New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-03-31

Sholapore, in the Bombay Presidency, 20 are re-
ported as dying in day, while in that district,
200 900 people, we are told, have left their villages
to wander in search of food under the deusion that
the famine is circumscribed. and that abundance
could be had elsewhere But the elsewhere they
cannot find.
travel south from Madras toward Madura The
same spectacle meets my eyes. Everywhere the
cattle, the wealth of the Hndoo husbandman, but
not available for food, as they regard them sacred
the poor starved cattle-are wandering around in
search of something that they pick tostay
the Cravings of hunger. while above them are
flying the vultures. 1t is their harvest time-for
they well know that daily some of them must drop
and die. The owners OF cattle freely offering TO
give them away to any one who can find them food.
travel west through the Arcot district the center
of the famine region In spite of the intense activity
of the Government officials in relieving distress
far as possible, hundreds dying daily of staTva-
ton and disease superinduced thereby. Even pas
sengers on the railroads cannot but see abundant
evidence of the dire Distress while You leave the
line of rail- where rice can SO easily be imported,
it becomes worse and worse.
There is another singular evidence of the severity
of the famine. 1t is this: Gang-rotbe berries on the
highway and in the country villages, usually called
"DacOitees" in India, are becoming fearfully COM
mon, and when the perpetrators are arrested they
often plead guilty as to be sentenced TO the great
Central JAIL" for there they of two years
of good food and comfortable quarters and skilled
medical attendance if sick. To he sure they have to
work, but that they would gladly do anywhere for
their food There are several of these great central
jails in the Madras Presidency where those guilty
of grave crimes and given long sentences are sent,
and they are spendidly managed institutions. They
are capable Of accommodating from 200 10 1000
cOnvicts each, and they are all now Ovcrcrowded.
1t were easy to underrate the dread reality. Ii
were hard to Overdraw the picture OF the distress
and dread that is resting the people in the famine
districts.
How do the Government meet this / answer,
nobly Nearly fifteen years of residence IN India ana
study of the people and the Government have led
me to entertain very high respect for the British
rule in India as at present exercised. Having been
in the thick of preceding and more clrclm-
scribed famine, and watched and myself aided the
Government officers in their efforts to relieve dis
tress, and having carefully studied from little dis
lance their conduct in others, feel bound to speak
of them in terms of highest praise AT once on the
breaking out of scarcity famine in any district
the Government put themselves in telegraphlc COM
muncation with the chief magistrate of the district
and if the prospect be of grave distress member OF
the Governors Council or of the Board of Revenue
is sent as a commissioner to the province, armed
with full authority to naugurate any necessary re-
lief works. For, as | have indicated, If the Mon
soon fails and so brings famine, a large proportion
of the laboring classes are thrown out Of employ
ment. The Government rightly regards il better to
give the people employment with good pay-and in
port food for them TO buy. than 10 support them III
idleness.
Works. then, of public advantage but Of not
enough pressing importance 10 he undertaken other
WISE are at once put under way IN every famine
stricken locality. Roads are surveyed and built;
new reservoirs and tanks are constructed; old ones
are repaired and enlarged public wells ar dug IL
each CITY and village new markets, jails, and court
houses are erected; new streets are laid ont and
graded in cities. or old ones wilened and improved,
or public parks made stone bridges are built to en-
plov stone masons; aud all these expenditures
borne from Government funds 10 save the lives Of
the people At the same time the Government I'M
ports largely of rice and other grains. 1t Is dong
now from every available country, and sends sup
Div trains into every furnishing locality. BESIDES
these relief works, relief camps" are estab-
lished in every district for the aged, the
infm, the sick, the lame, ali those IN
able to vNs and all young children. where
daily food is given them, and where medical treat
ment is afforded. Three and four thousand per9ons
are often found in a single camp. Three such have
lust been formed in the North Arcot District; one
at Arcot under the medical supervision of Dr. II. NJ.
Scudder IT, of the American Arcot Mission; another
at Vellore under the Joint medical supervision of Dr.
John Scuddcr Of the same mission. and Dr. Fox, the
doctor Of the English regiment there. And such Is
the distress that the first day afc. the latter was
opened over 200 wero admitted into this camp.
This is single specimen. When the " Relief
Works " in VellOre were begun 1900 people came
for work the first day. and 5000 the second show
ing the willingness Of the people to work, if only
they can get food by so doing And it is not uncom-
mon for many poor person TO fall faintlng at hs
work on the first dayfOr he has had nothing to eat
perhaps for days before coming in
In Chittoor North Arcot over 1000 people ap-
piled for work the first two days. In Cuddapah dis
trct about 5O,OCO people are engaged on the relief
works. In KUrnOOi 10000 and IN BellaTy 100000
are supported the relief works and III the relief
camps. A recent Government report shows that
S40O 900 persons engaged or the relief works IN
Madras and 250O00 in B0mbay-ovcr 100000
people working for Government for their food, and
probably as many more are fed in the relief camps
aud souphouses gratuitously. The Government
saw that they expect the famine to increase Yet
more until April at least before there will begin TO
be any alienation, and they are straining every
energy TO increase their relief.
But energetic and earnest and liberal as the Gov
eminent are il il simply impossible for them TO re-
lieve all the distress-It is so widespread. Every
mail brings news of hosts of unrelicved localities
An American Baptist missionary, 200 miles north OF
Madras among the Telugu people writes that many
of their 900 native converts are on the verge OF
starvation Some of them can get but three meals
week. living on leaves ana roots and berries, &c,
the rest of the time. Another American missionary.
100 miles southwest of Madras, among the Tamil
people. ON visit in his villages reported many only