Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, OCTOBERS, 1877.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 250, 22 October 1877, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, OCTOBERS, 1877.

A public meeting to decide upon what steps to take in the direction of raising contributions towards the Indian Famine relief fund has been called by His Worship the Mayor for to-morrow evening ia the Provincial Hall, The subject is one that is creating a considerable stir, and evoking much sympathy, throughout the whole of the civilised world. It was referred to in the Queen's speech both at the opening and the prorogation of the British Parliament, and relief funds are being raised in America, the European Continent, Australia, and New Zealand, Nelson being the only part of the colony that has yet moved in the matter. English and Indian papers to hand contain heartrending accounts of the terrible suffer-? ings of those who are living, and, we may add, dying in the famine country, and we might fill our columns with the sensational reports that have found their way into the press from these districts. An official and thoroughly reliable document has, however, come under our notice, and from this we propose to make a few extracts, which in plain matter of fact language will place before our readers some idea of the extent of country and the numbers of the inhabitants affected by this fearful calamity. The paper referred to is a minute by Lord Lytton, the Viceroy of India, dated September 12 th, in which he enters at length into the causes and present effects of the famine, the measures hitherto adopted for the relief of the sufferers, and the proposa)-? of the Government with regard to the future action tp be taken. With reference to the causes, he says: — " The summer rains (south-west monsoon) of 1876 were extremely scanty over tracts belonging to the Presidencies of Madras and Bombay, to the State of Hyderabad, and to the Province of Mysore. Over these tracts, which contain a population of about twentysix millions, the summer rains yield the main rainfall of the year ; they fill the irrigation tanks, and on them depends the safety of the main food crops. In the above-mentioned districts, therefore, the chief food crops of 1876 failed by reason of the shortness of the summer rains. But in the rest of the Madras Country the main rainfall comes in with the October rains (north-east monsoon) • these rains were also very deficient, and so the irrigation tanks of the Madras districts remained dry, aud the chief food crops failed. The fate of the Madras crops \vas'thu« partially in doubt until the middle of November. The failure of the crops of a single year might not have caused a famine if it had been confined to a single province or to a few districts ; for inter-communication, by railway a»d by road, is easy aud cheap all over Southern India, and the surplus of oue province would have supplied the' deficiency of another. But last year the area of failure was so vast that famine prices were inevitable ; and by the month of December, 1876 food-grains in the markets of Southern ludja were three times as dear a3 iv ordinary yeai-s. * * * * During the spring and early summer of 1877, it was hoped that the season might be favorable ; that spring showers might bring forward some amail extent of early food in June ; that bountiful summer rains (south-west monsoon) would enable the people to secure a large food harvest during August and September; and that favorable October rains (north-east monsoon) would fill the irrigation tanks, and restore plenty to the district of the Madras Presidency, But. so far as the season has gone, our hopes have nofc been fulfilled ; the spirng showers came not ; the summer rains have, until the last week in July, been very scanty and irregular ; the main food crops of part of tlie black soil country of the Deccan are still in great jeopardy • it is feared that the uuirrigated food crops of Madras and Mysore must be lost, unless the good rain of the past week continues during August; but the local officers report thafc already an unascertained but large proportion of these crops are dried ap; the irrigation tanks of the Mysore country are still dry ; and no fresh food crops can be reaped on any large scale in Southern India before December next. If there are favorable rains in August and Sep- , teinber, and if the October rainfall (northeast monsoon) is full, then plenty may, per- | haps, be restored by January, 1878, though the people will feel the effects of the famine for some years to come. But, even under tlie most favorable circumstances, the pressure of famine in many districts of Madras and Mysore cannot abate greatly before January, 1878 ; at the best, tbe tension in Bombay may lessen in September, and may cease altogether in December. But, unless tha rainfall of August or September is unusually heavy, there must be another year of famine in parts of Bombay and the Deccan, and oyer a great part of Mysore."

Since thfe was written the months of August and September have passed without ratn. "Thus," continues the Viceroy, "the present situation in Southern India is that, at the end of a season of famine, one of the great food crops of the present season is everywhere in jeopardy, and in some parts is almost irretrievably lost. Prices of food over the famine country are higher tban ever— four or five times the ordinary rate: 2,d0(),000 people are being directly supported by State charity, of whom barely 450,000 are performing work that will have useful results. The present pressure of famine, and the presenfc rate of expenditure (considerably above half a million sterling per month), cannot, at the best, be greatly lessened before December next: whereas, if the season turns out unfavorably in any part of the famine country, that tract, with its stocks already depleted, must suffer from a secoud year of famine more severe and more difficult than the year through which it is now passing." His Excellency goes on to say that the policy of the, Government of India as-declared after previous famines was to give all possible facilities for the transport of grain" to distressed districts; to abstain from interference with the grain trade so long as tbat trade wrs active; to give relief wages to the destitute who would labor on useful public works; to relieve gratuitously, under trustworthy supervision, the helpless poor when the pressure of famine became extreme; and to avert death from starvation by fche employment of all means practicable open to the resources of the State and the exertions of its officers. "No time," says Lord Ly tton, will be lost in framing, in publishing to the trade generally, and in bringing into effect on the guaranteed railways a scheme whereby 4,500 to 5,000 tons of food can, if consigned by the trade, be carried daily into the famine districts of Madras and Mysore. When the railway has brought the required supply of food into the country, tho question will arise, whether the famine-stricken cattle can suffice for the task of distributing by cart the large quantities required in the interior or the districts. And the problem will have to be faced and decided at once, whether it will be best to lay down rough tramways for carriage of gram, or to bring the destitute poor to places near the railway lines, or to promote their emigration into other provinces." But notwithstanding the gigantic efforts being made by the State, there is a very large, indeed an almost unlimited opening for the exercise of private charity, and unless this be liberally bestowed hundreds of thousands must perish, who might otherwise be saved. From other sources we learn some more painful details of this frightful visita-tion-that riding over the famine-stricken district was like going over the scene of some great battle, so thickly were the dead lyin<» together; that already more than half a million have died from want ; and thafc in Madras a million and a half depend for food upon public relief ; and what makes matters still worse, pestilence is following in the wake of famine. That our suffering fellow creatures have a very large claim upon us for aid in the hour of their need none can deny. We cannot in Nelson raise such sums as wiil be subscribed in the wealthier towns of the colony, but there are very few amongst ns who cannot afford to give their mite, and if all will contribute according to thejr means, a very respectable total may be made up, which may possibly prove the means of saving some few lives, and will, at all events, show thafc we are nofc totally devoid of sympathy with the starving millions who are now crying to u$ for assistance.