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"If the House should think there is any force in these considerations it would not be impossible, I think, to divide the country into districts convenient for the classification and management of the Highways, having due reference to the great changes made by the Railways, permitting the ratepayers to have a voice in the election of a board distinct from the Board of Guardians, whose single province should be to maintain the Highways in the best state at the least expense."

Subsequently his (Mr. Hardy's) hon. Friend the Secretary for the Treasury, when in office in 1852, prepared a Bill in which it was proposed that a petty sessional division should be formed. That Bill did not come before the House. He (Mr. Hardy) had, after giving his attention to the objections to the various forms of division that had hitherto been proposed, considered whether it would not be possible to devise a plan by which districts might be formed for the express and only purpose of managing the highways. It appeared to him that this might easily be done. He was only carrying out what was proposed by the right hon. Gentleman the member for Radnor (Sir George Lewis), and by the hon. Gentleman the Member for Salford (Mr. Massey) when he proposed to give power to justices in quarter sessions to create districts for the purposes of this Act, for in their Bills power was given to justices in sessions to alter the districts -namely, unions or

and to render some change absolutely ne- | posed to make use of unions and Boards cessary. The money expended on high- of Guardians for the management of Highways in 1856 amounted to £2,149,733; ways, Sir R. Peel said, after objecting to in 1837 it amounted to only £1,113,434; the plan proposed :so that in less than twenty years the expenditure on this head had increased by about £1,000,000. It was right, however, to say that during the same period the amount expended on turnpike trust roads had been diminishing in consequence of some of those roads having fallen into the hands of parishes. The amount expended on roads under turnpike trusts in 1837 was £1,742,237; in 1855 it was £1,105,482,-3 Hansard, cviii. 752.] showing a diminution of £636,000. When they considered the number of returns sent into the Home Office annually, from surveyors of highways-which amounted to £17,418-it must be clear to every one who had thought on the subject, that there were a larger number of surveyors employed in the supervision of highways than it was probable could consist entirely of persons fit to discharge the duties which these persons ought to perform. In many parishes there were, of course, efficient and active surveyors; but it was impossible, under the present system of road management, to secure that this should be the case generally; and the result was shown in neglect and wasteful management, with roads in a bad state of repair as a consequence. Some change in the system was evidently necessary. In 1835, an attempt was made in the General Highway Act to carry out, on a voluntary principle, that which he proposed by his Bill to make compulsory. He spoke in the presence of many hon. sessional divisions Gentlemen who were conversant with these if they thought proper. Why not then matters; and he ventured to assert, that give to justices in petty sessions the power in every case where a district had been to fix the limits of districts in the first informed under the Act of 1835, where the stance. His object was that certain roads parishes had come together, formed a dis--for instance, roads lying near one antrict, and appointed a paid surveyor, the roads had been improved, while the rates had been diminished; that in every way, under this more independent administration, matters connected with the management of the highways advanced to a better condition than they had been in before these steps were taken. He had endeavoured, as far as possible, to adopt the principle with which, in a voluntary form, some parts of the country had, to a certain extent at least, become familiar. The principle of the system of management adopted in the Bill had been shadowed out by Sir Robert Peel in 1850. In the debate upon the Bill introduced by the right hon. Baronet the Member for Radnor (Sir G. C. Lewis), who pro

other and formed of similar material—
might be included in one district and
placed under the care of one surveyor,
who would be able to manage them bet-
ter in combination than they could be
managed in any other way. Under Acts for
local management there at present existed
about 697 districts formed for certain local
purposes. Regard might, under his Bill,
be had to the existing arrangement of these
districts, and surveyors might be appointed
accordingly. He had also inserted in the
Bill a clause giving the power to boroughs,
having a separate commission of the peace,
under certain circumstances, to take their
roads into their own hands, and appoint
their
own surveyors. He had done this in

