Welby Commission

In 1895, the Royal Commission on the Administration of Expenditure of India, commonly known as the Welby Commission, was set up to look into Indian expenditures. The Commission's membership included: Lord Welby (1832-1915), Lord Curzon (1 and T.R. Buchanan as Parliamentary representatives, and William Wedderburn (1838-1918), Dadabhai Naoroji (1825-1917), and William S. Caine (1842-1903) as representatives of Indian interests.

Among those who provided evidence to the Commission were G.K. Gokhale.

The Welby Commission's report, published in 1900, showed a number of cases where excessive or unjust payments had been made by the Indian government. One of the most glaring was that of the Red Sea and India Telegraph Company. The company was formed in 1858 and invested 11 million pounds sterling. Although the company's operations collapsed after a few days when the telegraph line broke down, it continued to receive the guaranteed 4 1/5 percent return on its capital for fifty years. As the Welby Commission report noted. "in 1861 an act was passed declaring that the guarantee was not conditional upon the telegraph being in working order."

The Commission's report called for the House of Commons to insure impartiality of financial arrangements. English costs were not to be relieved at the expense of Indian revenues. India, as a member of the British Empire, was to be prepared to provide support. The India Office must be consulted regarding charges affecting India and that India's payments to England should be tied to a fixed exchange rate.

More details are found in the book: Committees and Commissions in Pre-independence India, 1836-1947: 1882-1895, edited by M. Anees Chishtibhai