The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-24 00:00:00

RELIEF OF THE SUFFERERS Rl' THE

DISTURBANCES IN INDIA.

A report of the Calcutta sub-committee of the
Fund for the Relief of Sufferers by the Disturb-
ances in India, issued on the 3d November last, with
a somewhat voluminous appendix, contains some
information of interest with regard to the adminis-
tration of the funds placed at their disposal. The
committee commence by submitting to the sub-
scribers a balance-sheet of the receipts and expen-
diture, from the establishment of the fund in July,
1857, to the 31st October, 1858. The amounts are
calculated in Company's rupees. The receipts in-
clude subscriptions in Calcutta, 1,96,027 r. ; Madras,
78,000 r. ; Ceylon, 24,000 r. ; London, 1,91,717 r. ;
Liverpool, 86,161 r.; Glasgow, 48,484 r.; Manches-
ter, 47,761 r. ; Mauritius, 36,000 r. ; Hong Kong,
15,147 r. ; Cape of Good Hope, 53,081 r. ; the King
of Burmah, 10,000 r. ; Ayrshire, 9,896 r. ; Tipperary,
2,689 r. ; Sydney, 49,433 r. ; Belfast (Victoria),
1,600 r. ; and Batavia, 1,562 r. Under the item of
payments we find 4,05,932 r. devoted to free grants,
while there have been expended for monthly
allowances 1,02,322 r. ; loans, 60,676 r. ; passage and
diet money, 1,11,619 r. ; passages to England,
1,18,244 r. ; ladies' committee, 54,000 r. ; house ex-
penses, 58,275 r ; sundries, 19,735 r. ; advertising
charges, 2,442 r. ; clothing account, 10,614 r. ; school-
ing account, 33,293 r. ; Bengal Patriotic Fund,
50,000 r. ; Lawrence Asylum, 10,000 r. ; Mofusial
remittances, 3,40,035 r. ; and Bombay committee,
13,280 r. ; leaving a balance of 92,837 r. The sub-
committee, after giving some details of their pro-
ceedings in the various districts of India, which are
of merely local interest, state that they have
" Lately reconsidered the loans granted at an
early stage of their proceedings, and with a view to
equity and uniformity of action cancelled all the
loans which were granted under circumstances
which, at a subsequent period, when the funds were
larger, were considered to entitle the applicants to
grants. The sub-committee have, in all cases, endea-
voured to deal with applications in a spirit of libe-
rality and sympathy, and they desire to pursue the
same spirit still. But they consider that all claims
not arising out of recent losses or bereavements
should be regarded with much caution. The pres-
sure of the public calamity has ceased, and in a
large number of cases it is certain that the road to
promotion has been opened ; and advantages rather
than losses have already followed the mutiny to
very many persons. There still, however, remain in
the country a considerable number who are legiti•
mate objects of the bounty of the fund."
The object of the committee, as stated in their
own resolution, was to relieve, as far as practicable
and necessary, the distress caused by the mutinies in
India, care being taken not to supersede the assist-
ance which ought to be given by Government, by
the established Widows' and Orphans' Funds, or by
the relatives of the sufferers ; but to supplement it
to the extent to which it fell short of a just mea-
sure of relief. Having laid down the principle
that compensation for losses, as such, would in no
case be given the objects the committee specially ap-
plied: themselves to were—to enable the sufferers
to live with frugality in :their respective states of
life until other means of subsistence were available ;
secondly, to provide for the maintenance and edu-
cation of children in cases in which it had been
interrupted or prevented by casualties arising out
of the mutiny, and in which it could not be pro-
vided for from other sources ; thirdly, to assist the
sufferers to come to this country or to go to India
when the circumstances rendered it proper that they
should do so and the means of paying for their pas-
sage could not bo obtained from any other source ;
and, fourthly, to afford reasonable aid, by loan
or otherwise, to officers and others who had
lost their equipments, furniture, or other
property by the necessity of sudden flight from their
stations or the destruction of their dwellings, when
without such aid they would be involved in pecu-
niary embarrassments. It was further determined
by the committee that relief according to these
principles should be given, without distinction of
religion or nationality, to every person, of whatever
rank, who had a just claim upon the sympathy and
opulence of the British people. Several houses were
taken in Calcutta for the occupation of refugees from
the disturbed districts; but, as many of these persons
have returned to their former stations, the number
of inmates, which in February last was 280, had
been reduced at the date of this report to 185. The
number of children receiving education in Calcutta
at thQ expense of the fund in April last was 62,
at a monthly cost of 1,395 r. In addition to the in-
mates of the houses there were also 136 incumbents
on the fund, who received for themselves and their
families monthly allowances to the aggregate
amount of 7,611 r. Several of these persons, it is
stated, will probably be permanently dependent on
the public bounty, and it will be for the general
committee to decide on the most suitable means of