220 J\'o(cs OM ///.' Duhj of Government in periods of Famhic. [A pun. 



or other public works— an interference with the provisioning of the 

 people to this extent would be faulty in principle. For this class, 

 it must be remembered, has no means of obtaining' food from private 

 sources in exchange for their labour, nor could they without Govern^ 

 ment aid, become at such times purchasers from the grain merchants. 

 The payment for their labour in kind by rations, could not therefore 

 trench unjustly upon the interests of the dealers, nor lessen the effi- 

 ciency of the grain trade. And till some experiment of this character 

 has been made, and failed, are we fairly in a position to carry out Dr. 

 Smith's great principle of total non-interference, as the only sound 

 policy of the state, at the sacrifice now periodically made of an enormous 

 waste of life and of national wealth ? 



And, lastly, even if it shall be found upon the most ample 

 examination, and after judicious experiment, that the magnitude of 

 the evil of drought in this country is such, that the Government cannot 

 safely meddle; from the just fear that it will lead to an undue expectation 

 of relief, and to a less economic and frugal use of the stock in hand; and that 

 any interference on the part of Government with the grain trade how- 

 ever cautiously attempted, paralyzes private effort, and aggravates the 

 general distress, and that the present system is consequently right ; 

 there is one means of future alleviation, which might gradually lessen 

 the present amount of evil, still open to the Government. If the 

 well-lands of the country were relieved from taxation, and advances made 

 generally to ryots (as practised partially in South Arcot in 1836) to 

 deepen and enlarge their wells, or to construct new ones, it is probable, 

 that the capability of the country to bear up under the visitation of 

 famine, could be greatly increased, and the permanent resources of the 

 Government proportionally improved. And if it be certain, that no 

 measure for adding directly and immediately to the food of the people 

 in periods of drought is practicable, this would then seem lo be the best 

 safeguard against famine with all its present horrors, and national loss; 

 and this measure at least, might perhaps be pressed on the attention 

 of the Government, as an act at once of duty, and of the soundest policy. 



Madras, March 1839. 



