232 



FACTS FROiM OFFICIAL SOURCES. 



Famine and food-supply in Bengal. — The Indian branch of the 

 British government is largely occupied with the practical problems grow- 

 ing out of the failure of crops in the Bengal presidency. It is admitted that 

 there are millions of laborers within the district covered by the failure 

 who receive, as the reward of their labor, barely enough for the suste- 

 nance of their families in seasons of average prosperity, and therefore 

 have no means of providing for themselves in this emergency ; and that 

 there are millions more of ryots (farmers of rented land) whose means 

 are so limited that exorbitant prices must very soon exhaust them. It 

 is also admitted that to depend on the ordinary law of demand and sup- 

 ply for making up the delicieucy must inevitably result in widespread 

 starvation. From what sources to obtain the needed supply of food, 

 how it can be seasonably imported and distributed, and how extortionate 

 prices^an be j^reventecl, are questions upon the prompt and right solu- 

 tion of which prevention of death by starvation to millions depends. 

 The Indian economist assumes " that there must be abundance of food 

 in Lower Bengal to feed the people throughout the coming distress; 

 and that it is upon keeping down prices and stimulating and equalizing 

 the distribution of food that the government should concentrate its at- 

 tention." And again, ''If the Bnrmah harvest is to be of any assist- 

 ance to us, we shall want it here between February and May. The 

 question of transport, therefore, becomes a very important one, and the 

 propriety of trusting to freight being forthcoming exceedingly doubt- 

 ful. To bring 700,000 tons of rice here in four months we shall want 

 250 ships of 1,000 tons each, with screw-power to make their voyage 

 short and certain, so that they might each make three trips during the 

 period." Beyond the food in reserve in Bengal, the nearest available 

 source of supply is Burmah. An estimate, based on statistics of export 

 for several years past, makes the normal annnal surplus of food in Ben- 

 gal about 500,000 tons, and in Burmah about tlie same. This 1,000,000 

 tons, chiefly rice, would supply about one-thirteenth of the population of 

 Bengal with food one year. The opinion is expressed that in the presi- 

 dency of Madras there is a surplus of food sufficient to supplement the 

 short harvest in Bengal, but it is impracticable to secure it on account of 

 the disposition of the ryots to hoard it. It is estimated that supplies 

 of wheat might be obtained as follows: from Kurrachee, 30,000 tons; 

 Persian Gulf, 30,000 ; Egvpt, 70,000; Southern Russia, 200,000 ; Cana- 

 da, 100,000 ; The United States, 100,000. This 1,430,000 tons would 

 make 1,400 ship-loads of 1,000 tons each, and if it could be seasonably 

 secured, would supply from seven to eight milUons with food for one 

 year. 



Irrigation in British India. — The Statistical Reporter of Calcutta 

 furnishes a list of irrigation works in progress and projected (not in- 

 cluding those already completed) in the different provinces of India, 

 and the estimated expenditure required for the completion of each. 

 The total number of these works is 20, and the total estimated cost 

 £20,325,000, or $101,625,000 ; of this the sum of £18,487,000 is for works 

 having already received government sanction, and the remainder for 

 those as yet only projected. The actual expenditure on those several 

 works up to the first of April, 1872, is placed at £4,589,000. It is rei)- 

 resented that, although there are not thus far data sufficiently ex- 

 tended and accurate to establish a positive inference, yet the latest 

 statistics point to the conclusion that past expenditures on irrigating 



