BOMBAY.

CHAPTER I.

THE DISASTER FACED AND FOUGHT SUCCESSFULLY.

'The country is an absolute desert. Not a blade of grass nor a particle of grain is to be seen anywhere. The rivers and wells are drying up, and the cattle are dying of absolute starvation. The people are looking very thin and ill, and though there have been no deaths from starvation, it is very evident that something must speedily be done to alleviate the distress.'-District Report by Bombay Official.

'The scene as I watch it from my waggon is curious enough. A plain as flat as a desert, and its dark brown earth-for the soil has changed now-as barren, the monotony of the sky line only broken by an occasional and sparsely foliaged neem tree. All along the two miles in progress, men are hewing and digging lazily as their nature or this sultry clime compels. Gangs of women abreast or afile are stalking statuesquely with basket on head, and often a little child by the hand, or on the hip, going to and fro with the soft moorum, or friable stone Iwith which the road is metalled. The whole scene is intensely Egyptian. But there are no scourge-armed taskmasters here. Incidentally the road has to be made-and so the benefits of this wretched famine will be felt hereafter-but the object kept steadily in view is the support of human life, and the only Sphinx hereabouts erected can be unriddled by the one moral-Charity.'-Special Correspondent, Times of India.

THE hot weather retreat of the Government of Bombay in August 1876 was disturbed by a visit at the end of the month from Mr. Grant, collector of Sholapur. Mr. Grant proceeded to Poona to personally report to Government the fact that, owing to want of rain, much distress would be likely to ensue in the greater portion

of his collectorate. Similar ill-tidings came from other districts lying north and south of Sholapur, extending indeed over nearly the whole length of the Presidency. The Government at once faced the difficulty; they set to work to estimate its intensity and extent, and directed all collectors to forward to them weekly reports regarding the weather and the crops. At Sholapur matters first assumed a serious aspect, and on September 4 an allotment was made to Mr. Grant to commence relief works.

Distress did not manifest itself very quickly; rain fell in small quantities over restricted areas, and raised hopes which proved fallacious. Sir Philip Wodehouse, the Governor, and the members of his Council, however, did not permit themselves to be deceived by the partial showers, but set to work vigorously to meet the disaster which was clearly impending. Frequent conferences were held during September and the early part of October, in which various policies for meeting famine were discussed. Evidence, as exemplified in plans adopted and arguments used in course of disputes which afterwards arose, shows that the procedure adopted in previous times of famine was carefully examined. What had been done by Sir (then Mr.) John Strachey, in the North-West Provinces in 1868 was most carefully pondered, while the action of Lord Northbrook and Sir George Campbell in 1874 was had in minute review. The determination come to on several points was wise and judicious. Sir Philip Wodehouse, who hitherto had not struck the people he ruled with overwhelming evidence of his capacity to successfully meet a crisis, recognised what was demanded of him, and at once took upon himself the management of famine affairs, paying his councillors the courtesy of adopting no important change without discussing it with one or

PROMPT ACTION OF THE GOVERNMENT.

249

other of them. One of his colleagues subsequently referred to Sir Philip Wodehouse's devotion and zeal thus: The details I have briefly sketched show very fairly what must have been the amount of anxiety, careful thought, and constant labour, which by his own choice fell to the share of Sir Philip Wodehouse; for however much he might have felt relief from taking counsel with his colleagues, and however much his work was lightened through the able assistance of General Kennedy, it must be borne in mind that the responsibility of the measures taken and which are now admittedly to form the rules to be applied in future times of scarcity or dearth, really lay on him; and to him, therefore, is the credit due. I may, I hope, be allowed to bear testimony to the constancy and the earnestness which he threw into the work; and at the same time to express my belief that very few men, especially men of his years, could have conducted the affairs of such a crisis in so satisfactory a manner.'1

The first matter considered was with regard to the purchase of grain by Government. It was, after full discussion, determined that Government might safely leave to private trade to do all that was needed; and although the Government were strongly urged to depart from this policy, they firmly and consistently adhered to it with entirely satisfactory results. In weighing the matter, the Government considered that any decided movement on their part would be likely to act prejudicially on trade, that if the merchants were led to expect that they would be subjected to the competition of the Government they would withdraw; and as it was clear that, no matter how powerful the Government might be, and on however extended a scale their efforts might be made, they could not hope

1 Minute by the Honourable F. Gibbs, December 29, 1877.

to effect all that the trade, if it exerted itself, could do, it was held that it would be better for Government not to enter into the market at all; for though the Government might be able to do more than many merchants could do, they could not hope to effect so much as would be done by all of them. It was, therefore, with as little delay as possible, publicly made known that Government would not in any way interfere with the grain trade, or with the movements of grain, unless actually forced to do so by failure of supply or by excessive extortion on the part of dealers; that they would buy nothing on their own account for importation into the affected districts, though they were ready to enter into contracts for the delivery on their own works of food supplies to their own labourers; that, in fact, they were not prepared to do more than to act through the trade on behalf of those who came upon their relief works; and that they would not in any way themselves assume the position of traders or importers, so long as they could ensure the people on the works being supplied with food.1 The event, as will be seen later on, amply justified the Government in the course they adopted.

One other resolution was come to by the Bombay Government which was of the utmost importance, and which served to show how admirably they had forecast the needs of the time. This was, that, whenever practicable, persons requiring assistance should be employed on relief works of considerable magnitude, such as had been well examined and found satisfactory in all respects, and which would prove eventually useful, while isolated works of a trifling nature should as far as possible form exceptions to this rule. As a means of providing aid for those who could not work, from infirmity or old age, each collector was granted a lump sum of 25,000 rs.

1 Note I. by General Sir M. K. Kennedy, R.E., Secretary to the Bombay Government, Public Works Department.

APPEARANCE OF THE COUNTRY.

251

These preparations were not made a day too soon. The state of the country may be judged from certain official reports which give most melancholy accounts of the condition of things. The collector of Sholapur in his letter of October 4 reports: 'There is now no part of the district in which the condition of the mass of the people is not most deplorable; and as there is no prospect of any crop whatever throughout by far the greater portion of the collectorate, there can be no doubt that a scarcity amounting to famine must be the result.' The collector of Poonah, writing on the 10th instant, said : For the first few miles beyond Poonah the crops are still in the ground, but they are rapidly drying up, and unless rain falls, cannot expect to yield any grain. They are now being cut for forage. Beyond that distance the country is an absolute desert, not a blade of grass nor a particle of grain is to be seen anywhere. The rivers and wells are drying up, and the cattle are dying of absolute starvation. The people are looking very thin and ill, and though there have been no deaths. from starvation, it is very evident that something must speedily be done to alleviate the distress.' The revenue commissioner and the superintending engineer, who had been specially ordered by Government to report on the distressed districts, writing from Ahmednagar on the 10th instant, after passing through the Bhimthari taluk of the Poona district, reported: We are about to proceed to the Sholapur collectorate; but we are already so impressed with the excessive character of the drought in those parts seen by us, and we are so fully convinced from various circumstances, and especially from the communications of the collector of Sholapur, Mr. Grant, that our visit there will bring before us a still worse and more universally-spread calamity, that we should consider ourselves to blame in delaying to lay the very