31 JANUARY 1874, Page 2

It is a remarkable fact, and one which the natives

of India will remember, that thus far during the present Elections not one Minister, whether in power or opposition, has mentioned the Bengal famine; that not one election will turn upon it, and that of all the hundreds of addresses before the public, not one, that we can remember, assumes the faintest interest in the subject. The telegrams of this week are, nevertheless, most unfavourable. The official report states that prices are slightly rising, and the

unofficial that a slight rainfall has done good to the wells, but injury to the crops ; that Mr. Bayley, who is in the Viceroy's Cabinet, informed the Trades' Association that the famine was "very. grave," that the scarcity is serious in North Behar, that the wells are drying. and the waters, falling, and finally,. that the distress is extremely severe in Patna.