vious years. The year 1874 was generally good, and left a reserve of surplus grain. But 1875 was in many places unpropitious; and failure of crops in Mysore drained off supplies towards that province. In Bellary and in some parts of Kurnool, 1875 had been unfortunate in its seasons; and in Bellary 1874 had also been unfavourable. These circumstances caused the drought of 1876 to be felt with more intensity in Bellary than anywhere.' CHAPTER III. THE MONTHS OF FEBRUARY AND MARCH. ADVANTAGE was taken by Sir Richard Temple of his visit to Madras, to impress upon the local Government the advisability of adopting the reduced rate of relief, which he had recommended almost immediately after entering the Presidency, and which was being carried out in Bombay. The proposal was urged by him on financial grounds, but was strongly objected to by the Madras Government, for other, and, what were considered higher, reasons. However, Sir Richard's strong will prevailed, and on February 3 the Secretary of State was informed that the Madras Government had resolved to adopt experimentally, in deference to the suggestions of the Delegate, the same scale of payment of wages for relief labourers as is proposed to be enforced in the Bombay Presidency. Sir Richard's minutes and memoranda, Lord Salisbury was further informed, were still under consideration, and action upon them was further deferred. At the same time the condition of affairs in North Arcot-the district alleged a few days before by the Delegate to be in no need of relief works-was described as very bad, and camps were ordered to be formed at Chittoor, Vellore, and Ranipett, a special officer being detailed to assist the collector. It was feared that distress in this part of the country was likely to be very severe. Private charity in the town of Madras was checked, and grants in aid of donations which had been given were stopped. Indiscriminate and badly controlled charity was working much mischief. The authorities thenceforward undertook to meet all wants. Whilst these orders were being carried out, Sir Richard Temple had left Madras, and again proceeded on tour. Having seen in the Madras town relief camps a large number of persons from North Arcot district who had been reduced by want to a very deplorable condition, and having also heard from Colonel Hearn, C.I.E., the Inspector General of Police, who had recently been in the district, that many of the inhabitants in the great Zemindaries, in the northern part, must soon die of hunger, although the collector and native officials did not consider the situation quite so critical, Sir Richard deemed it advisable to revisit that district. On this occasion he found that in the taluk of Chendragherri, which appeared to be the worst off, no relief works had been opened, and he was of opinion that some should be established at once. There seemed to be misunderstanding here, as in Cuddapah, between the Civil and the Departmental Public Works officers, as to estimates and rates, &c. This was going on whilst in some of these parts 'the people were drifting into severe distress.' Sir Richard was informed by the Rev. Mr. Wyckoff, an American missionary, that he had been obliged to help certain Christians who were wholly without food or means of earning it; and that there were many villages in the lower tracts named which could not hold out much longer. At Vellore Sir Richard found 7,000 people in receipt of a daily dole of raw rice, and urged the completion of a camp there, instead of this form of relief. Two more camps on the Arconum road were also recommended, to intercept immigrants bound for Madras. Sir THE SUNGUM PROJECT. 75 Richard concludes his minute thus: Although the collector has justly held back as long as he could with safety, yet in the eastern part of the district further holding back would no longer be compatible with safety.' From North Arcot to Cuddapah the Delegate next proceeded, and recorded his impressions at Bangalore a few days after of what could be done to restrict expenditure, as far as was 'compatible with the safety of the people.' His general impressions, after full consultation with local officers, were :—(1) That the 19 per cent. of the population then on relief works was too high, and the work got out of the people too little. (2) That more should be done towards working them on tanks and irrigation projects than roads. (3) That village inspection should be enforced, and that when the numbers on charitable relief largely increased, camps should be formed, and indoor aid given; that wages should be paid in cash and not in grain. Of the Nellore district, in spite of the harvest being very small there, Sir Richard speaks highly, particularly with respect to the collector's discrimination in regard to admissions on relief. At the end of the month, when he saw the East Coast Canal, he approved of it as a relief work. About 30,000 labourers were then employed upon it; but Sir Richard recommended that 15,000 from Kurnool, 15,000 from Bellary, and 10,000 from Cuddapah should be drafted on in addition. Writing from Arconum on March 3, the Delegate further suggested the advantages of the early commencement of the Sungum project in the same district (Nellore), whereby the flood waters of the Pennar river could be utilised in filling various tanks and channels at an anticipated outlay of 27,00,000 rs., with a return of 2,50,000 rs. annually from 94,000 acres irrigated. The remaining minutes and memoranda of general interest-there were some on special subjects, such as making the most of the railway carrying capacitywere concerned mainly with 'shroffing' the people in relief camps and suggesting large works. On March 18 Sir Richard Temple wrote 1 at length, urging the Madras Government to apply more generally the test of employment on larger public works, under engineering supervision, away from their homes, instead of offering to all easy work, or imperfectly supervised work, near their homes. On March 29 Sir R. Temple wrote 2 again, representing the great desirability of having the relief works controlled and supervised by engineering officers, and, at any rate, of utilising for this object the existing Public Works Department staff as far as it would go. And he gave lists of works on which, according to the showing of the local Public Works Department officers, 51,000 labourers in Bellary, and 52,000 in Kurnool, could be at once employed on professionally supervised works. On April 6 Sir R. Temple wrote that the Government of India, by sanctioning the Bellary-Hooblee Railway, had 'established the principle that, in the dearth of large projects for employment of relief labour, the earthwork of any such railway projects might be commenced, even though Government might not be able at present to complete the scheme.' He went on to say— 'Further, I have seen in the Madras Presidency that there is great need for large works, on which a large number of relief labourers can be concentrated under 1 Minute No. LXXV. |