A Customs line was
established which stretched across the whole of India, which in 1869
extended from the Indus to the Mahanadi in Madras, a distance of
2,300 miles; and it was guarded by nearly 12,000 men and petty
officers, at an annual cost of L162,000. It would have stretched from
London to Constantinople. . . . It consisted principally of an
immense impenetrable hedge of thorny trees and bushes . . . A similar
line, 280 miles in length, was maintained in the north-eastern part
of the Bombay Presidency from Dohud to the Runn of Cutch.' In 1878
the salt duties were revised, and the necessary arrangements with the
native states were made. With effect from the 1st April, 1879, the
whole Customs line was abolished, with the exception of a small
portion on the Indus. (Sir J. Strachey, _The Finances and Public
Works of India_, 1869-81, London, 1882, pp. 219, 220, 225.) Great
mines of rock salt are worked near the Indus.
4. Most people who know India intimately are of opinion that indirect
taxation is more suitable to the circumstances of the country than
direct taxation. For municipal purposes, indirect taxation, under the
name of octroi, is levied by most considerable towns, and
notwithstanding its inconveniences, is far less unpopular and far
more productive than any form of direct taxation.
Pages:
915
916
917
918
919
920
921
922
923
924
925
926
927
928
929
930
931
932
933
934
935
936
937
938
939