The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-06 00:00:00

PRICE 4D. STAMPED, SD.

ments as engineers are not needed. An officer of judgment
and energy, with a capacity for rapidly estimating the pro-
bable cost of the very simple works required, will be almost
as useful as an accomplished engineer. In the event of any
expenditure being required, which is beyond the power of
the local Government to sanction, application should be
made to the Government of India for a special grant.
" ' It would be very desirable that the officers employed
to examine and report should be accompanied each by a
member of whatever commercial community may be most
interested in the produce of the district, who might observe
and report on any obstacles other than physical which may
appear to impede the cotton trade. The combined report
of two such gentlemen, if well selected, would furnish in-
formation of considerable practical valve regarding any pro-
vince in which they might be employed.
" The Government of India will be prepared to bear
the charge of the travelling expensm of any gentlemen who
might be deputed by commercial communities to accompany
its officers.

"' It is not intended to discourage, on the part of those
who may be engaged as above described, suggestions of any
extensive or costly work which may promise to subserve, in
a larger and more permanent manner, the great object in
view, even though it may not admit of speedy execution,
or be within the means of Government to sanction imme •
diately.
" Ordered, that a copy of this resolution be communicated
to the Governments of Madras and Bombay ; to the Lieu-
tenant-Governors of Bengal, the North-west Provinces,
and the Punjaub ; to the Commissioners of Pegu, Nagpore,
and Mysore, and to the,itesident at Hyderabad.
" Ordered further, that the local Governments and Ad-
ministrations be requested to communicate a copy of the
resolution to the commercial communities at their chief
towns, through the Chambers of Commerce or otherwise,
with an invitation of any suggestions which may occur to
those practically interested, and which may aid more effec-
tually to attain the great national object in view.

, 7. GREY, Secretary to the Government of India.' "

SEVERITY OF THE FAMINE IN INDIA.

By the arrival of the overland mail we receive
letters and papers from Bombay to March 12, Cal-
cutta, via Bombay, to March 3. The accounts of
the famine are as bad as ever. The Bombay
Gazette says :
An eye-witness declares that the statements
which have been published of the extent and seve-
rity of the suffering are in no wise exaggerated.
Extensive districts throughout the North-West,
which in times of prosperity are like the " garden
of the Lord," are now uncultivated and desert.
The cereals have not been sown, in most cas€ s, for
want of rain ; in other cases, for want of seed, the
seed having been consumed for food, and the Bun-
neas refusing to advance, as there is no prospect of
a remunerative return. The prospects for the
future are as dark and gloomy, therefore, as the
present distress is grievous. The people through.
out the country have contributed liberally for the
relief of the sufferers. Bombay has given one lac
and thirty thousand rupees. Calcutta has given
an equal sum. Aid from Madras is yet to be re-
alised. What would such an amount of money do,
even under the most favourable circumstances, to
save three millions of people from perishing for
lack of bread A more gigantic effort must yet
be made throughout India. It is most vexing
to find, that owing to the want of facilities for
inter-communication throughout the country gen-
erally, the money contributed is consumed in
carriage more than in grain. The Oudh. Gazette
writes :—" For three months this province has been
supplying the North-West with corn of every
description ; but instead of the Zameendars tran-
sporting it themselves, traders and dealers from
across the Ganges have to bring their own convey-
ances to carry it away. This at best must be a most
awkward and unsatisfactory process, since the cost
of transit (for conveyances coming and returning)
must ha as much if not more than that of the grain
itself; so that when food is even brought to the
doors of the starving, dear at the original purchase,
it must sell at famine prices. This want of free
and easy modes of transit—that is, simply, of made
roads—is general throughout the country, and is the
greatest obstacle in the way of relieving the suf-
ferers. England's bounty is expected to flow in
ere long, in answer to the appeals that have been
made."

