1899.] The Indian Budget. [167
short-sightedness of Irish Protestants and English Conser- vatives. He said that if the Government would not level up education in Ireland, they must not be surprised if Irishmen did their best to level it down. They had no wish to despoil Trinity College, but if they could not get educational equality in one way they would have it in another, and if the religion of the majority in Ireland was to enjoy no educational advantages, the religion of the minority would not be left in undisturbed possession of them. The perfunctory explanation of the Indian Budget to the House of Commons was delayed to the last moment (Aug. 8), and was chiefly interesting from the support given by the late Secretary for India, Sir H. Fowler, to his successor. Lord George Hamilton had the good luck to be able to lay a satis- factory report of the financial condition of India before Parlia- ment, and was able to announce that the year 1898-9 had closed with a surplus of Bx.4,059,000, half of which was due to reductions in expenditure and the other half to the expansion of trade, which showed 120,000,000/. for exports and 90,000,000/. for imports. He also anticipated a surplus from the current year, although the deficient rainfall in certain districts threatened to make some inroads upon it. He spoke with derision of the charge that we were " bleeding India to death," which was contradicted by all the facts. He announced that a gold standard would be introduced at once, that all gold from the Indian mines would be purchased, and that the Government had a project of establishing a " Bank of England " in India. Sir Wm. Wedderburn (Banff) asserted that the ryots were in a starving condition, but Lord G. Hamilton contested this state- ment, but admitted that since 1871 the population of India, in a measure owing to steady and quiet Government, had increased by 70,000,000, and that it was necessary to encourage manu- factures and mining, as well as agriculture, in order to find labour for the yearly increasing addition. The complaints made by certain members as to the way in which Indian affairs were dealt with by Parliament brought up Sir Henry Fowler, who declared that India should never be a party question, and went on to make an interesting defence of the home administration of Indian affairs. He referred especially to the fact that the Council of India, composed entirely of leading administrators, judges and men of business, sat throughout the year. It was compelled by law to sit every week, and through its committees it minutely " overhauled " everything that occurred in India. So far from neglecting grievances, its first business was their redress, as it was also that of the Secretary of State. As to the late period of the session at which the Indian Budget was pre- sented, the accounts must by law be on the table by May 15, and if the House wished for the Budget early it had only to signify its wish. As for neglect by the House of Commons, the House had constructed the Government of India on a system different from that of every other dependency in order to avoid
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