DIFFICULTIES IN KITCHEN RELIEF.

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prefer to die than be contaminated, though I can hardly think that many would be of this way of thinking. I have heard another reason given, and that is that at some of the kitchens the quantity of food given is not enough to support life, and people do not care to go to the places where they are only relieved in name and not in reality. In some kitchens the native superintendents, instead of reporting to their superiors the wants of the people, think that they will be pleasing Government by saving as much as possible. I know one kitchen where 20 rs. were allowed daily for condiments, and the native in charge of the kitchen only spent four, and he was perfectly amazed when instead of being praised for saving money for Government, he was told that he had done very wrong, and that a repetition would entail upon him the displeasure of his superiors. Although these places are well supervised, such irregularities as these I have mentioned will occur, and the poor wretches who are in want of food are the sufferers. To some of the native officials the death of a few insignificant people signifies nothing as compared with the praise that they think they may obtain from Government for their cleverness in saving a few rupees. They will, no doubt, be taught their duty in time, but not till they have been. the means of causing the death of a good many.

'There has been a great increase of those seeking relief at the kitchens, and the last Government returns show that the number went up in one week from 68,641 to 82,501, and it is still on the rise, and must necessarily continue so during the time that the scarcity lasts. The people employed on the relief works are also on the increase, but not to the same extent as those to whom gratuitous relief is given, and this may be accounted for by the way people wander about trying to find employment elsewhere. People in some parts of the province

fancy that they can obtain employment on the coffee plantations, and so they set off, only to find out when they get there that there is nothing for them to do, and so they try somewhere else till they either obtain what they want, or else get so weak that they have to go to the relief kitchens, or it may be that some of them die of want. The last Government report says that the piece-work system that has been introduced is working well, though it also says that only 1 anna 4 pies per head can be obtained, and this sum seems to me remarkably small, and can only just keep body and soul together, and hardly that. The next few days will be watched with the greatest anxiety, for, as I have said, the people say that if rain does not fall we shall have another year of famine, and should this happen the land, at the end of the time, would be quite desolate, and all would have to leave it.'1

JULY-AUGUST, 1877.

From the end of April to July 9 there is literally nothing in the published proceedings of the Mysore administration to indicate that there was famine, or even scarcity, in the province. The pages of official records were as bare of fact and incident as many of the fields in the province of produce at that time. Rain had fallen-there is no statement of this in the records but it was in fitful and partial showers, mocking the husbandman, not helping him. In one place, probably an inch of fall would be recorded, half a mile off only a few cents., or none at all, and the hot sun immediately after blazed out as brightly as before. Heavy plumps and dashes of rain ill-fitted the land for cultivation, nevertheless attempts at cultivation were made, and a

1 Correspondent of Times of India.

THE CENTRAL CHARITABLE COMMITTEE.

449

But the

good breadth of land was ploughed and sown. rains of the south-west monsoon held off, and growing grain was parched and withered.

Little mention has been made of the charitable committees in Mysore, but they were continuing their good work, particularly in Bangalore and other large towns. Private benevolence was exhausted long ere this period, and the exertions of non-official gentlemen, cheerfully given, were accepted by the chief commissioner. In April the central committee at Bangalore bethought themselves of means whereby their funds might be recruited. In 1874, during the famine in Behar, 23,351 rs. were contributed by the people of Mysore. It was thought that Bengal might at this juncture return the compliment, and assist famine-stricken Mysore. The idea had occurred to the central committee in November 1876, but no action was taken then, as it was considered that Bengal having just had a very severe catastrophe in the destruction of 60,000 human beings during a cyclone, when a storm wave passed up the Megna river and submerged in the dead of night a large tract of country, it would not be in good taste to make an appeal then. On April 27 the central committee moved the chief commissioner to communicate with the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal. Copies of all the correspondence were forwarded to Sir Ashley Eden, and Mr. Saunders said: It is believed that a considerable amount of the surplus contributions collected in aid of the famine in Bengal in 1874 is now in deposit in the Government treasuries in that Presidency, and, if such be the case, the chief commissioner solicits that the present may be deemed a fitting occasion for applying a portion of it towards mitigating the distress now so severely felt in this province.' The reply was not very assuring. It was stated that no surplus remained

from the Bengal relief fund, 1874, the balance formerly in the hands of the relief committee having been appropriated to the purposes of certain charitable institutions. Under the existing rules of the Government of India, in the Financial Department, his Honour, however, appealed to the collectors of the districts which benefited by the expenditure of the Bengal relief committee in 1874, to raise subscriptions in aid of the Mysore famine, and if any funds are realised, they will be duly forwarded to you.' It is stated that 25,000 rs. were sent to Mysore as the result of this appeal. The great aid, to the extent of 155,000l., which Mysore subsequently received through the Madras famine relief committee, was given without the Mysoreans having been put trouble whatever in its collection.

to any

As the month of July progressed and the monsoon rains fell not, alarm began to be general that a further and sharper crisis was coming. Officers engaged in the work which Sir Richard Temple had highly lauded had less faith in the capacity of the province to cope with the distress than the Delegate. Early in July the commissioner of the Nagar division addressed a letter to the chief commissioner, which has been described as 'the first sign that any Mysore official saw a ray of light.' This is a hard saying, but the meaning evidently is—and events justified its harshness-that no Mysore official, certainly not the chief commissioner, had felt it his duty to take a broad glance over the whole province, and endeavour to comprehend all that was required in meeting distress on so vast a scale as was then existing. Observing that young and middle-aged men were numerous in the relief kitchens, and that a large portion of the labouring population were reduced to a dangerous state of physical weakness, the Commissioner thought the time had come for reducing the number of petty

'FILLING UP HOLES AND DITCHES.'

451

works, and in their stead to employ gangs of relief coolies on provincial and district works, especially roads, the season for the repair of which had arrived. The work on which the people had been hitherto engaged was contemptuously described as 'filling up holes and ditches.' Those coolies who could not do a day's work should be expected to do as nearly this as possible, and yet be paid good wages, whilst from those who were able-bodied a full day's task ought to be rigidly exacted.1 The chief commissioner approved of this proposal. From able-bodied coolies a full day's work should be exacted, and from others who were unaccustomed to work, or were in an enfeebled state, a fair task should be required and full wages paid. It was added: 'The system of work referred to should be applied to road repairs and other works carried out under the orders of revenue officers, and it is probable that the chief engineer will be able to arrange for the employment of the distressed portion of the population on similar works as well as on tank repairs in progress under the Public Works Department, on similarly equitable terms, provided that the different classes of labourers can be satisfactorily segregated.' This was eminently wise action, but full force was not given to the policy until a new régime came in. It was afterwards proved that

1

Up to this time two sets of officers had been enunciating principles which were in direct opposition to each other, but which were never brought into the light of clear discussion or reconciled in any way. The chief commissioner and the revenue officers said, 'All the people who can work at all ought to be made to work, and not be fed gratis.' Consequently they drafted them off from kitchens to relief works under Civil or Department of Public Works officers. The Department of Public Works said: 'Our business is with able-bodied coolies who can work at piece-work rates and earn enough to live thereby; we won't take weak coolies.' It is not possible to keep two systems going side by side. So the Public Works Department officers turned away those whom the Civil officers sent. Colonel Campbell's merit was that he saw this divergence and showed how to reconcile the two views, how to work able-bodied and weak coolies on the same work.