448 
Famines in India . 
[October, 
with the total extent of cultivation throughout the country. 
Some classes of irrigation works, too, are liable to fail from 
want of water, at the very time when it is most in demand ; 
and it is only those irrigation works which derive their water 
from perennial rivers, whose supplies are not wholly de- 
pendent upon fluctuating rainfall, which can be relied upon 
as unfailing sources in times of greatest emergency. In 
ordinary seasons irrigation works must always prove of 
great advantage, for by enabling larger crops to be grown 
than could otherwise be the case they must largely contri- 
bute towards the well-being of the cultivators, and, by 
rendering it possible for them to accumulate wealth, either 
in the shape of grain or money, they will thereby be enabled 
the better to endure the strain to which they are subjected 
in years of famine. 
The improvement and extension of communications, 
whether they be roads, railways, or water navigation chan- 
nels, and the multiplication of irrigation works wherever 
they can be constructed, are means within the power of 
Government to adopt for the protection of the people from 
the effects of famine, and for the advancement of the gene- 
ral well-being of the country. The multiplication of these, 
or other great public works, is a matter with which the ad- 
vancement of the people in intelligence has at present no 
immediate connection, but as regards improved agricul- 
ture the case is far different, and this will, and can, never 
be introduced generally into the country until the people 
themselves shall have been raised by education, both moral 
and intellectual, from their present state to one of more 
advanced civilisation. Towards this there can be little 
doubt that railways will contribute more than any other 
means at present available. The conclusion to be drawn 
from a careful consideration of all the circumstances of the 
case is, that there is no immediate remedy against famines 
possible in India ; their effects may be mitigated by judicious 
treatment locally, but their real cause, being like poison in 
the human blood, must be dealt with in a patient and scien- 
tific manner, and time allowed for the full and free aCtion of 
western civilisation throughout the entire system, before it 
can be expected that the medicine will effeCt a perfect cure, 
and the East, like the West, be delivered from fear of those 
visitations which now destroy her children, cripple her re- 
sources, and check that advancement in material prosperity 
which it might be hoped she would otherwise enjoy. 
