It was, however, to economy rather than to increased taxation that Lord Mayo looked for a surplus. Indeed, he strongly felt the necessity of abandoning some of the old objectionable forms of Indian taxation, such as the export duties; and he made a beginning by abolishing the export duty on wheat. On the other hand, every Department of Expenditure was keenly scrutinised, and severely cut down to the lowest point compatible with efficiency. As a matter of fact, and notwithstanding the new income-tax, the total revenue which he levied from India during his three years of office averaged nearly a million less than the revenue levied during the year 1868-69 preceding his Viceroyalty; while the expenditure averaged about five millions per annum less than that of the year preceding his Viceroyalty. The following table exhibits the results of the system of vigilant economy by which Lord Mayo converted a series of years of deficit into a series of years of surplus. For purposes of reference to the Parliamentary accounts it reproduces the conversion at the then official rate. It does not, accordingly, show the exact balance in sterling, as worked out for the table earlier in this chapter. {156} _Indian Revenue and Expenditure under Lord Mayo (at the then official rate of ten rupees to the pound)_. +---------+------------+----------------------+--------------+ | | | | Ordinary | | Year. | Revenue. | | Expenditure. | +---------+------------+----------------------+--------------+ | | pounds | Year of Deficit | pounds | | 1868-69 | 51,657,658 | preceding Lord | 54,431,688 | | | | Mayo's Rule. | | | | | | | | | | Year of equilibrium; | | | 1869-70 | 50,901,081 | his first year of | 50,782,413 | | | | office. | | | | | | | | 1870-71 | 51,413,685 | Years of Surplus; | 49,930,695 | | | | his last two years | | | 1871-72 | 50,109,093 | of office. | 46,984,915 | +---------+------------+----------------------+--------------+ Lord Mayo did not live to see the permanent fruit of his labours. But I cannot conclude this brief sketch of them more fitly than by a letter which the Financial Secretary to the Government of India wrote to me three years after Lord Mayo's death, when his work had been tested by the touchstone of time.