The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-07-06 00:00:00

THE FAMINE IN CHINA.

Further papers on this painful subject have been
presented to Parliament. fhe number of souls for
whom relief is required is said to be between 3,000 000
and 4;000,060. One point brought ,nt is the enormous
casts of transporting supplies to the province of Shansi,
whez e a mountain range has to be crossed and a dis-
tance of some hundreds of miles to be traversed by
carts. Mr. Mayers says the reported cost of trans-
porting these supplies to Shansi would he about four
taels per picul, or, Bay, £l2 sterling per ton. Mr. Hugh
Fraser sends from Pekin, January 18, the translation
of a memorial addressed to the Throne by Yen King-
ming, "Special High Commissioner for the Superin-
tendence of the Arrangements for Famine Relief in
Shansi. The commissioner dwells upon the painful
scenes he has witnessed at every stage of his journey,
in the course of which his chair has continually
been surrounded by crowds of the famine-stricken
population imploring relief, to whom he has
administered comfort in soothing words, assuring
them of the Imperial sympathy. The roads are
lined with corpses in such numbers as to dis-
tance all efforts for their interment, while
women and children, starving and in rags, know not
where to look for the means of keeping body and soul
together. 'the memorialist, his heart wrung with
despairing pity, cannot but ask why has a calamity so
awful as this been visited upon the people. He can
only ascribe it to his own failure in the due discharge
of his duty, and he feels that his shortcoming admits
of no excuse. In reply, the Grand Council has re-
ceived a rescript expressing profound sympathy with
the sufferings of the people as reported in this
memorial, and directing that all that is possible for
their relief be done, in consultation with the governor
of the province."
The Globe remarks :

Judging from the latest accounts of the famine in
China, it would seem to be the most terrible calamity
of the sort that ever befell mankind. It is estimated
that more than five millions of human beings have
already perished, and there seems every likelihood
that the number will be doubled or even trebled
before the end is reached. Whole districts, not
long ago thickly peopled, are completely depopu-
lated, through death and migration, while in other
parts the wretched inhabitants would seem to have
become absolutely insane through their sufferings. If
it be asked what the mandarins are doing to mitigate
the calamity, we fear it must be answered "next to
nothing." But the fault does not so much rest with
them as with the Chinese Government in past times
for stupidly throwing every obstacle in the way of
improved means of communication. During the
recent famine in India, the loss of life would have
been infinitely greater but for the railway and other
facilities which were at the disposal of the Government
for bringing food to th 3 starving districts. In some
of the more remote districts of the Madras Presi-
dency there were, unfortunately, only the roughest
means of comruudication, and it was in these parts,
we believe, that the greatest loss of life occurred.
It would be to sanguine to hope that the
present appalling famine in Northern China will
teach the imperial Government to mend its ways in
this particular. Human life is not very highly con-
sidered at Pekin, which, always secure a plentiful
supply of food, regards with philosophic composure
the starvation of distant myriads. Among the older
mandarins, few, we fancy, would be found to prefer
the introduction of those abominable barbarian con-
trivances, railways,. to the eccasional decimation of
the internal population. But the younger officials are
beginning to think, it is said, that there may be some
good after all in the thing called Western civilisation,
and when they rise to the upper ranks of the Govern-
ment, perhaps China will discard the famine fiend in
favour of the steam horse.