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Wars in South Africa and China (Cost and Expenditure) [150]:

The following is the RETURN of ESTIMATED COST of WARS IN SOUTH AFRICA and CHINA, showing how the EXPENDITURE is to be met:

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* Difference between Fixed Debt Charge of £23,000,000 and amount actually issued for service of Debt in 1900-1

£

4,547,000

Ditto.

estimate for 1901-2

4,640,000

9,187,000

The additional taxation which was imposed in 1900-1 was estimated to produce in the first

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12,252,000

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The further additional taxation imposed in 1901-2 is estimated to produce.

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But the Revenue on the basis of taxation of 1899-1900 would have been sufficient £ to meet ordinary expenditure in 1900-1 by

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1,386,000

And in 1901-2 by

9,269,000

10,655,000

Leaving available for war expenditure out of the estimated proceeds of the additional taxation

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26,749,000

FORCES IN SOUTH AFRICA. (See SOUTH AFRICA: HISTORY of War.)

FUGITIVE CRIMINALS.

Convention (Extradition) between the United Kingdom and the United States [Cd. 598].-The following Convention was signed at Washington, December 13, 1900. (Ratifications exchanged at Washington, April 22, 1901.):

Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland and the President of the United States of America, being desirous of enlarging the list of crimes on account of which extradition may be granted under the Convention concluded between Her Britannic Majesty and the United States on the 12th July, 1889, with a view to the better administration of justice and the prevention of crime in their respective territories and jurisdictions, have resolved to conclude a Supplementary Convention for this purpose, and have appointed as their Plenipotentiaries, to wit:

Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, His Excellency the Right Honourable Lord Pauncefote, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, and Her Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United States; and

The President of the United States, the Honourable John Hay, Secretary of State of the United States;

Who, after having communicated to each other their respective full powers, which were found to be in due and proper form, have agreed to and concluded the following Articles :

Article I.-The following crimes are added to the list of crimes numbered 1 to 10 in the first Article of the said Convention of July 12, 1889, on account of which extradition may be granted, that is to say :

11. Obtaining money, valuable securities, or other property by false pretences. 12. Wilful and unlawful destruction or obstruction of railroads which endangers human life. 13. Procuring abortion.

Article II.-The present Convention shall be considered as an integral part of the said Extradition Convention of July 12, 1889, and the first Article of the lastmentioned Convention shall be read as if the list of crimes therein contained had originally comprised the additional crimes specified, and numbered 11 to 13 in the first Article of the present Convention.

The present Convention shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged either at London or Washington as soon as possible.

It shall come into force ten days after

its publication, in conformity with the laws of the High Contracting Parties, and it shall continue and terminate in the same manner as the said Convention of July 12, 1889.

In testimony whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Convention in duplicate, and have thereunto affixed their seals. Done at Washington, this 13th day of December, 1900. (L.S.) PAUNCEFOTE. (L.S.) JOHN HAY.

GERMAN COLONIES

State Subsidies to [549].-A Report by Mr. Acton, Second Secretary to His Majesty's Embassy at Berlin, reviews the financial condition of the German Colonies -German East Africa, Camaroo, Togo, South West Africa, German New Guinea, Carolines, Samoa and Kiao-chao. The broad result is thus stated:

The estimated receipts and expenditure for the German Protectorates for the financial year 1901 are balanced at £2,037,530, the corresponding figures for the current year being £1,637,235 10s. The provisions for German Samoa for the year 1900 were included in a supplementary estimate. The amount asked for from the Imperial Treasury for contributing towards the cost of the colonies is put at £1,673,230, or £309,987 more than the total of State grants for the previous year. In the estimates for New Guinea and the Carolines alone the State subsidies fall below those asked for in 1900.

Estimates for 1901. [No. 549].-Mr. Acton, Second Secretary in His Majesty's Embassy at Berlin, in a Report to the Foreign Office based on Papers laid before the Reichstag, showed that the German Colonial Estimates for 1901, were as follows:

German East Africa, £617,450; Cameroons, £189,440; Togo, £72,400; SouthWest Africa, £536,380; New Guinea, £40,485; Carolines, &c., £15,575; Samoa, £13,300; Kiautschou, £552,500. Total, £2,037,530.

This is an increase of £387,694 on the figures for 1900. The State Grants in Aid for 1901 stand thus:

German East Africa, £455,850; Cameroons, £109,640; Togo, £44,200; SouthWest Africa, £468,930; New Guinea, £35,485; Carolines, &c.; £14,325; Samoa, £7,300; Kiautschou, £537,500. Total, £1,673,230.

Or £309,987 more than in 1900. The following extract relating to Samoa should be printed here :

The estimates for German Samoa for 1901 are balanced at £13,300, as against £12,600 for the current year, the State grant-in-aid being fixed at £7,300, or £4,700 more than the grant for 1900. The increase in the Imperial subsidy is due to the fact, that: (1) The estimated receipts from direct taxes and customs show a diminution of £4,000 on those estimated for the current year, the Administration having for the present abandoned the attempt to levy taxes on the natives; (2) the recurring expenditure shows an excess on that for the current year of £700, the Governor's staff having been increased; the support of the German school devolving upon the Protectorate; and the native chief at the head of the autonomous government having been assigned a salary of £150. failure of the German Administration to draw contributions from the native population has disappointed colonial circles in Germany, and concern is expressed lest discontent should increase among the Europeans at having to bear the entire burden of taxation.