order that those misunderstandings that | for the consideration of this measure before might otherwise arise between boroughs and it goes into Committee, I do not think it counties might be avoided. The main ob- would be convenient to enter at present ject of the measure was to get enlarged dis-into any discussion of its details. I merely tricts and skilled management, and not to mix up other objects with it; thus he would avoid that confusion which would be certain to result from an endeavour to carry out the innumerable suggestions which had been made for the improvement of the Highway Act itself. Any such attempt would inevitably lead to discussions that would extend over more than one Session. If the House gave him permission to read the Bill a second time, he thought when it came on for discussion in Committee-and he did not propose to take the Committee for three weeks-he would be able to show that if it passed into law, instead of their having 17,000 surveyors in the country, who could not manage the roads satisfactorily, they would have perhaps only 400 or 500 districts, in each of which they would have a surveyor, properly paid for his services, and who would be competent to put the high-ways under his charge into a fitting condition. In addition, they would have proper audits of surveyors' accounts and a correct account of the balances carried over from one year to another, which any Gentleman conversant with the management of highways knew was not the case at present. If this were effected he thought the House would admit that the ammendment of the Highway law would be much facilitated. If they had efficient district boards appointed by parishes, with the roads placed by those boards under district surveyors, he believed they would be able to accomplish all that was wished for by those who had for so long a time endeavoured to improve the present system. The hon and learned Gentleman concluded by moving the second reading of the Bill.

MR. BRISCOE said, that his constituents complained of the manner in which this Bill dealt with the rights of parishes; and, had not the hon. Gentleman agreed to postpone the Committee on the measure for three weeks, he should have felt it his duty to divide the House on the second reading.

SIR G. PECHELL thought, the powers at present possessed by highway surveyors were excessive, and suggested that restrictions should be imposed on them by this Bill.

SIR GEORGE LEWIS: As the hon. Gentleman proposes to allow three weeks

rise for the sake of saying that I entirely give my assent to the principle of his Bill. We have had a great many highway Bills introduced in successive Sessions into this House, all involving, in different forms, a union of parishes or townships into one district for the maintenance of the roads. That is the principle on which this measure is founded-a principle which has my hearty concurrence. I would only state my decided opinion that the argument which I believe has prevailed very generally in this House to prevent the success of previous bills of this kind, namely that the formation of a highway district, with a surveyor receiving a small stipend, would add to the expense of maintaining the highways, is based upon an entire delusion. Experience has shown that, wherever that system has been tried, expense has not increased but diminished, and that while the cost of roads as not been greater, they have been more efficiently maintained. The system of districts for the maintenance of high ways was adopted in the Bill brought in and carried by the noble Lord the Member for Pembrokeshire (Viscount Emlyn), and applicable to six counties of South Wales; and after a trial of five years in that part of the country, it has been proved, as I can bear witness, in the most decisive manner, that economy, and not increased expenditure, has resulted from its operation. I trust, therefore, that the hon. Gentleman will persist in his Bill, that the subject will receive full consideration in Committee, and that this Session may see some legislation consummated on this long-vexed question. I may add that, involving, as it does, a very large expendi ture, the highway rates levied in England and North Wales, exceding £1,000,000 per annum, this question is one which fairly demands the attentive consideration of the House.

MR. SLANEY approved the measure as excellent in principle, and calculated to promote economy combined with efficiency. Bill read 2o, and committed for Monday, 7th March.

EAST INDIA LOAN.

LORD STANLEY :-Sir, I have to entreat the patience and forbearance of the House while I lay before you a statement which, however important may be the facts

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O; that of 1855-6

; while the deficit

e just stated, was e, therefore, this reatbreak of the mutiny, etween income and ex en very nearly restored; must remind the House, outlay of £2,000,000 per rks of improvement. We consider what change has ed in the financial state of e disturbances of the last two he accounts for the year 1857-8 yet been received. They will arrive, and will be laid before House, probably in the month of May next. I have, however, an estimate for that year, 1857-8, which gives the gross revenue at £31,544,000 and the expenditure in India at £39,120,000, showing an estimated deficit in India, which we may reckon with sufficient accu racy at £7,600,000. But to that def ciency must be added an extra expenditure

deficit amounting in round numbers to, as

the estimate for the year 1857-8. I now proceed to the estimate for 1858-9, the

The revenue, as estimated

noticed of this deficit-and the same re- upon troops and stores in England, which to all the preceding years for some time fore, for the year 1857-8 a total estimated mark applies with but little modification nearly reaches £1,500,000. We have, there the general head of "Public Works" a sum nearly as possible, £9,000,000. This is Now, in India, the term It in"public works" is comprehensive. cludes public buildings; it includes roads; financial year which will close on the 30th it includes a great variety of items of ex- of April next. penditure, many of which yield no return in for that year, is £33,016,000, and the er direct form, but may be compared to that outlay which in England a landholder has to make upon his property. It is quite impossible to ascertain by any accurate analysis how much of the Indian expenditure on public works is an outlay in the strict sense of the word, and how much may be regarded as an investment. But, assuming on a rough estimate that credit may be taken for one-half as remunerative investments, we shall have for the year 1856-7 an apparent deficit of £179,000, but a real surplus-making the deduction I have stated of something less than £1,000,000. That state of things, compared with the accounts of the previous years, shows a considerable improvement. Of the ten years preceding the year 1856-7, beginning with 1846-7, the first three and the last three show a deficit, and only the intermediate four a surplus. If I do not make myself intelligible, I hope that hon. Gentlemen will ask for any explanation which may be needed. The deficit of the year 1853-4 was £2,100,000; that

