The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-09-04 00:00:00

ANTICIPATED FAMINE IN INDIA.

Anticipating the co OCT which it is feared the
dearth in India sill occsaion, The Tmes of Wedneeday
has thr following lrairr
"

Our telegraphic-intelligence of Monday contained a
merit Illustrating Illustrating with singular force the iliflicu ties of Indian
admlnstration. Once In the days of the present generation
we have, even In these island., been surprised by a Famine,
but the phenomenon was so unparalleled that we had to go
back flue centuries for a precedent, and the visitation, after
all, expressed not so much • natural scarcity as the failure of
• peculiar anti precarions crop. A blight destroyed the
Potato harvest in Ireland, and created a Famine aimmg
the people, who had made potatoes their principal
food But in India the continuer:el, of a Famine more
or less calan.itous enter+ into every year's accounts
No statesman or linancier can make his calculations
or lock twelve months befi.re him without feeling
that a Famine may intervene to destroy the prospect. It
had been re+olved at Calcutta, as the public is aware, to
hold this year a great Limber or Court at Agra, where the
native chiefstif India might have had an opportunity of seeing
a son of their Fi.ivereign ; but the apprehensions of a Famine ti
the North-Western districts have so alarmed the Govern-
Mont that the pageant has been actually postponed By the
time fixed for the meeting both Chiefs and rulers may find
themselves silk work more serious than holiday-making
their hands, and a large conimurse of people lo the
afflicted districts would only serve to intensify the effects of
the scarcity. Better distribute the popnlation as far as
possible than concentrate it by a Royal gathering.
The scene of the anticipated Famine lies in the extensive
province of Rajpootana arid the adjacent dominions of Scin-
diah, the Maharajah of G./aline The cause of the alarm,
the invariable cause of such alarms in India. Is drought. The
Mips threaten to fall for want of rain, and for want of any
Irrigation to supply the place of rain. It most ho understood
however. that the visitation Is as yet only a iirobability.
There Is time enough yet for such rains as may. at all event.,
avert a Famine, but the prospects are so far alarming that
the peeper alone for the Dortiar have been suspended, and it
at least doubtful whether they will be resumed. Agra is at
no great distance from Gwellor, soil all the resources at Seth-
dith's command may tie required Motive his peopie from perish-
ing. These tracts of India, it may he observed, are peculiarly
Ilatileto drought T race during the last t hitt y ear+ has Famine
fallen on the North-Western Provinces, and though the irri-
gation work, executed liv Government have accoup ishi d
much for our can misees.ions. the canals coetnected with the
Ganges anti Janina do not reach the countriesnow threatened
with scarcity Rii.jpoi dans Itself Is half • de+ert. With the ex-
ceptlon, t ono( a small central portion, its territories are entirely
under native administration, and ill. h,,rut to influence the
Chiefs or to reach the villages tinder their rule The warning,
le:wever, ha. on this occasion been taken In time. If famine
should actually occur, the reenlts might be terrible, but, at
liar, not so terrible &els former days.
That, In point of fact, must lie our ground both of consola-
tion and defence. We have not succeeded, with all our
wealth, ingenuity and p deer, ill preserving the people of
India from the perils of starvation, but we have moat mate-
rially reduced Mae peril. Fend.ea occur lea' frequeetly
then In ancient times, and when they do occur shunt• tality
Is f+r less. Perhaps those who remember that three short I
Mr. ago 750,1,00 people died from want in a single province
of the Bengal Preableucy may think we hare little credit to
claim for ourselves, but if the Fondue of 1866 be
compared with the Famine of 1770 the difference
will soon appear. In 1770 ten millions of people
perished, and half the land of Bengal. it is said, re-
turned to jungle. Again, in these North-Western Provinces
the Fandne of 1837 was far more, fatal than that of 1860.
The Intervening years had brought improved roads, im-
pr veil enterprise, and Conlyarative,y rapid communications
Grain wee Poured into the suftetii g country In such &bum:l-
-nce that, as an °M el II p. rt stated, the Great Trunk road
wee actually worn isit by the traffic of Me+ n days. Probably,
If the worst sho.,:d hapm Si, we may succeed in rendering
the viellation lighter than that of nine y. ars Rime, but
all the comiltione of the case are atrainat us. No rail
War enters Rsjpooraria hue, d, there is nnthing
attract one. The opium of Mattes txcepten, this vast tract
of country produces nothing—no iron, liO Indigo, Do
• coal, no jute, rio Colton, not mien any timber 'I here is a
tallway projected from Baroda to Delhi which would cut
right through It hut the winks are not yet In progress The
• country a. we have 1,1111,1 e not under ear own administra-
tion, met ti ough alt its Princes are iiiiiebted to us fit protec-
tinn and anielothle to nor influence, It Is not ea+y to movn
them to any pimpose Nevertoeless, the Government will
',hat It can, and its !list step has been to postpone the gees
By the Ii ht of this announcement we can appreciate th.
. Ss:Mines .dered or the 1,,0 tan Midget lathe late debate'
11, w Is a financial balance f,41 be maintained in a counts.
where a badll 501100 may at any titne render a whole pruritic
. iiilvent, atol bring an enoritioue expenditure upon thi
lihorcrnmint besides? When it was urged that all oat
expenditure upon w irks of irrigation had scarcely ailituc
I.7teePtltily to the revenue of the Empire, It was forcibli
/ant timer,' that melt works might have produced their due
in
5a.505 wing that mum from abrupt (Mallow PoW OttOa

