COURT'S DRAFT, No. 128. OBSERVATIONS ON THE COURT'S DRAFT, Additional expense of the proposed arrangement, viz. Addition of the allowances of the chief secretary per annum Ditto to the secretary to the secret, poli 200 tical, and foreign department 32,000 Ditto to the secretary to the public 26,000 58,200 40,188 18,012, or 2,2511. The college. Para. 69. Excess in the Durbar charges, being in the year 1802-3, 12,00,000 rupees, or 1,59,000l. beyond the amount in 1797-8, principally owing to costly and useless embassies. Para. 79th Total difference of ultimate expense per annum 200. This arrangement was regularly communicated to the court of directors; who, in their general letter in the public department, dated 24th March, 1801, paragraph 98, signified their approbation of it in the following terms: "In your dispatch, in the public department of the 25th January, 1800, we are referred to the minute of the. governor-general, recorded on your proceedings of the 29th October preceding, respecting a new arrangement which you have adopted for the conduct of the public business in the office of secretary to your government; as this arrangement has professedly in view the important object of making an adequate and permanent provision for the transaction of the numerous details necessarily involved in the general government of India, with ability and dispatch (and which details must evidently have greatly increased since the recent extension of our dominions, in consequence of the late brilliant termination of the war in Mysore,) we have been induced to sauction it with our approbation: especially as the augmentation of expense occasioned thereby, will be nearly provided for by the proposed annexation of the office of civil auditor to the office of deputyaccountant-general, and by other economical arrange ments." 201. This question has already been discussed in the 120th paragraph of these notes. 202. The Durbar charges are constantly fluctuating, according to the nature of the political relations of the government in India. The Durbar charges are princi pally affected by political missions, and the mission to Persia of course contributed to increase the Durbar expenses of 1802-3. It would be difficult to determine whether embassies are useless," without knowing the particular missions to which the court advert. With regard to the mission to Persia, this is the first time that this embassy has been declared to be useless. The resolution to send a mission to Persia was communicated to the secret committee as early as the month of September, 1799: that mission was directed to the accomplishment COURT'S DRAFT, OBSERVATIONS ON THE COURT'S DRAFT, No. 128. complishment of various objects of an important nature to the permanent interests of the company. Its immediate objects were to ascertain the attention and power of Zemaun Shah and the king of Persia, to restrain Zemaun Shah from the invasion of Hindostan, which he then menaced, to conclude a commercial treaty with the king of Persia, and to engage the court of Persia event. ually to act with vigour and decision either against Ze maun Shah, or the French, if the latter should attempt to penetrate to India through any part of the Persian territories. The detailed instructions to captain Malcolm were communicated to the secret committee on the 25th of January, 1800, and have never been disap proved by that authority. 203. The excess of the Durbar charges, in the year 1802-3, is principally owing to a variety of temporary charges arising from extraordinary embassies, and other charges of a temporary nature, some of which will not occur again. The Durbar charges must fluctuate every year according to the state of public affairs, and to the extension of our political relations with the native states of India. The amount of the excess occasioned by these temporary charges in 1802-3 is rupees 9,35,542,or 116,9421.; the excess was occasioned by the amount of allowance to Rajah Run Bahandur, the abdicated Rajah of Napaul, which has been repaid; by colonel Palmer's travelling charges and expenses from Poonah to Calcutta, in July, 1802; by arrear of salary to residents in November, 1802; by feeding the poor at Hyderabad during the famine; by the expenses of the embassy to Persia from April, 1801, to July, 1802, and the expense incurred on account of the Persian ambassador at Bombay by colonel Symes's mission to Ava; by major Malcolm's mission to Bombay on the death of the Persian ambassador; by the expenses of the honourable H. Wellesley at Lucknow, and in the ceded provinces, charged on the principle applied to personal expenses of all political agents. By extraordinary and contingent charges arising from the purchase of furniture for the new government-house, extraordinary public entertainments, draining the company's grounds at Barruckpore, &c. as explained in detail in the private secretary's report of the 25th June, 1805, which has been ordered to be laid upon the table of the House of Commons. 204. From these circumstances, the charges of 1802-3 were on a higher scale than usual. The total of the political expenses for the year 1802-3, including every ordinary and temporary charge, was 24,11,476 rupees, or 301,4341. which, under all the circumstances of the case, cannot certainly be considered a very heavy charge for all the political expenses of such an extensive government as that of the British empire in India, yielding a revenue of above fifteen millions sterling. 205. The political charges of the government in India have necessarily increased in proportion to the extension of the political relations of the British government in India with the native powers, and also to the more intimate connection formed with all the principal states. 206. The COURT'S DRAFT, OBSERVATIONS ON THE COURT'S DRAFT, No. 128. No. 128. 206. The private secretary to the governor-general is the paymaster of the durbar charges: that office is merely an office of disbursement. All the political charges of the government are submitted monthly to the governor-general in council, by the secretary of the political department, and are passed and approved by the governor-general in council, before the bills are presented for payment at the durbar office. 207. The forms here described. are those which have been observed since the first establishment of the political department of the British government in India. 208. At the commencement of the year 1805, the governor-general, lord Welles ey, having undertaken the revision of all the departments of the governmert, with a view to the reduction of e penses, ani adverting to the approaching prospect of general peace in India, a new check was established for the control of the poli tical charges of the government 209. Marquis Wellesley directed that all the political charges of the government should, from that period, be subjected to the examination of the civil auditor, and a standardt was fixed by his lordship in council, by which the expenses of the several political agents were to be confined within certain limits. Previously to the establishment of that regulation, the expenses of the political officers were regulated by their own discretion, subject, however, to the approval of the governor-general in council. Many occasions will probably occur when it may be necessary to exceed the scale established by marquis Wellesley for the limitation of political charges; but a considerable saving of expense may be expected to result from the general operation of that arrange ment. 210. At the period of time referred to above, when the governor-general was occupied in the general revi sion of the charges of government, the secretaries in the several departments were directed to revise the establishments under their respective charge, and to report what reductions of the charges of those establishments appeared to them to he practicable. 