PART II
PROVINCIAL FINANCE : ITS DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER IV
BUDGET BY ASSIGNMENTS
1871-72 TO 1876-77
The origins which led to the formulation of the scheme of Provincial Budget having been presented in the foregoing part of this study, we may now proceed to examine the constitution of the scheme as it was introduced and the changes which it underwent from time to time.
With his sureness of instinct Lord Mayo traced the financial deficits and surprises to the inefficiency of the Imperial and the irresponsibility of the Provincial Governments, and was led to the conclusion that the inauguration of Provincial Budgets was the only remedy equal to the malady. But it must be recalled that the situation was yet dominated by Imperialistic considerations, and while every one in charge of the affairs was desirous, even anxious, to ease the situation by some means or other, few were willing to do so at the cost of Imperial control. Even Lord Mayo was not without his Imperialistic leanings. But the force of the baffling circumstances compelled him to break through the hitherto prevailing spirit of hesitation and indecision, although the steps he took in determining the constitution of the Provincial Budget were slow and cautious.
The scheme which actually came to be introduced from the financial year 1871-2 was first adumbrated in a confidential circular of the Home Department of the Government of India, dated February 21, 1870. Enlarging upon the policy of retrenchment by which the road grant for 1869-70 fixed in the beginning at £ 1,236,000 came to be reduced at the close of the year to £1,021,178 and that estimated for 1870-1 at £ 1,000,000 came to be finally settled at £ 784,839 supplemented by £ 29,110 for Miscellaneous Public Improvements, the circular gave the Provincial Governments
“to understand that the diminution that has been made in the Imperial grant for communications and roads is not a temporary diminution caused by present financial pressure. It is the result