'Lord Curzon's Notes on Persia: About 1889-1890' [‎606v] (1233/1486)

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KUSS1A.
Ministry of
Interior.
Ordinary
Revenue.
Its sources, ic.
some former Ministers to render the military budget a purely
illusory statement.
With regard to the increase of 4,500,000 r. during the last two
years in the charges for the Ministry of the Interior, this ad
ditional expenditure would appear to be chiefly due to increa-ed
energy in the system pursued in the Baltic Provinces, and in the
Caucasus, of substituting Russian for local institutions. This
system may be held to be necessary on political grounds; but if
efficiency be attained, it certainly has not the advantage of being
combined with economy.
I now come to the consideration of the sources producing the
revenue, and ot the circumstances and arrangements
: ordinary . llIt w. 6 v
which have caused an increase of 243,Ot0,000 r. between the
amount actually collected in 1880 , and that estimated for 1890.
The annexed Table I) shows details of 10 years’ actual results
ot collection of revenue, and therefore affords fair material for
arriving at general conclusions. In the final result given, the
difference due to variations of exchange, which arise principally
under the head of customs (duties being always payable in gold)
are eliminated. This consideration will for purposes of just com
parison diminish the estimated revenue for 1889 and 1890, by
some 15,000,000 r. Besides, however, this difference for exchange,
there are other amounts which should be deducted from all the
annual totals in order to give a fair basis of comparison, the more
important of these amounts are those connected with railway
accounts, the redemption payments from former serfs, the profits
from state banking and finance, and the repayment of Govern
ment loans. The redemption payments with corresponding
expenditure on the same account were included in the budget
estimates for the first time in 1885 , and the receipts of 42,250,000 r.
under this head, estimated for 1890, must clearly therefore be
omitted in comparison with any year prior to 1885. The railway
accounts must in every sense prove to the inquirer into Russian
h inance the most unsatisfactory portion of the statements published
by the Ministry of Finance. I have already referred to their very
complex nature, and though with a continuance of the assistance
which I have always received through the kindness of the Minister
and his subordinates, all obscurity could doubtless be removed, I
cannot, within the limits of time and space available for the
present report, attempt to offer any detailed exposition of the
financial position of Russian railways, and their varying influence
on the expenditure and receipts of the empire. The figures,
however, given in a previous paragraph on this subject and those
shown in lable 13, suffice, I think as evidence of the fact that as
far as direct receipts and expenditure are concerned, the railways
still cause an annual loss to the Treasury. For this reason I
consider that all receipts on account of railways should for pur
poses of comparison of one year with another be excluded from
the totals ot u ordinary ” revenue. The amounts shown as the
results of state banking and finance, should also I consider be
eliminated, as, speaking generally, they are independent of fixed