211. The report of the private secretary, on this occasion, is dated the 25th of June, 1805, and contains a detailed review of the nature of the establishments under the immediate charge of the private secretary, and a full explanation of the cause of every alteration which had taken place in those establishments for a series of years. 212. The durbar account is not a secret account, but is kept and recorded in as public a manner as any other branch of the public accounts. The durbar charges are entered in a separate book by the account general, A report of the general princip'es of this revision was made to the court of directors. The principal reductions were effected in the foreign presidencies and in the college. 12,000 rupees per month, or 1,44,000 rupees per annum. The ordinary scale was about 2,50,000 rupees per annum. VOL. 9. COURT'S DRAFT, The government-house. Para. 71. Purchase of plate and furniture for the new government-house. Para. 72. House and park forming the governor-general's re OBSERVATIONS ON THE COURT'S DRAFT, general, and regularly transmitted every year to Eng 213. The expense of building a government-house, of improving the town of Calcutta, of purchasing ground for the company, of draining the company's grounds, of improving the public roads, and of the construction of quays, and other works of public utility at Calcutta, regularly appear in the public proceedings of the government and in the public accounts, all of which are regularly transmitted to the court of direc tors. These works are connected with the due discharge of a most important branch of the duties of every well-regulated government. 214. A full explanation has been given of this mea sure in a former part of these notes, to which it will now be sufficient to refer. 215. These charges have always formed a part of the public accounts of every government of India which preceded lord Wellesley's administration, and the governor-general has always charged to the company the expense of the purchase and repairs of plate and furniture, and a variety of other expenses, which are included in the durbar account, under the head contingencies. 216. The whole of the furniture and plate for the new government house was purchased in small quantities, and at various times, during a period of six years. The bills for furniture, purchased for the new government-house, were paid from the durbar office, according to the usage in all former cases. The considerations of expediency and economy, which occasioned the application of the former practice, with respect to the payment of bills for furniture, to the provision of furniture for the new government-house, are fully stated in the report of the private secretary. 217. The whole furniture, &c. of the governmenthouse is the property of the company. Regular inven tories have been made of it, and have been attested by the proper officers, together with a regular inventory of the company's plate. 218. These inventories have been deposited in the public department of the government, under a new regulation made by lord Wellesley; before this regulation took place, the lists of furniture, plate, &c. were kept only by the private secretary. Under the present regulation no addition or diminution of the plate and furniture can take place, without being regularly noticed in the inventory. 219. The necessity of a country residence for the governor-general has been admitted by the public judgment COURT'S DRAFT, sidence at Barrackpore. Governor-general's visit to the upper provinces; the expense of which is stated to be Sicca rupees 281,000, or 32,6001. Para. OBSERVATIONS ON THE COURT'S DRAFT, No. 128. judgment of the court of directors, since an allowance was always given to the governor-general of 500 rupees, or 601. per month, for a garden-house. This allowance lord Wellesley gave up to the commander-inchief, and, at the same time, took the company's garden and park at Barrackpore, for the use of the government. Lord Wellesley's intentions, with regard to the establishment at Barrackpore, are stated in his minutes, under date the 26th July, 1804, and 1s June, 1805; by which it appears, that his views were intimately connected with a great public object of policy, and with the improvement of agriculture and science, and the health and convenience of the military cantonment at Barrackpore, and the vicinity of Calcutta. 220. At the period of time when Barrackpore was transferred to the governor-general, the house consisted of an old cottage in a state of considerable decay. Some additions were made to the building with a view to immediate accommodation, and have appeared regularly in the accounts of captain Wyatt, of the engineers, employed in the superintendence of the buildings of government at Calcutta. 221. The house continued in this state until the commencement of 1804, when the old parts of the building were found, upon examination, to be unsafe. The old building was accordingly surveyed by captain Anbury, (who succeeded captain Wyatt) and was, by him, reported to be capable of repair. It appeared, that, even if the building could have been repaired the expense would have been as great as that of erecting a new habitation on the same spot; and it was apprehended, that the mixture of old with new work would not form a durable building, and would require perpetual repairs. It appeared, therefore, advisable to erect a new building, on the site, and of the same dimensions as the former, applying such parts of the building as had been more recently erected, to the construction of the new habitation. 222. By this plan, with a small additional expense, the company's property at Barrackpore would be rendered of more durable value, and, under any future arrangement, its intrinsic value will be fully equal to the expense which may be incurred on account of the new building. It was, therefore, proposed, gradually to construct a new habitation on the site of the old. A considerable period of time must elapse before the building is entirely finished, and the expense will, therefore, be divided into the accounts of different years, and will not augment, to any considerable degree, the ordinary annual expense under the head of " publie buildings." 223. The objects of lord Wellesley's journey to the upper provinces, subject to the Bengal government, were stated to the secret committee of the court of directors, in a letter from his lordship, bearing date the 28th of September, 1801. • Vide appendix B, C. 224. The |