The Mofussilite, of Feb. 26, gives the following
account of the relief asylums that have been
established at Delhi :

Sir Robert Montgomery visited the relief asylums
at Delhi on Friday at mid-day, accompanied by the
members of his staff, all the civil officers, and nearly
all the members of the General Relief Committee.
The Lieutenant-Governor proceeded to visit the
asylums, and learn with his own eyes the confirma-
tion of the reports he had received of the deep dis-
tress abroad. There are three great asylums at
Delhi outside the city—one at the Khoodsea Bagh,
the original relief house, which admits only the
most aged, infirm, and feeblest objects of com-
passion, as well as the latest arrivals, who are'
committed to the civil surgeon for treatment. In
this there were some eight hundred. The second
place is the great enclosure of the Eedgah, in
which from six to eight thousand receive a meal a
day. The third refuge is outside the Delhi Gate,
where from three to four thousand assemble daily.
This was visited first. Almost, if not entirely,
middle-aged women with sickly young children
formed the assemblage, of whom half were widows.
The last pinches of want were not discernible here,
as timely relief had been afforded, and had begun
to tell. Brigadier Brown had formed the groups
into regimental dispositions with great precision.
No hurry, or noise, or confusion. All received their
tickets, presented them at the door, obtained their
meal, flour and salt, and went on their way, poor
things, into their lonely unfriended homes to eke
out their scanty day's meal, the next morning again
to congregate at the same poor-house. If these
people were not fed, in three days they would
infallibly fall into the condition of the second class
of sufferers, which we will hereafter describe.
After minutely inquiring into all details connected
with the first section, so excellently organised and
superintended by the Brigadier, the Lieutenant-
Governor proceeded to the Eedgah. As he came
to the gates a crowd of miserable objects yelled
outside for admittance within the precincts. These
had been excluded as being fit for work. The yell
outside subsided as the gates were closed, and a
melancholy scene presented itself. One-half the
enormous area was completely covered by wasted
files of human beings. In every direction and in
every posture of apathy, disease, despair and pros-
tration, were lying about the hollow-eyed wretched
victims of the dreadful visitation, almost too far
gone even to care to creep among the long rows of
rags, squalor, and half nakedness.
Sir Robert paced slowly down the lines amid
almost unbroken and painful silence, pausing now
and then before some gauut and wan figure to ask
whence he came, to be answered only by mute ges-
ture or exhausted effort at articulation. Out of
more than six thousand not one could be pointed
out as fit for a quarter of an hour's ordinary work.
It was painful enough to reflect, after viewing the
remnants of human beings whom charity had
reached, upon the thousands who must have been
and must be perishing in the highways and bye-
ways daily. The distribution of chuppattees and
dall to this gathering takes four hours a day. Lalla
Mahesh Das aids largely out of his own purse in
the support of these people, and Mr. 0. Wood,
Assistant Commissioner, aids zealously in the
charitable, but painful business of superintending
the alleviation of so much human suffering. Each
of the homeless beings, as they receive into their
tattered shreds of garments their food, pass out
through the wicket to lie about and nestle among
the rocks and stones until the next morning—not
a few perhaps to die in the interim. Each has a
wooden ticket bound round his right wrist, which
•he is not to remove. The men's tickets are oblong,
the woman's square, and the children hexagon.
Thus, no one can present a stolen ticket and get
double food. Nor can he possess more than one, as
it is tied to his wrist, and by no other way of pre-
sentation, and at no other time than at the appointed
time will the bearer be entitled to food that day.
They enter until 12 a.m., doors are then shut ; they
are mustered and inspected at 1 p.m., and
food is dish ibuted until all have received. Those
fit for work are daily eliminated, and sent fir
work with passes. His Honour evp.cbsed hunaseh
d
completely satisfied rue arrangements,
after desir;" ruat the rule should be relaxed, this
~,ice, on the occasion of his visit in favour of the
vociferous crowd outside, passed on to the third and
last central asylum. This is enlarged from the ori-
ginal poor house which has always been in existence
at Delhi. The peculiarity of the last-mentioned
asylum at the Eedgah is that hope is afforded that
many will recover after a week or a fortnight, and
al past hope.
pass out again fit to earn sustenance by daily labour.
But at the Koodseagh Bagh it is most
Here death steps in and relieves daily from
The coming eight to
nine of their sufferings. spectacle of
human woe here exhibited surpassed all that can be
written about it, and adequately justified the earnest
appeals for aid, as well as the munificent responses