INDIAN RETRENCHMENT.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17633, 9 December 1922, Page 13

INDIAN RETRENCHMENT.

LORD INCHCAPE'S MISSION. THE RAPACIOUS TAX-COLLECTOR. (rBOM OPB own correspondent.) LONDON, October 19. The annual meeting of the P. and O. Company was held early bocauso Inclicape, the chairman, was sailing immediately for India, whither he goes as Chairman of the Indian Retrenchment Committee. This Committee, to sit in Delhi, is modelled on tne Geddo.s Committee, of which Lord Inoiiape was an influential member. Its terms of reference aro very similar, and it is compo-H ed entirely of men of largo business experience. Lord Inchcape's colleagues are Sii T. S. Catto (of Messrs Yule and Catto); Sir It. Nath Mukerjeo, the pioneer among Bengalis in industrial development on modern lines; Sir A. Murray (of Messrs Jaruine, Skinner, and Co.); Mr D. M. Dalai, now of tho Secretary of States Council, and the most eminent of living Parseo financiers; and Mr Purshomadas Thakurdas, a prominent Bombay merchant.

The work before the Committee 19 to suggest economies in Administration. The deficits of the last four Budgets of the Government of India liav» amounted to lis. 90 crores (£(50,000,0OOj. Though taxation has boon increased, import duties have reached protective heights. The deficit 'for the present year not covered by now taxution is now estimated-—subject, however, to the effect of any marked revival of trade—at lis. 10' cron.t» The deficits of the four years have been moro than equal in the aggregate to the total net revenue of Government in normal pre-war years. The actual position is much worse than these .figures indicate. The Provincial Governments are responsible for about (SO per cent, of the non-railitary btato expenditure of British India, mid each one of them is confronted with large uncovered deficits. It follows that the held of retrenchment on civil expenditure under the government of India is very restricted. One of th© outstanding obstacles to great reductions on the civil side is that post-war increases are largely attributable to necessary substantial increments in the pay of the rank and hie of public servants to meet the increased cost of living following the war. It is recognised that it is in tho fiold of Army expenditure that the most scope may be found for substantial curtailments. In the current year military services account for Us. 07J crores (£45,066,6(56) of the total estimated central expenditure of lis. Ml'J crores (£96,000,000) charged to revenue. Among the factors to bo considered in this connexion are the great increases in Army headquarters' staffs resulting from war octivities, and the euitab.e proportion between British and Indian troops, seeing that the cost of a British infantry soldier in India is estimated to be about five times more than that of an Indian comrade in arms. On these - and other questions much spade work has been done for the Comi mittee, and Lord luchcape hopes that report will be ready in time to permit of his return to this country by the middle of February. That it should be ready for application of economies to the 1923-24 Budget is of vital importance.

At a farewell dinner. Lord Inchcape remarked: "I don't like tho job, bub pressed by the Secretary of State and, tho Viceroy I havo uncf rtaken it andwill do what I oan. I have two men going out with me—Mr Howard and Afit MiJne. If 1 may judge by the assist' ance they have already rendered to mo' in the last two months in preparing the ground for our work in India, I am. not without hoptf that with their help my colleagues and I on tho Retrenchment Committee will bo able to produce a report which will be acceptable to his Excellency tho Viceroy, the Government, and the people of India, and* which may enable our great Indian Empire to carry on till it gets back to ■sound economic conditions, which have •been entirely submerged by tho war. I trust, too, our labours may result in • some reduction in tho present rapacious demands of tho tax-collector." •'The task is not exclusively financial. It goes to tl»e roots of our present Indian difficulties, and though it is undoubtedly true that Indian unrest is due in part to economic causes," "Tha Times"' says, "it is not leea true that the vacillations of Government policy have contributed in their torn to tho financial difficulties which now hamper tho administration of India. Tho process of change that affects in a lmnarcd different ways all ranks of the Admirr;*tration and all classes of tho population is reflected in the figures of tho Indian Budget. This years hoavy deficit oB £22,000.000 cannot bo covered by taxation, which has a'ready reached the extreme limit possible in tho prcsont condition of India. It can be reduced only by economy, and the debate obi expenditure, whichi is pursued in tho Centra] and Provincial Legiclative Assemblies with an ardour lrconceivable in our present British Parliament, inevitably brings into tho foreground all tho burning political question* that vox India to-day." The matter of tho Indianisation of the Army will bo considered as well as tho relationship between British and Indian officials in tho Civil Strvice, tha organisation of defence, the effectiveness of the new institutions established by the Reforms—and a score of other vital questions must necessari'y ccrao within the scope of any broad discussion on Indian retrenchment. "The Times" comments: "Lord Inchcape'smisaiow 13 hardly less important, then, in its political t:ian in its financial I :ispect. It remains to be seer, whether lii 3 Committee will* find its If in a position to recommend any steeping reductions of expenditure.* It may be p ■*- sible to effect certain readju&uneuts in ! 'Departmental work, to pri vent overlapping, to clear away hero i.nrl there an obsolete institution. It if, h-<r>lly probable, however, that much can b-s fained by petty economies i;; the Civil erVioe, and, indeed, in eomo direction*, as in the caso of the Indian efficiency demands a iudieiour, :w.r. a.w in expenditure. In the Army there i'< good reason to believe that the f>t-.ff<» might easily be reduced to tie d-.reet benefit of the Seivice. Ti>i exp< nature of money on a. throng of umi ce.t6ary Staff officers while young men aro eent to risk their lives at tho ff.ritr-.-r in obsolete and ill-equipped a<-ror»l3Ti(vi is just the kind of abuse that rcv-ii"* a sharp and immediate remedy. Economies can undoubtedly be effected, nr.-L their total 6um may be cciifiderablc. Apart, however, from any financial results, it may bo o,n..d<-ni!y expected that Lord Inchcaj-e's Committee last bring clarity int-> iii»> confusion of tho present Indian situ.ution, and will enable the ch.//:\:*, ■•? this country to regard it in its tm-i perspective. Lord Inclxapc ha* a sound and sure judgment, and tii'i rocommendations will carry gre;:t wcght. But if his now effort inthe public , rvioe is to achieve its due ro-ult he mu- » be consistently supported by the (:«v- - ho]>e that one result <rf that mission will be to convince th« Government of tho necessity of returning to the path of true wisdom in dealwith tin Bast."