"The Court of Directors also give notice, that Proprietors to whom it may be inconvenient to attend at the East India House to signify their assent to the conversion of their stock of the Five per Cent. Transfer Loan into Four per Cent. Stock, under Article 7 of the above Notification, may obtain a proper form for signature by making a written application addressed to the Secretary, at the East India-house. "JAMES C. MELVILL, Secretary.”

The state of Indian finance was given by Sir Charles Wood, President of the Board of Control, in the House of Commons on the 8th of August, 1854, to which we have added the revenues of India for the three years ending April, 1851-52:

The military charges of Bengal and the North Western Provinces form the largest portion of the entire military expenditure of India, and amount to £5,442,230. The net revenue of Bengal and the North Western Provinces, after deducting the cost of collecting, was £13,255,150; and the charges upon that sum, excluding military charges, was £8,770,330, leaving a surplus revenue applicable to the general charges of India, including the debt, of £4,484,320.

According to the above statements the total revenues of the above Presidencies amount to £19,827,496, and the total charges, exclusive of the army, to £14,822,495; leaving a surplus available for the payment of debt and home charges of £5,005,001.

the

The interest on the debt payable in India, exclusive of local and temporary debt, was £1,967,359; charges defrayed in England, £2,506,377; making a total of £4,473,736; leaving a surplus of £538,265. The surplus for each of the three years ending April, 1852, was

The total estimates for 1852-3 were given by Sir Charles as follows:

:

The estimate for the year 1853-4 is as follows:

This deficit arises from a decrease in the land receipts to the amount of £60,000, and to £236,000 in the article of opium. The sum of £54,000 is also put down for the abolition of the tobacco monopoly in Madras. There is also an increased expenditure in the

cultivation of opium to the amount of £296,000; and for the public works, £102,200; and about £200,000 will be placed to the Burmese war.

These figures, however, do not give a very clear notion of the state of Indian finances. This can only be shown by a separate account of each Presidency. For several years the revenue of Bengal has been insufficient to meet the expenditure; and the latest official returns published show that this was the result for the year 1851-2, the period to which Sir Charles Wood's calculations come down. The same may be said of the revenue of Bombay. If, however, the accounts of the North Western Provinces are added, there will, as a matter of course, be a surplus. The latest official statements of the Indian revenues published are given below for each Presidency, in English currency, for the three years ended April, 1851-2, and were as follows:

TOTAL REVENUES OF INDIA.

:

3,744,372

Bombay ditto

2,489,245 2,744,950 3,172,779

The following statement shows the deficiency or surplus in each of the several territories specified above during the same period :—

The annual interest on the debt of each of the Pro

2,050,934 2,355,469 2,184,435

Taking the rate of interest at an average of 4 per cent. per annum on the above sums, the capital of the Indian debt would be about £48,000,000 sterling in round numbers. The actual amount outstanding in April, 1852, was £48,014,244.

MEXICO.

The original Loans raised in this country for the States of Mexico were:

£3,200,000, contracted in 1824 at 58 per cent., bearing
interest at 5 per cent.

3,200,000, contracted in 1825 at 89 per cent., bearing
interest at 6 per cent. per annum.

£6,400,000

*This includes interest on temporary loans from the year 1845.

No dividends were remitted on these Loans from October, 1827, to April, 1831, inclusive, when the arrears on the 6 per Cents. amounted to £22. 10s. for every £100; and on the 5 per Cents. to £18. 158. The coupons representing these arrears were received in 1831 for Deferred Bonds, to bear interest from the 1st April, 1836. The 6 per Cent. Deferred Stock was issued at 75 per cent., and the 5 per Cent. at 62. An acknowledgment was also given at the same time for half the coupons due from the 1st of April, 1831, to the 1st of April, 1836, inclusive, and the dividend on the 1st of April, 1836; and that Bonds bearing interest from that date should be given in exchange for the same, on the same terms as the previous Bonds. This, however, was not fulfilled, so that the actual state of the debt on the 1st of April, 1836, was as follows:

In 1846, fresh proposals were accepted by the Bondholders, viz., to create a new consolidated debt, amounting to £10,241,650 sterling, into which the previous Active and Deferred Bonds and Debentures, which constituted the entire foreign debt, should be converted, and the sum of 500,000 dollars to be remitted to London in monthly payments for the redemption of the debt, which was to bear interest at 5 per cent. per annum, and to commence running from July the 1st, 1846.

As a guarantee for the fulfilment of the above con