The Sun.
London, England, 1859-04-11 00:00:00

REPORT OF THE INDIAN .RELIEF

FUND COMMITTEE.

We have been favoured with a copy of the second
report of the General Committee of the Fund for
the Relief of the Sufferers by the late fearful Mutiny
in India, bearing date the 31st ult. Tt states that
last year (1858) no less than 178 meetings were
held by the General and the three subordinate or
special committees, while the honorary secretaries
have given daily attendance, and worked most assi-
duously. Under the peculiar system laid down by
the committee relief to the amount of £42,948 has
been accorded from the commencement of the fund
down to Dec. 31, 1858, including £32,457 in the
form of military donations and loans, £1,613 in the
form of donations to civil classes, and £1,877 in the
form of loans to civil classes. 38 officers have
received £3,555 ; 99 officers' widows, £11,284 ; 26
officers' orphans, 1,473 ; 25 officers' wives, £2,353 ;
51 officers' relatives, £3,534 ; 38 relatives of sol-
diers and sailors, £641; 150 disabled sailors and
soldiers, £326 ; and 394 'widows and 544 children
of soldiers and sailors, £4,694 (on weekly allow-
ance). The military loans amount to £4,533, making,
with £27,924, the amount of the donations, a sum
total of £32,457. The civil class donations included
£979 to 11 clergymen and missionaries, £916 to
six widows of clergymen, £lOO to the wife of a
missionary, £1,781 to 26 widows and orphans of
uncovenanted" civilians, and £4,836 to 81 indigo
planters, merchants, and railway employes. The
civil loans included loans of £985 to eight mer-
chants and their relatives, £3ll to six widows and
relatives of railway servants, £5O each to two
widows, £lOO to one landowner, £331 to three
orphans of traders, and £5O to one " uncovenanted"
civil officer of Government.
The General Committee have been favoured by
the Ladies' Committee with valuable advice in
cases referred to them regarding the disposal of
female orphans, and the ladies of that committee
have been indefatigable in arranging and distribut-
ing donations of clothing, which have been of the
greatest service to the safferers. Several cases of
wearing apparel were sent to Alexandria, Bombay,
and Calcutta ; a supply has also been kept on board
some of the steamers of the Peninsular and Oriental
Navigation Company, and distributed by the com-
manders when occasion required. With the excep-
tion of a modeiate balance at the Bank of England
for current expenses, the contributions realised
have been invested in public securities ; and it is
satisfactory to notice that the interest, added to a
profit arising from the transfer to other public se-
curities, has not only provided for all the office ex-
penses and advertisements from the establishment
of the fund to the end of the past year, but has
added £6,204 17s. 4d. over and above these expenses
to the available resources of the fund.
The total amount of contributions received from
the 2d of February to the 31st of December, 1858,
£85,354, including liberal donations from the colo-
nies. A cheque for £B5O was sent to the treasurer
by " A Lady in Belgravia," whose name has not
transpired. The total expenditure, from the estab-
lishment of the fund up to the 31st of December
last, amounts to £176,710, of which sum £127,286
has been remitted to India—principally to Cal-
cutta. The amount of relief accorded to sufferers
in Great Britain by the committe is £42,948,
as already shown. The report states that
in numerous instances, fathers, mothers, sis-
ters, &c., had been entirely supported, or materi-
ally assisted, previous to the mutiny, by remittances
from India. The death, by massacre or in the field, of
those who thus aided their relatives in Great Britain
has left the latter in a condition more pitiable than
that of widows and orphans, as in most instances
they have no claim upon the Crown or Government
of India, and no prospect of support from " service"
and " compassionate' funds. The Relief Committee
have, however, proceeded with great caution in ad-
mitting the claims of " relatives," and, except in
instances where no doubt has existed, documentary
evidence of previous remittances from India has I
been required, as well as of their amount, and at
what period, and through what channel remitted.
The committee are persuaded that in relieving this
class of sufferers they have strictly fulfilled the
objects of the fund and the generous design of the
contributors. Another class of sufferers—viz.,
" wounded and disabled soldiers and sailors"—who
have received assistance from the fund may also re-
quire explanation. These brave men arrived from
India wholly or partially disabled by wounds, or
with constitutions enfeebled by exposure in the
suppression of the mutiny. Many had formed a
portion of the heroic garrison of Lucknow, had been
engaged in the siege and storming of Delhi, or had
shared in the many struggles which have saved our
empire in the East. Their pensions are small, and
the committee determined that these men were fit
objects for assistance until their improved health
should enable them to procure their own livelihood.
It was therefore resolved to augment the allowance
granted by Government to discharged soldiers by a
sum of 6d. per day for three months, in the first in-
stance, and at the end of that period to reconsider
the case of each individual, dependent on the cha-
ractor he produced from the minister who disbursed
the allowance. The number of applicants for relief
has not diminished so much as might have been an-
ticipated; but this is accounted for by the difficulty
experienced by many of the victims in reaching
the ports of embarkation through the disturbed
districts. It has been decided to take into consi-
deration no casualty whatever occuring after the
31st ult. The committee have considered how to
dispose of the sum " at credit" of the Central Fund
at the end of last year, which amounts to £265,766.
It is proposed, among other arrangements, to grant
assistance to widows and orphans of officers and
civilians for educational purposes where the fami-
lies are large and boys predominate, and to augment
the pensions of certain widows and orphans. It is
observed that soldiers' and sailors' widows and
orphans are peculiarly entitled to consideration.
Allowances to these have been granted for one
year, on the scale and under the rules adopted by
the Royal Patriotic Fund ; and the committee pro-
poses to continue them at the same rate, or to re-
duce them, according to the state of the finances of
the fund when all claims for temporary aid have
ceased—a rule which will be followed in all cases
of prolonged allowances. On the 31st of December
last there were 894 soldiers' and sailors' widows
and 544 children in receipt of weekly allowances,
which are disbursed to them by ministers of the
different denominations to which they belong, and
by other gentlemen, who transmit the requisite
vouchers to the office. Next come soldiers dis-
charged owing to wounds, or loss of health arising
out of the mutiny. For those who arc so disabled
as to be incapable of labour the committee contem-
plate the continuance of the 6d. per day, as an
important addition to their means of sup-
port. Great pains have been taken in the
selection of cases for the relief of that class of
sufferers entitled to prolonged assistance. 84 cases
of this description have been carefully investigated
and decided, and the outlay involved will be £2,500
per annum. The number of soldiers' and sailors'
widows in Great Britain in receipt of the benefits
of the fund is, about this time, 520, and 670 chil-
dren. The average yearly payment for each family
may be taken at £2O, making a total outlay of
£10,400 per annum. The average of -disabled sol-
diers received 6d. per diem has increased to 283,
representing an annual outlay of £2,582 7s. 6d.