INDIAN FOOD ANXIETY.

Taihape Daily Times, 5 December 1918, Page 6

INDIAN FOOD ANXIETY.

Indian has been passing through a period of considerable anxiety over the agricultural situation. The monsoon, broke early, the western current giving widespread rain. It then disappeared, until by the middle of August a serious scarcity of food and was anticipated in North Gujerat, Kathiawar, Eajputana, Northern Gwalior, the west of the United Provinces and parts of the Punjab, and in parts of the Bombay Presidency, the B'ombay Deccan, Haida.rbad, and Mysore. In normal circumstances this would not have caused anxiety. India has experienced a succession of good seasons, .and the total food and fodder supplies are ample, but with the railways burdened with military transport, equitable distribution has been a matter of great difficulty. The timely rainfall lAicli began on August 16, extending *ner the greater part of Southern and North-Western India, grealty relieved the situation. It will still be necessary to import fodder and food grains to some extent into North Gujerat, Kathiawar, and Eajputana, but no serious scarcity of food or fodder is now anticipated in Southern India or the Punjab.