THE BENGAL FAMINE.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
SIR, —The Times' Calcutta telegram of the 18th inst. confirms what all well-informed persons have dreaded : — " Prices are steadily rising. But little rice now reaches Calcutta or is ex- ported."
The Viceroy professes to provide food for the destitute only, and this has led many people to suppose that the 400,000 tons already contracted for is all that will be required. This, as you know, is a frightful delusion ; for the crop of rice all over Bengal, according to Government estimate, has barely averaged one-half, and the only district that has yielded any surplus over its own requirements is Bacergunge, from whence come nine-tenths of the supplies that reach Calcutta.
If, then, immediately after the gathering of the crop, "prices are steadily rising" and " but little rice now reaches Calcutta," what will be the state of matters two months hence, when some fifty millions will stand face to face with the deficit, which it has been hoped, and hoped in vain, that private enterprise would pro- vide for ?
The praiseworthy efforts made to rescue from starvation the indigent and destitute in North Behar have obscured the far more serious problem,—how the remaining myriads are to be fed up till the gathering of next Amun crop ? Granting the means to buy, where is the rice to come from if the only known surplus is already beginning to fail ? That is the grave question the Times' telegram points to, like an index-finger, and the apprehended suffering in the North-West and Oude deepens the gloom.
The serious and earnest tone in which the Spectator has discussed this subject emboldens me to send you these lines for insertion in your journal, should you deem them worthy of that honour.—
Previous page
