A RICE FAMINE.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 November 1919, Page 6

A RICE FAMINE.

FAILURE OF MONSOON. CRITICAL POSITION IN MALAY ARCHIPELAGO Rice is a scarce commodity just now, and. the outlook for the future is not promising. In fact, the who has not "cornered" an emergency stick may be faced with the prospect of riceiess days before very long, and the housewife may be debarred from concocting the little delicacies for which the tropical grain supplies the staple ingredient. This much was gathered by a Wellington Times reporter on AVednesday from Cn.ptain R. J. Gallien,' a New Zealander, who recently returned from Sarawak, Borneo, after spending some months in that region. Captain Gallien explained that his object was to show that the shortage id a genuine one, for which nobody can be blamed. The position was that at the present time out in Malaya and the southern portions of Siam, Borneo, and Sumatra there was practically a rice famine, which was due to the failure of the crops. This was explained by the fact that the last monsoon, instead of carrying on from October till the cud of February, stopped short in the middle of December. The result was that the growing rice simply died in the ear, and there was no grain in the cron at all. The crop of the season before had been just about finished, and last season's crop was so meagre that at the present time there was a tremendous shortage. So serious was the shortage that the authorities had asked all white penile to stop using rice, which was not .1 European dish, but was the staple diet of the natives. v Captain Gallien stated that efforts had been made by the authorities in Sarawak to secure supplies from Cochin China, but without avail. Previously Sarawak had imported fnm Siam, through the Straits Settlements, an average of 24,000 bags of rice monthly, but owing to the shortage in Siam and the Malay States that had been-cut down to 18,000 bags a month. At the beginning of 1918 rice was selline 'in Borneo for 25 cents a gantang (practically 7d per gallon), and when Captain Gallien left there two months Kgo the price was u dollar a gantang, just four times as much, and the people were lucky if they got it at all. Relief measures to the extent of growing ras;i, sugar-cane, and ground roots of th°. yam and taro type had been brought into operation throughout Malaya, but as the staple diet of the native was rice, and as he practically depended for his living on it, the position was extremely serious. Two months ago, added Captain Gallien, several deaths from starvation had been reported among the natives. No relief could be expected from India as the crops there did nit mature till about January. The position was general throughout the region referred to. Captain Gallien added that he did not think the people of New ZeaUud had much to complain about, when they considered the fearful plight of those natives who were robbed by Nantre of. their principal means of sustenance.