BUDGET BY ASSIGNMENTS 129
Summing up the results of the period, the Government of India, it must be said, realized full share of the benefits it had contrived to obtain by the annual relief of £330,801, though not without causing an insufficiency, however small, in the Provincial finance. But notwithstanding the burden thrown on the Provinces their position as disclosed by the results cannot by any means be called unhappy.
One unwelcome feature marred the inauguration of Provincial Finance. That feature consisted in the large increase in the levy of rates and cesses for purposes of local improvement.
Receipts from New Resources of Income and Cesses enhanced since 1870
| Col1 | 1870-1 | 1871-2 | 1872-3 | 1973-4 | 1874-5 | 1875-6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oudh— Ord. cesses on : Land Revenue ... Margin Fund ... Local rate ... Total ... Assam— Ord. cess on land: Rev. Old Fund ... New Fund ... Total ... Bengal— Road Cess Fund: ... N. W. Provinces ... Punjab ... Madras—Road Cess ... Madras—Tolls Cess ... Grand Total ... | £ 38,813 7,363 ... | £ 29,018 3,461 36,810 | £ 34,354 ... 42,535 | £ 34,259 ... 42,883 | £ 33,208 ... 41,097 | £ 33,146 ... 41,461 |
| 46,176 6,506 ... | 69,289 4,333 ... | 76,889 711 ... | 77,142 1,916 ... | 74,305 17,149 15,267 | 74,607 ... 16,300 | |
| 6,506 ... 168,532 58,330 212,813 ... | 4,333 201,548 214,441 234,567 ... | 711 22,917 216,818 216,194 377,031 12,144 | 1,916 59,039 213,672 208,063 368,031 12,234 | 32,416 120,128 215,968 211,862 371,311 14,860 | 16,300 158,516 150,619 193,573 369,325 26,531 | |
| 492,357 | 724,178 | 922,704 | 940,333 | 1,040,850 | 980,545 |
*Balances recovered from Bengal on account of Road and Government Estates Improvement Fund. For the new resources of income and cesses given above, refer to Papers, etc., on the extension of the Financial Powers of the Local Governments, p. 494. This shows an increase in 1875-6 over 1870-1 of £488,188, chiefly by raising the cesses in the North-West Provinces, the Punjab and the Madras Presidency to 6 ¼ per cent. on Land Revenue in the two last mentioned, to about 5 per cent, in the North-Western Provinces (after deducting the rural police charge); by a road cess in Bengal and by granting an assignment