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penditure, including home charges of al descriptions, is £45,629,000, making s deficit of £12,600,000. Add to that the deficit of the previous year, which was £9,000,000, and we have upon the tro years since the mutiny began a total def ciency amounting to £21,600,000. That however, does not constitute the entire amount, of loss which has been sustained by the rebellion; for the outlay upon pub lic works during those two years was only £3,000,000 instead of £4,000,000, as i should have been according to the average of previous similar periods. We have, there fore, £1,000,000 more diverted from an outlay partly remunerative to one wholly ut remunerative. The estimate of Indian es penditure for the year 1859-60 has not ye been received, and we have, therefore, only the comparatively small estimate for home charges, with which I shall deal more con veniently in a subsequent part of statement. In the calculations which have submitted to the House no account is taken of the compensation to be made for

S.

injury of private property in the can put forward any reasonable claim to be
There is, as many hon. spared, and recompensing all who can fairly
re aware, a commission sitting claim recompense, I anticipate that there
'nvestigate the claims which will remain in the hands of the Indian
on account of compensa- Government some-perhaps a considerable
ses. I have applied of-balance to meet the claims arising out
hen it is likely to re- of losses in the course of the mutiny.
possible, to accelerate
I have not as yet
The question is often
oncerned in Indian
country, "Upon
nd to deal with
'on?" I wish

14, 1859)

Lean.

ration of this measure bef , I do not think it at present

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I propose now, Sir, to examine, as briefly as I can, one or two of the principal items from which is derived the revenue of India. I need not tell the House that the chief source of income in India is the land revenue. In the return from which I have taken the figures that I am about to read, the land revenue is coupled with two other small taxes-the sayer and the abkarree, or spirit duty-and with some small subsidies from native States. I am unable to separate these items, but the deduction to be made on those accounts will be but small. The figures which I shall submit to the House will show that the land revenue, with these small items thrown in, constitutes nearly sixty per cent, or three-fifths, of the whole of the financial resources of India. That land revenue has grown with the growth of our territorial possessions. At the commencement of the present century it amounted to £7,330,000. In the year 1810 it rose to £13,000,000. It then appears to have remained stationary* until 1840, when it was £13,158,000. In 1850 it had risen to £17,395,000; and in 1856-7, the first year with which I am dealing, and that immediately preceding the mutiny, it had reached the amount of £19,080,000, being the largest amount which it has at any time realized. In 1857-8, the first year of the disturbances, the land revenue fell to £16,271,000; in 1858-9 it rose again to £18,392,000. Now, Sir, it must be observed of this item of revenue, that it is by its very nature susceptible of only a slow and gradual rate of increase. In those parts of India, as in Bengal, where a perpetual settlement exists, that is to say, where the landowner is guaranteed against being at any future time called upon to pay more to the State than he contributes at present, it is obvious that there can be no increase of revenue from this source, except in so far as new lands are brought into cultivation. The same state of things exists,

to that quesis, however, ny general se claims, until heir nature are better they are at present. The uity of the case is this, that you cannot, with any regard to justice, apply one rule to European claims and another to claims preferred by Natives. There are many Natives who have been engaged in the service, or who have taken the part of the Government, who have fought with us, and who have suffered loss by plunder in the same manner as Europeans have, and it is quite obvious that, whatever rule we lay down for dealing with these claims, no distinction can be drawn between the claims of Native sufferers and those of European residents. That is a circumstance, which, of course, increases enormously both the amount of these claims and the difficulty of dealing with them. I regret that I can offer no explanation upon this subject except in these general terms. Against these claims for compensation there will, however, have to be set a considerable amount which will be derived from the forfeiture of land and pensions by those who have been leaders in the insurrection. I am sure the House will feel that it would be most inexpedient and impolitic, even in our present financial position, to attempt to press these confiscations for the sake of revenue. An amnesty has been declared, and we are bound by the spirit as well as by the letter of that amnesty. All the mercy ought to be shown which is consistent with the strict demands of justice; and it must also be borne in mind that, even from the property which may be legitimately placed in our hands, a large portion will have to be de- not apparent, as, on the introduction of the Comducted to meet the just claims of our Na-pany's rupee, a lower rate of exchange was adopttive allies who have stood by us in the late ed in the Parliamentary accounts of the latter emergency. But, after sparing all who year.