The

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On the Results of the Famine the Report says:

During the past financial year this great Indian Empire has been suffering from an appalling calamity, quite unprecedented, I think, in the recent history of any country on the globe's surface. Not only have we been the victims of a famine of extraordinary severity, the inevitable outcome of the early cessation of the rains in the year 1899, but to the consternation of all men, responsible for, or interested in, the welfare of the millions of agricultural population, the coming of the periodical rains, required to refresh the thirsty soil and restore the fecundity of mother-earth, was so delayed last season, that the trials of the long-suffering populations were prolonged in the most distressing and unexpected manner. But this was not all. In addition to the calamity of famine, the plague pestilence is still with us, and the terrible list of its victims is daily to be counted in the official returns from the plague-stricken districts. And this, too, weighs heavily on the resources of the country.

The Government of India has followed with the keenest anxiety the course and results of these awful afflictions, so entirely beyond its control, and it has recognized with profound admiration the splendid spirit with which millions of sufferers have faced the calamities from which they were powerless to escape.

The suffering condition of our fellowsubjects has been brought home to us, in the most incisive manner, through the continued and heart-rending appeals for assistance which have reached the Government of India. It is however my duty, and a happy duty, to state that, under the instructions of the Secretary of State and the Government of India, all such appeals have been considered by the Departments concerned, in a most liberal spirit, and no single appeal examined in that spirit by the competent authorities, has remained unsatisfied. The national purse and national credit have been freely placed at the disposal of all whose genuine distress might, it was hoped, be relieved by the prompt expenditure of

money.

Such has been the spirit guiding our action, and it now falls to my duty to state the cost of our gigantic undertaking.

To count it with any approximation to accuracy is impossible, for it is not the direct expenditure of money which alone is involved. There has been an expenditure of life, health and energy of the numerous Government servants, both European and native, who have nobly done their duty in facing the storm; in addition to the direct cost, of gratuitous famine relief and relief works, of remissions of taxation, of agricultural loans, of loans to assist afflicted Native States,

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This is an appalling total, but the calamity was also appalling. And the tale is not yet told. Expenditure will continue in the coming year. Already we have been called upon to provide approximately a crore for direct famine expenditure in the coming year, chiefly in Bombay, and we have been obliged to allot 164 lakhs as grants-in-aid to Provincial revenues, to restore financial equilibrium, thrown out of balance by famine and plague requirements. It has been a serious and responsible task to meet all these heavy demands, but, thanks to the recuperative power of the country, directly due to the frugal habits and industry of the people, the task has been accomplished, and the Government of India can say with no inconsiderable satisfaction, that, with the aid of the ruled, the Rulers have done their duty, and the results have been such as to leave a memorable record in the history of mankind.

On the subject of Countervailing Duties the Report says:—

The countervailing duties on bountyfed sugar came into practical effect in May, 1899, and consequently we have not yet had two years' experience of their working. Two years is too short a period to permit of the formation of a definite opinion as to the effect of these duties, and considering also the abnormal condi tion of plague and famine which have prevailed during the whole time, I think it would be very premature to draw definite

conclusions from the statistics of recent imports of sugar.

The general question of the sugar trade and industry is, however, one of such wide-spread interest, that it may be useful to invite attention to the figures showing the imports of sugar into India, during the last four years, classified according to the countries of origin.

I may call attention to the fact that the United Kingdom, and the interested British Colonies, the Straits Settlements, Hong Kong, and Mauritius, appear to have had their full proportionate share in the remarkable increase of the importation into India, during the expiring financial year. It is also interesting to note that the greatest relative advance in the supply of sugar has been made by Germany, although that country is far from having recovered the predominant position which she occupied at the beginning of the period under review. Among foreign countries Austria-Hungary still keeps the lead, as an exporter of sugar to India, but does not come within measurable distance of Mauritius.

I may mention that the net receipts from the countervailing duties amounted to Rs. 8,17,555 in the eleven months of the last financial year, during which the extra duties were in force, and to Rs. 15,29,552 during the first ten months of the current financial year. We may reasonably hope to encash 17 or 18 lakhs from this source before the close of this year, and it is perhaps not an unsatisfactory reflection that this addition to our revenue has been realised at the expense of the European tax-payers, taxed by their respective Governments to provide the bounties which enable foreign sugar refiners to sell their sugar in India, at prices below prime cost.

The fact is that the Government of India has added 17 lakhs to its resources by taking for Revenue purposes the approximate difference between cost price and the artificially maintained selling price of bounty-fed imported sugars, whilst the Indian consumer pays no more for his sugar than he would have to pay if the bounty system were abolished. On this question I may point out that the figures of outturn show conclusively that there has been no hesitation on the part of the Government to take every possible measure to provide all the necessary circulating medium which current demand has indicated as required.

