The Times' Famine Correspondent telegraphs (August 24), on the authority
of a telegram from Sir Richard Temple, that the rainfall everywhere" has been short, except in Orissa, and that in Tirhoot and Burdwan it has been so small that the harvest must be a failure. On the 27th he states that nothing can now secure a full crop in 'Tirhoot, Hooghly, Bardwan, Nuddea, and Moorshedabad, but does not state to what extent it is expected to fail. According to Reuter, the position is" considered critical," and will remain so till September, when the latest rain usually falls. The Famine arrangements will therefore be kept up till the middle of next month. We need not say that a second year of drought in districts so denuded of grain will be a most terrible calamity, but there is no evidence yet that the failure will be complete, as the September rain may do much to bring up the averages.
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