There was, in fact, an increase; but it is

to which it refers-and I believe hardly | of 1854-5 was £1,700,000; that of 1855-6 any facts can be more important with refe was exactly £1,000,000; while the deficit rence to the interests both of India and of of 1856-7, as I have just stated, was England-and however it may be treated, £179,000. We have, therefore, this rewill, I fear, be somewhat long and tedious. sult-that, at the outbreak of the mutiny, Of this, at least, I can assure hon. Gentle- the equilibrium between income and exmen, that I have endeavoured, and shall penditure had been very nearly restored; endeavour, to compress what I have to say and that, as I must remind the House, within as narrow a compass as is consistent with an average outlay of £2,000,000 per with the necessities of clear and full expla- annum on works of improvement. We nation. now come to consider what change has been produced in the financial state of India by the disturbances of the last two years. The accounts for the year 1857-8 have not yet been received. They will shortly arrive, and will be laid before the House, probably in the month of May next. I have, however, an estimate for that year, 1857-8, which gives the gross revenue at £31,544,000 and the expenditure in India at £39,120,000, showing an estimated deficit in India, which we may reckon with sufficient accuracy at £7,600,000. But to that deficiency must be added an extra expenditure upon troops and stores in England, which nearly reaches £1,500,000. We have, therefore, for the year 1857-8 a total estimated deficit amounting in round numbers to, as nearly as possible, £9,000,000. This is the estimate for the year 1857-8. I now proceed to the estimate for 1858-9, the financial year which will close on the 30th of April next. The revenue, as estimated for that year, is £33,016,000, and the expenditure, including home charges of all descriptions, is £45,629,000, making a deficit of £12,600,000. Add to that the deficit of the previous year, which was £9,000,000, and we have upon the two years since the mutiny began a total deficiency amounting to £21,600,000. That, however, does not constitute the entire amount, of loss which has been sustained by the rebellion; for the outlay upon public works during those two years was only £3,000,000 instead of £4,000,000, as it should have been according to the average of previous similar periods. We have, therefore, £1,000,000 more diverted from an outlay partly remunerative to one wholly unremunerative. The estimate of Indian expenditure for the year 1859-60 has not yet been received, and we have, therefore, only the comparatively small estimate for home charges, with which I shall deal more conveniently in a subsequent part of my statement. In the calculations which I have submitted to the House no account is taken of the compensation to be made for

In the first instance, Sir, I propose to place before you an outline of the financial state of India during the last two years as compared with the years immediately preceding. The insurrection began, as we are all aware, in the month of May, 1857. At that time the financial year 1856-7 had just closed. What, then, was the condition of the finances of India at that date? Taking the exchange at 2s. to the rupee the revenue of 1856-7 was £33,303,000. The expenditure of the same year was £33,482,000; leaving a deficit of £179,000. But it must be noticed of this deficit-and the same remark applies with but little modification to all the preceding years for some time back - that there had been laid out under the general head of "Public Works" a sum of £2,350,000. Now, in India, the term "public works" is comprehensive. It includes public buildings; it includes roads; it includes a great variety of items of ex penditure, many of which yield no return in a direct form, but may be compared to that outlay which in England a landholder has to make upon his property. It is quite impossible to ascertain by any accurate analysis how much of the Indian expenditure on public works is an outlay in the strict sense of the word, and how much may be regarded as an investment. But, assuming on a rough estimate that credit may be taken for one-half as remunerative investments, we shall have for the year 1856-7 an apparent deficit of £179,000, but a real surplus-making the deduction I have stated of something less than £1,000,000. That state of things, compared with the accounts of the previous years, shows a considerable improvement. Of the ten years preceding the year 1856-7, beginning with 1846-7, the first three and the last three show a deficit, and only the intermediate four a surplus. If I do not make myself intelligible, I hope that hon. Gentlemen will ask for any explanation which may be needed. The deficit of the year 1853-4 was £2,100,000; that

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