COST OF A CAPITAL.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2125, 17 April 1914, Page 5

COST OF A CAPITAL.

GATHERING HOSTILITY TO DELHI ' SCHEME,:, -"■:';.. -A.-

Tho opposition io the Delhi scheme is grawinj in vohi'mo in Bengal,' where tho Indians are now uniting with European opinion on tho ground ' that, the Government has refused to keep "its pledge .to grant, provincial autonomy, tho necessity for which was.given as tho reason for tho change of' capital. As Mr. Ramsay. Mac Donald, M.P., has publicly stated since .Ins return to England, tJie feeling-, in favour of the new Delhi i?» steadily, declining, both because it is evident that its cost will far exceed tire estimates and because it is being realised that tho Government of India, in the isolation of Delhi and Simla, will be out of touch with tiie activities of Indian politics and administration, says the Calcutta correspond-, cnt of tho "Manchester Guardian." r

Tho resolution which will bs moved at tho annual meeting of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce deals with the first, of these objections to tho new capital. For the _ timo being,-at any ri>te, the commercial community of Calcutta are not pressing their opposition to Delhi on the score of administrative and legislative difficulties. They are concentrating their protest on the heavy financial burden which the construction of an imposing capital will place on the commerce and industries of India ; i»nd, as Mr. Ramsay Mac Donald has indicated, they find that in this matter are giving-cxpression to a very widespread feeling in Bombay and Madras, where tho transfer to Delhi was at first enthusiastically approved. Tho dominant consideration from n commercial point of view is that the Government of ' India havte hitherto failed to make adequate provision for the extension of railways or tho equipment of railways already in existence. The amount annually required, as computcd "by the Maekey'Bails-ay Finance Committee, is The Committee regarded this sum as a minimum, and were of opinion, that it v.ould bo possible for the Government to raise the necessary loans without any difficulty in London and in India. Tho report of tho eonimitteo was issued in 1908, but in tho sis years which have followed the aggregate allotment to railways has been only 5i3 millions instead of 75 millions, When it is remembered that the development «f tho country is being retarded' and security against faming withheld through the slowness with which railways are being extended; that an expansion from a'mile of 30,000 to ono of 100,000 would bo feasible and profitable: and that there is a gre'ater popular demand for railways than for any other boon, tho failure of the Government to comply' with tho recommendation of tho Mackey Committee is a scandalous neglect of duty. Having fallen short of the requirements of commerce in the past, the Government apparently intend to make still scantier provision ill the future, They have- already spent nearly £375,000 upon their temporary quarters at Delhi. It is understood that tho new permanent capital is to cost £7,000,000, and tho necessary improvements in old Delhi will absorb between four and five millions sterling. Probably £12,000,000 will ultimately bo found to bo below the mark.

If the Government failed to allot adequate funds to railways in years of prosperity, when thero was no Delhi to be built, how, it is asked, will they make suitable provision now, when famine is spreading over tho United Provinces, sources of revenue are dwindling, ami tlm oaormonus cost.of new Delhi has to be met!

These aro some of the grounds on which the Bengal Chamber of Commerce will protest against extravagant expenditure at Delhi. If they wished to: strengthen their case by exposing tho iiiisiiitability of 'tho new capital for a legislative centre, they «onld find abun-dant'material-and could point to, tho faat that it has teen; impossible- to retain in Delhi a. sufficient number of none-official members to man tho Select Committees of tho Imperial Legislative Council. Neither. European not Indian business men or members of professions can afford to waste tho valuable winter months in a place where no business can bo done.