. . .
have our canals averted or mitigated the horrors and
,oness aetual Fain Inc I flow far would they
ii etre uensetiite the operation of the very famine 114.1
tierhaps impending! It was state! it. Ito- Calcutta cor-
respondence that in the North-Western Pi...vinous aloe., the
State monis list sear ire gated 06%., 23 acres lain! alive
lIA ticyond the area in lamed in the sear preventing. %Vhat
may we not nage to that progreni metre the bresent year IS
.It? lilt •senall matter to redo uor bring within eompaes
lie tfb.ets of the, pet {mimed visitations? When ills at.
'eged that the revenue of India barely equals its expenditure,
II that the ontimii.gs always ?ieltp cc the income, should it
-et ne remenib red that, .-Inept for the numbn winkn inn
is hick we spend so touch, the income over large tracts of the
nattlly might tall aft, aieth
tse p.ost,.olientent of the Dorhar itself we may Ink.
inn hops, a itllollt 1111101 relit et. It he certainly not improba-
ide that some alvantage has attended these gathe tugs, but
of late yearn thee have succeeded each other in rapid aucces-
shin, and the rec....paint given to Shere All the other day at
Umballah must have sufficed for a display of our military
power. A-iittleig. it IS 811,1, are fond of shows and impressed
by ponips on d ceremonies, hut the native Princes of Ineha,
or, at any rate, the more considerable of them, have learnt
tip this time to measure our power by 1110,9 substantial
estimate.. The people, too, ought to think the better o a
Government which puts the question of their sustenance be-
fore all other considerations, and forgoes a magnificent pro-
ject rather than Incur the risk et: untimely extravagance.
We may hope yet—fmleed fr in the latest speettlath ilia there
seems reason to hope—that the threateued Famine nmy ho
Se. red, but If it should actually arrive we shall he able to
ineuilre the re.mutees and eherKy of the Indian 119‘91.9.
Ineut In 1869 by the records of its performances hi
years gone by. Onlv, let no one in this c,,untrs
inilidifie that an Indian Femme is. as a Faotine, a
matter of reproach to its as rulers of India. It would taint
uisitY /eem I the hest goy, mue t imaginable to t envy,
leella from the terrible liabilities which its climate 8,10 1,11.
ilia/MUM create. All that we can do is to corset, them anti
mitigate their effect. In the Grimm Famine we tailed in the
former of these obligations, and to the result we owe,
perhaps, that vigilance which hi manifest now, and whioh is
expreassed in the information before on.