of Russia's collapse in the Russo-Japanese War and the conclusion of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, Your Lordship observed:

Recent events may at first sight appear to justify much of what the Hon'ble Mr. Gokhale has said. Russia's reverses in the Far East and our alliance with Japan undoubtedly, at the present moment, minimise the dangers of our Indian frontier; but I am afraid I cannot follow the Hon'ble Mr. Gokhale in his conclusion that these dangers have disappeared for ever. He has told us that the tide of European aggression in China has been rolled back for good, that the power of Russia has been broken and that her prestige in Asia has gone. I am afraid these are mere assumptions which I can hardly accept. I am afraid I feel much more impelled to consider what effect Russian reverses may have on the pride of a high spirited military race and I wonder in how long or in bow short a time she may feel confident of recovering her lost prestige.

Well, this time it is an agreement with Russia herself that has been concluded and now at any rate there is no justification for regarding Russian aggression on the North-West frontier as anything else than a mere remote possibility. But now I fear another ground is being taken, namely, that in view of the unrest prevailing in the country and the tendencies of thought and utterance among a section of the people, it is not desirable to touch the military expenditure of India. My Lord, all I can say is that such a view of the situation is most unjust to the vast bulk of the tax-paying community in the country. No doubt it is the case all over the world that when military charges have been once allowed to grow, it is extremely hard to get them reduced again. In India, in addition to this general difficulty, there are special difficulties connected with the exceptional nature of the situation. But the general satisfaction that will result from a reduction of our overgrown military expenditure is an important consideration. On the other hand, the retention of the present level of charges, in spite of the Anglo-Russian Agreement will probably tend to strengthen those very tendencies which are alleged to stand in the way of a diminution of the country's burdens.

There is one more point that I would like to urge about our financial administration before I close. I think it is necessary that a larger portion of our revenues than

at present should be devoted to objects on which the moral and material well-being of the mass of our people ultimately depends. The expenditure on the Army, the Police and similar services may be necessary, but it is a necessary evil, and consistently with the maintenance of a proper standard of efficiency, it must be kept down as far as possible. On the other hand, no State, especially in these days, can expend too much on an object like education. And here, my Lord, I regret to say that the Government is not doing its duty by the people of India. Everywhere else throughout the world the State now accepts it as a sacred obligation resting on it to provide for the free and compulsory education of its children. The Gaekwar of Baroda has recently adopted measures to make the provision for his subjects. What every civilised Government provides for its people, what the Gaekwar is providing in his State, the Government of India must surely provide for the people of British territories. There is no escape from so obvious a duty and every day's delay is a wrong to the people. We sometimes hear it said that it will be impossible to find money for so vast an undertaking. My Lord, it is not true. The money is there for whatever developments may take place immediately and it can be found without difficulty as we go along, if the burden is distributed over a number of years and the task taken in hand in a resolute spirit. The Hon'ble Mr. Baker makes an interesting observation in one of the paragraphs dealing with famine, which throws a flood of light on this point. He says that the loss to the exchequer of the Government of India-apart from the losses of the Provincial Governments-from this year's famine has been estimated at 3 crores during the year about to close and at 3 crores in the coming year. As there has been a small surplus in the accounts of the Government of India this year and as the Hon'ble Member has budgeted for another surplus for the coming year, his estimate should carry conviction to the most sceptical mind. My Lord, I repeat, the money is there or can be found without difficulty. Only the will has to be there and then we shall not be found merely discussing the difficulties of the problem. Then there is the question of technical and

industrial education. Half a million sterling for initial equipment and about five lakhs a year for maintenance charges should give the country an Institute of Technology, almost fit to be included among the great institutions of the world. And the expenditure will return tenfold to the State not only in the advance of technical and industrial education in the country, but also in the appreciation and enthusiasm of the people. I have already spoken of the needs of sanitation. Lastly there is the vast problem of agricultural indebtedness. Here, except perhaps for initial experiments, the money for any scheme of relief that may be adopted-if one ever is adopted-will have to be out of loan funds, and there is ample margin for borrowing for such a purpose, as our Ordinary Debt now stands at only about 37 million sterling.

