The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-21 00:00:00

The Famine in India.

A telegram of the 20thult. in the Bombay Times
says:_,, The total sum collected in Calcutta for the
relief of the prevailing famine is 70,000 rs. AceoP:
modation is required for 2,000 sick people, 1,000 01
whom already fill the hospitals. ahe native eo'n;
munity of Calcutta have agreed to feed 8,000 01
the distressed for two months, but funds will have
to be provided to protect the rest. The committee
makes a general appeal to the public ; but is thank-
ful to Bombay for the contributions already there
collected."

The Bombay Times of August 23, commenting
upon the latest accounts, says :
" The alarming proportions assumed by the as'
tress in Bengal show how miserably Government
failed to apprehend the true state of affairs when'
time after time, official intimation was given that
the resources at the disposal of the Board of Revenue
were amply sufficient to provide for the famine"
stricken districts. As early as October last, the
parched appearance presented by rice fields and
plains which at that season of the year used to smile
with ripening grain, excited in various quarters seri"
ous apprehensions of an approaching famine. In
December it was:generally known that the crops in
Orissa, usually a grain-exporting country, were 31
but a total failure ; and yet the revenue officials who
ought to have been the first to know the actual
state of the district seem not to have realised the
extent of the misfortune. Thus the circle was
allowed to widen, and now the cry of distress as"
tends even from Chumparun in the extreme
north-west of Bengal as far as Bellary in Madra
For a time the country districts only suffered'
as the ignorance and want of enterprise, Chao
racteristic of the rural Hindoo, at first le'
many to lie down in dumb despair ; but now that 6
chance of relief even at a great distance has been
offered, and their constitutional apathy overcome'
hundreds of gaunt, emaciated, human forms are
flocking daily into Calcutta ; and few can predict
how long the calamity may be limited to famine, °r
how soon a raging pestilence may follow in
„lit°
train. In some places, indeed, cholera has already
broken out, and the mortality has been very great
To guard against this last danger, the starving mw.,
titudes are being intercepted as much as possible ad
suitable localities, and centres of relief establish%
in the suffering districts ; yet in spite of this th
arrivals in Calcutta are said to amount to as mallt
as 200 a day, while in the city and its suburbs O
less than from twenty to thirty thousand are fed
from the hand of charity alone. It is also Cale%
lated that in Pooree 1,543 persons are at prese3.
daily relieved ; in Cuttack, 1,960; Balasore, 16,99."
Midnapore, 9,667 ; Maunbhoom, 1,900; Nuddea'
3,111; Gya, 1,699 ; Sarun, 5,609 ; and in Tirho3,t,'
6,361. The measures of relief spontaneousg°
adopted by the inhabitants of Calcutta have been
most extensive and well considered. Many of tbo
richer Baboos and certain European gentlemen ha
joined in establishing unnochuttros, or ahnshousesl
where hundreds of the destitute are housed, cloth;
and fed. The zeal and enthusiasm of the 1)311
and municipal authorities, too, have been most
praiseworthy, and the measures organised have been
,o
tolerably effective. An influential committee 11.10
been formed, with the commissioner of police at lso
head, whose plan of relief is, to clothe and ho
go
the poor ; to provide work for the ablebodied ; tl3O-
feed all surplus paupers whose wants may not
met by native charities ; to supply additional ae
cornmodation ; and to maintain a foundling he_s;
pital for the support of orphans whose parents the
be dead or have deserted them. Subscriptions to
amount of rs. 20,000 have already been recciv'A,
and more money is sure to pour in as the relief is
extended. Some rs. 10,000 have already been fecal
warded from Bombay; and now that the lo
_a
government there has appointed a committee auPbt
made an appeal to the public, this sum will no de,
soon be doubled many times over. In the Inco•
time the fall of rain has been very general throngio
out Bengal, and the early harvest has begun,,,;t,o.
Cuttack, Midnapore, Nuddea, and other distrll;
the produce where sufficient seed had beens°To
being good, and matters looking more hopeful' the
induce agriculturists and labourers to return tnoci
famine districts, aid is given them on the way' a
iith
public works, canals, &c., are being proceeded to
so as to afford employment. His Excellency
et
Viceroy, in a resolution recently passed, stated ;Tea
he has no objection to yet further aid being g"4130
f
at once to push on with vigour the works " the
Irrigation Canal which is being executed along the
Oolooabariah and Midnapore road, provided
ear
labour of the sufferers from the famine is alone felt,
fe
ployed. Yet great disappointment is just 0°
0,03t1
because of its being discovered that the t the
lakhs set aside by the supreme government nosed)
request of Sir Cecil Beadon is not, as was suk,°
to
to be distributed in relief, but that sum is mere_ old
be advanced for the purchase of rice that wlll b'tbo,t
at cost price in Orissa. It is hoped, however' 00a
in six weeks most of the distress will be nvert'akeo
then it remains to .be seen what steps will be IV
to prevent the return of a like visitation. ° oto
appointment of a royal commission to incrlll: ved
the causes of this famine might prove to be
useful measure." Govern'
In the Bombay Gazette we read :—" The
to °",,'
ment of Bombay has appointed a committee soicP
taro contributions for the relief of the famine. of
side
prevails in some districts on the eastern rvia
India, and which has driven about 15,000 3t3 tta'
•
men, women, and children into the city 0-f Cal°
(310'
The position of Bombay, which has formerly
tinguished itself in works of public cbarill; the
prevent it from responding with liberality ugh'
appeal of Government ; but in other places t, by the
out Western India which have not suffer ,bay
Doe- 0
pecuniary misfortunes that have paralysed
„3. 111
a handsome contribution ought to be provito 13a5
great and protracted fall in the price of en bay as
produced as severe a money famine in Boin for the
there is a food famine in Bengal. Trade rise in
time, utterly suspended, and nothing but ,bose°
the price of that staple on which Bombay tons either
to stake its commercial existence will restnti ole'
o
confidence to the community, or briskness has 3
,
Never, perhaps, in the annals of c
ominere:os
trading city been so completely prostra:eoo lie:d and
stricken with calamity as Bombay. The rioted tbco
on the surface. The presidency has neg„rodo
cultivation of all its general articles o::cetta",
• 11 by
which make up its export trade before tiw
cotton'
era. Bombay resolved to stand or fa
it has fallen ; and the fall has been great.

