expedient of additional taxation in the middle of the year. He decided, after careful inquiry, that the circumstances demanded the latter course. Had the threatened deficit been preceded by a period of prosperity and financial accuracy, he would not have deemed so severe a policy needful. But the public expenditure had, during three consecutive years, largely exceeded the revenue, and Lord Mayo found that solvency could only be secured, in the first place, by immediate and most stringent measures; in the second place, by a permanent improvement in the finances to the extent of three millions sterling a year. I mean, of course, the aggregate improvement derived from the twofold sources of reduced expenditure and increased taxation.
For these and other cogent reasons. Lord Mayo determined to make it clear by measures of unmistakable vigour that his Government was resolved to place the finances upon a permanently sound basis. He raised the income tax from 1 to 2½ per cent, during the second half of the financial year, and enhanced the salt duty in Madras and Bombay. The former measure was estimated to add £320,000 and the latter £180,000 to the revenue of the year; total, £500,000.
By means of this half-million of increased taxation, and the £1,150,000 of reduced expenditure, Lord Mayo hoped to cover the estimated deficit of the current year, namely, £1,650,000. He thus explained his views to the Secretary of State.
'While the accumulated deficits of the three years