Summing up the general situation the Reporter says:—

It has been shown that our economic situation, on which our financial situation depends, is, notwithstanding checks in certain directions where it has been prejudicially affected by known causes, on the whole good; that, wherever not prejudiced by such special, and it may be anticipated, temporary difficulties, it is

progressive, and that the evidences of general recuperative power are many and satisfactory.

At the same time, in a country where the returns of Revenue depend so largely upon meteorological conditions impossible to foresee or to control, it behoves us to frame our Estimates with great caution. This we have done, and still our Estimates of Revenue Receipts show an increase of over £2,000,000 above those framed by my predecessor for the closing financial year, and if we remove from the Account the purely fortuitous receipt of, approximately, £3,000,000 on account of Mint operations, they are slightly in excess of the realisations of 1900-01.

It is indeed fortunate that we are able to present such satisfactory figures, for, as already stated, we are not yet free from the charges and consequences of famine.

It has been our first care to afford relief from the financial prostration affecting so many Provinces, where not only necessary Balances have been exhausted, but where also stern need for the strictest economy has most unduly curtailed expenditure necessary to meet many primary needs of society, such as public works, education, medical requirements, and administrative improvements. We have been as liberal in this direction as prudence permitted, and have made grants-in-aid to Provincial Revenues amounting in the aggregate to 164 lakhs.

In addition to this abnormal charge on our Revenues, we must devote one crore of rupees from the Famine Insurance Grant to direct famine expenditure in the still afflicted districts, and to this again, as a consequence of the lessons of the South African War, is added a large sum for Army Services, increasing the estimated charge on this account by £876,500 above the sum sanctioned for 1900-01.

These large extraordinary charges, amounting together to over £2,600,000, are, however, more than balanced by an estimated reduction, as compared with last year, of £3,245,000 in general famine expenditure, and by the exercise of strict economy where permissible, we are finally able to show a surplus of £690,900 to be carried forward to Capital Account, and to reduce by so much the amount which we shall be obliged to borrow for railway construction and irrigation works, on the prosecution of which we are so largely dependent both for general economic progress and for protection from the direct and indirect effects of recurring famine.

In conclusion I may say that the Estimates for 1901-02 are of good promise, and that, unless our reasonable anticipations are falsified by an unprecedented recurrence of serious disasters, we are entitled to look forward with some confidence to the future, and to hope for the early dawn of a period of considerable prosperity.

In the Estimates for 1901-02 the following grants-in-aid are provided: - Central Provinces, Rs. 26,89,000; Assam, Rs. 2,00,000; Punjab, Rs. 12,40,000; Madras, Rs. 31,14,000; Bombay, Rs. 91,00,000. Subjoined is a short account of the financial condition of each Province, from which the reasons for making the grant will be apparent :

Central Provinces. This small Province has been severely tried during the whole of the period under review, having suffered from two very serious famines almost in succession, the first of which had been preceded by three or four distinctly unfavourable seasons. The estimates of expenditure next year after elimination of the special expenditure of 6 lakhs mentioned in paragraph 214, are all moderate, and could not be further restricted. The grant-in-aid required to avoid & minus closing balance was Rs. 16,64,000; this has been increased to Rs. 26,89,000, which, after restoring the Provincial closing balance to the prescribed minimum of 8 lakhs, admitted of an increase of Rs. 2,25,000 to the grant proposed by the Chief Commissioner under 45.-Civil Works, raising that grant to Rs. 19,45,000, as compared with Rs. 15,00,000, the amount taken for the head in the Settlement in 1897. The Revenues, without the special grants-inaid, have every year been below the standard of 1897, and the expenditure has been restricted so as to prevent its increasing above that standard at anything like the normal rate of increase.

Burma.-The Provincial Revenues of Burma are in a most prosperous condition. The Revenues have increased very much above the standard of 1897, and the Lieutenant-Governor is in the fortunate position of finding difficulty in usefully spending all the funds at his disposal. The Settlement estimate for 45.-Civil Works was Rs. 53,47,000; the grant for 1901-02 is Rs. 88,00,000. There is no question of this Province requiring aid from Imperial Revenues.

Assam.-The large cost of repairing the damages caused by the earthquake constitutes the sole reason for Assam requiring aid from Imperial Revenues. The Provincial Revenues show a fairly satisfactory increase over the standard of 1897, and similar increases of expenditure have been possible.

The estimates, as submitted by the Chief Commissioner, resulted in a closing balance slightly above the prescribed minimum of 5 lakhs; but to secure that result he had restricted the grant for Civil Works 2 lakhs below what he considered to be required for the proper continuance of the work of repairing earthquake damages. A grant-in-aid of Rs. 2,00,000 was made, and the grant under 45.-Civil Works was increased by Rs. 2,50,000 to Rs. 16,05,000, as compared

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