e
d •
PROTECTION AGAINST BANKS.--.otlr shCoeet es
a'
ent's proposition in regard t
to a daily balance"ceive to be impracticable.n, d ".
MR. AND '
IRS.
CHARLES KEAN.--gr. -11, 0 Glor
Kean are
v about to open a short engagement at 1° veil
rris Theatre Royal. These great artists ha 101, pet
says something for the soundness of Glasgovi taste. 0
~ the 4
retirement f • loin the stage would, in effect, raea" Tbei
tinctionof
- the higher poetic drama in this coon ado efOl
alone, or almost alone, among t m orary Pea
. con e p
O.
~,..2, po or
worthily mainta• fin or acting it sculpture inon., ' aloe d
side b side ' y with painting and p TbeY stoole
almost alone, recall the time when Garrick was ac,tlesi3oo
to associate on equal terms with the masters of 6t t , tidi
ship, of letters, and of art—with Burke, with 0.,,,e; and
with Reynolds. Mr. Kean is the living rePrese,nitsnati 0 and
of the line of hi lily trained geO"°-,.!„.11,13;
scholars—Garrick, Kc g - Ai creocU- oi
Table, Young, and °' povo
have reflected dignity upon the stage ; While tho ,Titt;
fter
his amiable
and accomplished lady will rank her es. rOO
that of Mrs. Siddons or of Miss O'Neill. TheY OP° rili
0 /(/
Ni• ---
Monda , •
3 evening ; the play selected is " Lour
Britt-A Daily Mail.