§ MR. BRADLAUGHI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for India whether the Secretary of State is aware that, on the 15th June, a telegram was sent to the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal by certain residents in Angool, to the following effect:—
The famine in Angool has assumed a horrible aspect. Numerous deaths from starvation are daily reported. The famished die wherever they fall from starvation, and cholera mortality is from 50 to 60 daily. Skeletons move in 839 thousands. The lower and middle classes are in great distress. Sufferers are about 70,000 to 100,000. If you doubt, special inquiry is solicited. Government help is urgently required. Whole estates are full of remission of revenue, relief works, gratuitous relief kitchens, distribution of seeds. Tuccavi on favourable terms is earnestly prayed for.and, whether he can inform the House as to the steps taken by the Lieutenant Governor on receipt of this telegram, and also state the present condition of the people of Angool?
SIR J. GORSTNo Sir; no official information has been received by the Secretary of State in reference to the telegram mentioned in the question. The Secretary of State has learned, apparently from the same source from which the hon. Member appears to have derived his information, that orders have already been given for the distribution of relief by the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal.