the rent or land tax paid by the people has increased by one-third, the produce of their fields has more than doubled, in consequence partly of higher prices and partly of increase in cultivation. Further, in 1891 there were nearly 18,000 miles of railway open, carrying 121,000,000 of passengers and 26,000,000 tons of goods, and adding a benefit to the people of India calculated as far back as 1886 at Rs. × 60,000,000. Further, the Indian exports and imports at sea, which in 1858 were about Rs. × 40,000,000, amounted in 1891 to about Rs. × 200,000,000, and the produce thus exported has increased in quality and variety no less than in amount."
What evidences of "a fatal and stunting arrestation of development"!
[70] This extraordinary assumption must evidently have been founded on another, if possible still more wonderful; namely that the American Government was composed of individuals so short-sighted that they would fail to take the precautions which men of ordinary common sense would be sure to adopt with the view of preventing, as far as possible, a sudden fall in the value of silver. But the American Government, as we know, naturally diminished its purchases of silver, and as no one supposes (except perhaps the Indian Government) that it can be so silly as at once to lose money and create a gratuitous disturbance by suddenly flooding the market with the silver accumulated, we see that, since the repeal of the Sherman Act, the price of silver, so far from having gone down, as anticipated by the Viceroy, has even slightly gone up.