1839] 



Permanent Annual Money Rents. 



75 



even if capital was forthcoming, and as abundant in India as it is in En- 

 gland, which it is not. Unless then the Government afford its aid, by open- 

 ing its treasury, and making large advances, how is the necessary supply 

 of grain to be brought into the market in time to remove the scarcity, by 

 the instrumentality of the native dealer alone ? 



Every successive dearth has demonstrated to us hitherto his inability ; for 

 in no district, has there hitherto been a timely importation, sufficient to avert 

 famine. This, which 1 believe to be a well established fact, furnishes in itself 

 a strong a priori argument against the correctness of the view of Govern- 

 ment. As does also the fact, that although the trade is under British rule 

 perfectly free, rice sells in seasons of scarcity in one district at eight or ten 

 measures the rupee, and in another almost adjoining, at half that cost. 

 Another proof, that supply, and demand do not now in practice, readiljr 

 adjust themselves. — And there isf I apprehend but one explanation to be 

 given of this circumstance — that there is neither enterprize, nor capital 

 in the corn trade at present, adequate to meet the large, and extraordinary 

 demands of the market in districts where famine prevails. 



The peculiar circumstances of dearth in this country, afford also 

 additional arguments, against the views contained in the Govern- 

 ment orders, and point to the necessity of the interference of the State. 

 The magnitude of the evil — entire districts being involved in suffering at 

 the same moment — its extreme pressure on the population — destroying 

 even thousands in a few weeks — with the well known limited means of 

 the native merchants, and their general inability, to undertake extensive 

 Speculations in distant markets,— all preclude the hope, that private exer- 

 tion will be found sufficient to meet so great an emergency. We have 

 strong confirmation of this, in the circumstances of the recent famine in 

 this presidency in 1832-3, Rice was at that period abundant and com- 

 paratively cheap in Canara, Malabar, and elsewhere in our own provinces, 

 when the famine was at its height in Guntoor ; and yet, no supplies 

 reached that province, in time to prevent its almost entire desolation. 



Facts of this nature appear to me to demonstrate the duty of interfer- 

 ence. And that it is not enough for the Government to offer the people 

 work, and pay them for their labour, when the crisis of famine has 

 arrived — trusting to the native traders' unassisted energies to provide 

 the requisite supplies to meet the urgent demand for food — but they 

 must, by a prudent foresight, and by their own energy, bring the abun- 

 dance, and the stores of distant and foreign markets within the timely 

 reach of the retail trade, or the pressure of famine will remain in full 

 force, till the population is brought down to the level of the numbers, 

 which the native trader can supply. 



