LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE INDIAN FAMINE.
[TO THE Fames OF THE "SPECTATOR.") SIR,—Having now spent ten days in what may be called the heart of the famine districts of the Bombay Presidency, I think that a short statement of some facts relating to the present scarcity which have come under my observation may be interest- ing to the readers of the Spectator. My remarks relate to the Collectorates of Sholapur and Kaladgi, the only two in the Bombay Presidency where the entire area and population have been reported to be affected by famine.
Throughout these districts generally there has been not a mere failure, but an almost total absence of crops. The rain which fell between June and September last was not sufficient even to admit of the seed being placed in the ground, and the country round Bijapur and Sholapur is now a brown desert, without a sign of cultivation or a blade of grass. Except a few large rivers descending from the Western Ghauts, the water- courses are already dried up, or reduced to a few muddy pools, while the hot weather is only just commencing. The immediate sufferers from this state of matters are the cattle, which here subsist mainly on the stalks of jowari or sarghum, and have perished in great numbers. A few months ago the price of beef was merely nominal, about three farthings a pound, but fodder has since then been imported, many cattle have been sent away into other districts, and those that remain, although very lean, are no longer slaughtered for the sake of their hides alone. Human beings have not suffered to anything like the same extent ; they have been able to obtain drinking-water from wells, and although the price of grain in these Collectorates is (and has been for months) about three times the ordinary rate, there are abundant supplies in every bazaar. So vast has been the amount of grain furnished from the north of India, that the railways have proved inadequate to the task of transport, and few stations of any importance between this place and Delhi were not encumbered with heaps of grain-bags, when I passed through, some weeks ago.
Already in October last it became evident that in these districts there must be severe and wide-spread distress, if not actual famine, and Government sanctioned the expenditure of consider- able sums, first from local and subsequently from imperial funds, upon works of relief. These works were at first conducted chiefly under civil agency, and employment was provided for the people near their own homes in making roads, digging wells, and clearing away prickly-pear thickets. Over such scattered operations it was impossible to exercise proper supervision as to the amount of work performed ; the wages were good, and the people flocked eagerly to what has been described as a sort of picnic, within easy reach of their own villages. From week to week the numbers employed in this manner increased with startling rapidity, and in January the Bombay Government took alarm. Wages were re- duced to a hare subsistence, a larger amount of labour was exacted, and in place of the numerous local works, a few great ones were commenced, under the officers of the Public Works Department. lirhen this change was introduced into the Sholapur Collectorate, large numbers of labourers at once returned to their villages, and in one fortnight the total of those employed here on relief works dwindled from 96,000 to 50,000. At the present moment, matters are in this position,—labourers are required to work on a new line of railroad, and 15,000 have been demanded from Sholapur, but although the distance is only 120 miles, not more than 76 have as yet volunteered to go. The " strike," for so it may be called, has now lasted several weeks, and meanwhile the people have managed somehow or other to maintain themselves. Their refusal to pro- ceed to the railway or other large works at a distance is the more surprising, as there is no separation of families involved ; women and children receive wages as well as men, and form a majority of those now employed on relief works. Meanwhile, the general health of the community is remarkably good ; cholera does not spread, there are very few beggars, and except some cases of grain-robbery, there has been no marked increase of crime. The wealthy natives in Sholapur are acting very charitably towards the blind and infirm poor, to whom a local relief committee dis- tributes daily rations of grain ; but the able-bodied have no share in this, and those on strike must possess resources with which they had not previously been credited by any one.
The Government in stopping the small local works seems to me to have exercised a very wise discretion. Under the Public Works Department, a day's labour may be obtained for a day's wages under proper supervision, and the works to be undertaken, whether railroads or large tanks, are such as will permanently benefit the country. One of these last, constructed a few years ago, has in fact been the saving of Sholapur city, which it sup- plies with water, besides irrigating more than a dozen villages. If increased outlay must be incurred along with reduced revenue, the work executed may at least be useful, and this can hardly be said of much that was done during the first panic of famine. As regards the land revenue, the latest orders of the Government are, that in cases where the local officers consider immediate pay- ment impossible, they are to postpone for a year the collection of revenue, instead of remitting it altogether. This is a novelty, in the Bombay Presidency at least.
Speaking for myself, I will only say that I believe the scarcity will not prove so serious a matter in these districts as was at one time anticipated ; but this Dekkan country is poor and over- peopled, and although there may be no actual starvation, there must be very hard times in such a country, after the loss of a year's crops and a large proportion of the cattle.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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