My Lord, we are passing through very anxious times. How we shall emerge from this crisis, when it is over, is a question that is occupying all earnest minds in the country to-day, almost to the exclusion of any other question. There is much in our present situation that is naturally galling to proud and sensitive spirits, and young men, fresh from their books, are coming forward on every side to ask why things need be as they are. As yet they have not permitted themselves to imagine that their interests do not lie on the side of order. But, sooner or later, mere order is bound to appear irksome to those who zealously cultivate the belief that there is no chance of better days for their country as long as existing arrangements continue. They will, no doubt, discover before long the limitations of their position. They may even come to recognise that life is not always like writing on a clean slate, and that, in the peculiar circumstances of India, they must range themselves, in spite of the humiliations of the situation, in their own best interests, on the side of order, for without its unquestioned continuance no real progress for their country is possible. My Lord, many things have happened during the last three years which have had the effect of swelling the ranks of these men. Even the feeling of love and reverence, with which, as a

great teacher, the philosopher-statesman at the India Office was regarded by successive generations of educated Indians and which was really an asset of value to British rule when he took charge, has helped to add to the difficulties of the situation. That feeling has given way to a sense of irritation and disappointment, because Mr. Morley has on occasions used language which has wounded and has sanctioned measures which have bewildered and amazed. And though those among us, who have not made sufficient allowances for Mr. Morley's difficulties, will in the end regret the harsh things they have said of him, he certainly for the time has lost the power of arresting the rapid decline of my countrymen's faith in England's mission in this country. My Lord, the Government will no doubt put down-indeed, it must put downall disorder with a firm hand. But what the situation really requires is not the policeman's baton or the soldier's bayonet, but the statesman's insight, wisdom and courage. The people must be enabled to feel that their interests are, if not the only consideration, at any rate the main consideration that weighs with the Government, and this can only be brought about by a radical change in the spirit of the administration. Whatever reforms are taken in hand let them be dealt with frankly and generously. And, my Lord, let not the words 'too late' be written on every one of them. For while the Government stands considering― hesitating, receding, debating within itself to grant or not to grant, that is the question'-opportunities rush past it which can never be recalled. And the moving finger writes and having writ, moves on!

BUDGET SPEECH, 1909.

[The following speech was delivered in the Imperial Legislative Council on the 29th March 1909 on the Financial Statement for 1909-10 presented by the Hon. Sir Guy Fleetwood Wilson. Lord Minto was in the chair. This was the last year of the old order, under which the Budget debate was the one occasion in the year available to Non-official Members to bring to the notice of the Government questions connected with the general administration of the country.]

My Lord, the Hon'ble Member is entitled to the fullest sympathy of this Council and of the country in the difficult task with which he finds himself confronted at the very commencement of his tenure of office as Finance Minister of India. After a succession of surpluses, extending over ten consecutive years, we have come, suddenly and almost without warning, to a year of a heavy deficit, and this abrupt change is accompanied by an uncertainty about the future, which aggravates the anxieties of the situation. It is true the Hon'ble Member estimates, on the assumption of a normal season, a revenue for next year fully equal to its requirements, and he even budgets for a small surplus. But reading between the lines of his statement, one cannot help feeling that he regards the prospect before him with considerable uneasiness. The Hon'ble Member bases his figures of revenue on a normal season, though such estimating is, in his opinion, ' largely a gamble in rain.' The grave depression in trade, which has so seriously reduced our railway receipts during the current year, and which, as the Hon'ble Member says, is not local or peculiar to India, but is, one of those great reactions which periodically affect the whole civilised world,' has not yet passed away, and yet the Hon'ble Member takes for railway earnings a figure 23 millions above that of the current year, thus placing our railway activity during next year where it would have been in 1908-1909, if conditions had been normal, with a small